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My life as a dog essay
My life as a dog essay
How can the study of animals (non-humans) inform our understanding of human psychological functioning
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In the reading “My Life as a Dog” by Jonathan Foer, he discusses his relationship with his dog named George. He seems to have a love hate relationship with George because of experience they share. When he first adopted her Jonathan thought she was going to be fun and then realized he was wrong. He said how George can be a major pain and requires a lot of time. Jonathan talked about the things she would do like chew on his son’s toys and scratch things that were new. Even after all the little bad things George does, Jonathan still loves her as one of his own. He loves watching George be a dog because it feels him up with happiness. Jonathan also talks about how humans have a problem with sharing the space we live on. He talked about how if
Richard Russo's "Dog" and Amy Tan's "Two Kinds" are stories that illustrate the negative impacts parents sometimes have on their children and the unintended consequences that occur as a result of their parenting. In "Dog," Henry Devereaux grows into an adult who has difficulty connecting emotionally with others, a man who is not easy, and though entertaining, is not comforting. In "Two Kinds," Jing-mei was a failure many times over in her mother's eyes, finally dropping out of college and only accepting of herself later in life.
Feelings are the most significant part of human’s creature, but what if it comes to the goal that one’s life is based on? Would it still be that important? In the article, “Dog Lab”, Claire McCarthy discusses her own experiences as a medical student at Harvard school. McCarthy was born in 1963. She did her residency at Boston’s Children’s Hospital and she is now working as a pediatrician at the Martha Eliot Health Center in the Jamaica Plains. During college, she used to keep a journal with her that provided the outline of her writings which she referred to for her books such as Learning How the Heart Beats: The making of a Pediatrician and Everyone's Children : A Pediatrician's Story of an Inner City Practice. In addition to McCarthy being
Early in the movie one of the other workers shoots Candy’s dog. The dog was Candy’s only true friend. Candy said he should have been the one to shoot his best friend, not some stranger. This is one of Candy’s biggest regrets. This is a lesson George learns later in the movie when he is forced to make a tough decision whether to kill Lenny himself, or watch as Lenny gets lynched. George can not bare the idea of this happening to Lenny. George takes Candy’s advice and decides since Lenny and him are best friends he should take it upon himself and shoot Lenny. This example of George killing Lenny shows that George can only live with himself if he has his self- respect and self- esteem. Although he is killing Lenny it shows he has self- respect and self- esteem because Lenny is his only friend and rather than watching him get tortured and lynched he takes it upon himself to end his only friend’s life. Lenny isn’t smart enough to realize what will happen to him, so George makes this decision. This is when George knows he can’t live without self- respect and self-
American consumers think of voting as something to be done in a booth when election season comes around. In fact, voting happens with every swipe of a credit card in a supermarket, and with every drive-through window order. Every bite taken in the United States has repercussions that are socially, politically, economically, and morally based. How food is produced and where it comes from is so much more complicated than the picture of the pastured cow on the packaging seen when placing a vote. So what happens when parents are forced to make a vote for their children each and every meal? This is the dilemma that Jonathan Safran Foer is faced with, and what prompted his novel, Eating Animals. Perhaps one of the core issues explored is the American factory farm. Although it is said that factory farms are the best way to produce a large amount of food at an affordable price, I agree with Foer that government subsidized factory farms use taxpayer dollars to exploit animals to feed citizens meat produced in a way that is unsustainable, unhealthy, immoral, and wasteful. Foer also argues for vegetarianism and decreased meat consumption overall, however based on the facts it seems more logical to take baby steps such as encouraging people to buy locally grown or at least family farmed meat, rather than from the big dogs. This will encourage the government to reevaluate the way meat is produced. People eat animals, but they should do so responsibly for their own benefit.
Christopher is a fifteen-year old boy with Aspergers Autism whose life is full of uncanny surprises. His main focus is on school, and his ability to take the maths A level exams. Unfortunately, that was his focus until he finds Wellington dead on Mrs. Shears’ lawn. Christopher wants to know who killed Wellington and why. He investigates and finds out not only who killed Wellington, but he discovers secrets about his mother and father. In the book “The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time”, the author, Mark Haddon, shows us how courageous Christopher is throughout his journey. According to Aristotle, a man is courageous when he sets himself free from his fears, pain, and poverty instead of running away from it. According to Aristotle’s theory, Christopher profusely shows courage when he investigates Wellington’s murder and travels to London to find his mom.
He saw that dog grow into what he raised him to and yet he got rid of him because he had to. How more human a person is to throw his or her own dog away. It must of hurt him so much since he saw his puppy grow into the dog he raised. I once owned a puppy as well, I adopted a puppy, a Chihuahua from the animal shelter. When I brought him home my mother, whom I live with was very upset because she does not like dogs. Moreover she does not like dogs inside of the house. She is not allergic to them nor anