The word “puppy” is most commonly thought of as a happy and joyful companion. This is exactly what is thought when reading the title of a story by George Sanders called “Puppy”, but in this case, the story is not all happy and joyful. The main characters of this story are Marie and Callie. To learn more about these characters this essay will be discussing the character and the ways they show similarities and differences between each other and both of their families. Through further discussion, perhaps it can be determined how the symbolism of the puppy as it relates to a member of Callie’s family. Marie and her husband Robert are parents to two kids named Josh and Abbie. Josh spends most of his day playing video games. Abbie is the character …show more content…
Callie’s kids, Mollie and Jessie, are just like other kids, but Bo was diagnosed with a mental illness. To make ends meet by living on a rural farm the family sells kittens and puppies to families wanting the perfect pet if they do not sell the pets soon enough Jimmy ends up having to kill them. Callie is a character who is more focused on the present day instead of the past or future. Callie would also be called the protagonist, because of her killing the puppy and doing it in a field so her kids can not see him suffer. The conflicts that Callie faces is her son Bo. The family does not take the time to give him care, so they rather tie him to a tree and be able to continue on with their day without any interruptions. A characteristic trait to describe Callie would be irrational, because of the irrational decision to chain Bo up to the tree. Marie was the witness of the boy to she said, “a young boy, just a few years younger than Josh, harnessed and chained to a tree...”(Norton 190). The reason for Callie chaining Bo up to a tree is to be able to do other things that need to be down so she does not have to constantly watch him outside, because of his mental illness. Now let's contrast and compare Marie and Callie to really get the points made in the
Henry was an extremely lonely nine-year-old boy whose greatest wish was to get a dog. His parents were busy with their work most of the time and it seemed that Henry did not have any friends, perhaps because they moved so often. A dog would have provided Henry with unconditional love - something in short supply around his house - and would have been the perfect companion. The problem was, his parents did not want dog, which would have been another obligation and something else to take care of. As emotionally detached as his parents were, something else to take care of was just not desirable.
... wildly, beating his little yellow wings against the wires" (259). When Joe is around Caesar, he threatens to take the dog off his chain and release him into the town. To Louisa, taking the dog off his chain symbolically relates to her being freed from the constraints Joe is putting on her. Because she, like the dog, have been alone for so long, it would be frightening to go out and experience new things. People tend to do what they know, and for fourteen years, Louisa and her pets have been accustomed to solitude. The man's influence is seen as disruptive since it threatens change on Louisa's life. The symbolism Freeman portrays between the pets and Louisa is immense and obvious. Because of this, it is easy for the reader to make such connections. Freeman's choices make this an easy to read story that appeals to all readers at all different skill levels.
Malone, Michael. "Tough Puppies." The Nation 242.9 (8 Mar. 1986): 276-278. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter and Deborah A. Schmitt. Vol. 111. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 May 2014.
At the beginning of the short story Maggie's family is introduced, from her scrappy little brother Jimmie, to her short lived brother Tommie, her alcoholic mentally-abusive mother Mary, and her brutish father. Jimmie's friend Pete is introduced and becomes a mirror image of Jimmie later on in the book. They both are portrayed as Don Juans, the seducers of young women who treat women as objects rather than people. Maggie's father is as short-lived as her brother Tommie. However, he becomes a negative social factor in Maggie's life. Maggie’s mother was an essential symbol of hypocrisy and pessimism throughout the book, from her drinking to her last comment in the book “I'll Forgive Her” (Crane).
Throughout the chapters of The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, Dr. Perry describes personal experiences based on the lives of individuals he has encountered. The correlation among the characters described in Skin Hunger, The Coldest Heart, and The Boy Who Was Raised
...om her mother and transported to a pet store where she was locked in a cage until she was purchased by my friend Hailey. I want you to think about her excitement to have a home and Hailey’s excitement to have a new pet to love. Now I want you to think about Hailey receiving the devastating news that her puppy had to be euthanized and Daisy’s fear as she was taken from her owner’s hands and put to death.
Because this theme is so prevalent in the work and because The Piano Lesson is a short drama, the most important point of comparison between Berniece and Boy Willie is how they manage their family history. The central conflict of the story is between these two characters who are at war over use of their family legacy. In this drama, family legacy takes the shape of a large piano with expertly carved scenes of the siblings’ family history. Their great-grandfather had etched the scenes into the wood while in the home of his former master and the family had sacrificed much to attain the instrument after their emancipation. This symbol is invaluable to the plot because it symbolizes not only their family, but the family sacrifice, freedom, and legacy. Both Berniece and Boy Willie understand the symbolism of the piano, but where Berniece wants to keep the piano untouched and perfectly preserved, thus preservi...
Lori was the first one to leave for New York City after graduation, later, Jeanette followed her and moved into her habitat with her. Jeanette promptly found a job as a reporter, the two sisters were both living their dream life away from their miserable parents. It wasn’t difficult for them since they cultured to be independent and tough. Everything was turning out great for them and decided to tell their younger siblings to move in with them, and they did. Jeanette was finally happy for once, enjoying the freedom she had and not having to be moved every two weeks. She then found a guy whom she married and accustomed her lifestyle. Furthermore, her parents still couldn’t have the funds for a household or to stay in stable occupation, so they decided to move in with Jeanette and her siblings. Jeanette at that moment felt like she was never going to have an ordinary life because her parents were going to shadow her.
Marie had just traveled from her hometown of Ville Rose, where discarding your child made you wicked, to the city of Port-Au-Prince, where children are commonly left on the street. Marie finds a child that she thinks could not be more beautiful, “I thought she was a gift from Heaven when I saw her on the dusty curb, wrapped in a small pink blanket, a few inches away from a sewer as open as a hungry child’s yawn” (79). Marie has suffered many miscarriages, so she takes this child as if it were her own, “I swayed her in my arms like she was and had always been mine” (82). Marie’s hope for a child has paid off, or so it seems. Later, it is revealed that the child is, in fact, dead, and Marie fabricated a story to sanction her hopes and distract her from the harsh reality of her life, “I knew I had to act with her because she was attracting flies and I was keeping her spirit from moving on… She smelled so bad that I couldn’t even bring myself to kiss her without choking on my breath” (85). Her life is thrown back into despair as her cheating husband accuses her of killing children for evil purposes and sends her to
The narrator, Twyla, begins by recalling the time she spent with her friend, Roberta, at the St. Bonaventure orphanage. From the beginning of the story, the only fact that is confirmed by the author is that Twyla and Roberta are of a different race, saying, “they looked like salt and pepper” (Morrison, 2254). They were eight-years old. In the beginning of the story, Twyla says, “My mother danced all night and Roberta’s was sick.” This line sets the tone of the story from the start. This quote begins to separate the two girls i...
The characterization of Cato and Emerson’s stepmother and father is what lead to the parental neglect on the two brothers. In the short story, “The Farmer’s Children,” the stepmother is characterized as
A magnificent creature that just want to feel simple things like freedom, be social, a caress. In this poem I can appreciate the suffering of a creature in captivity whose desire is to experience such elementary things as being the companion of a human and give his love, feeling a touch, a little affection and attention; things that should not be denied to any living creature. This poem is a desperate cry for freedom and what for me are the basic rights of any household animals, such as dogs. Once again I will use some of my work during this course to better explain the feelings of this animal in captivity that only wanted to feel
Alexandra Fuller and Pan Macmillan’s extract from, Don’t Let’s Go To The Dogs Tonight, explore the roles of the family dynamic and their roles within the family. This is a first person narrative, written from the perspective of one of the daughters. As well, this passage describes the event of selling bales of tobacco in a market setting. This passage develops the roles of the narrator, the mother, and the father, through techniques such as animal imagery, body language, diction, punctuation, as well as structure.
There was something strange going on in the little town of Mayberry. The birds were chirping, the kids were playing, but there was something else. Arf! Arf! It was the sound of puppies!
Since animals, usually pets, are sometimes an essential part of one’s life, it is not surprising that we find frequent references to its role in works of social realism, such as Wislawa Szymborska’s Poems New and Collected and Milan Kundera’s Unbearable Lightness of Being. Animals in literature could be used to symbolize all sorts of things, but in particular, animals may represent the personality of a character. This is because as humans and animals co-exist in the same atmosphere, certain aspects of a character reveal themselves in the compassion or even hatred towards the animal. Since animals are often known to trigger the interests of humans, the attitude of the humans towards the animals contributes much to character revelation. Both Szymborska and Kundera use animals to symbolize character personality in their works. Therefore, through looking at animals, although it does seem to be a very commonplace topic, we may gain insight to what the writers are trying to convey about the character. This paper will compare the ways the writers use animals to determine a character’s personality or characteristics.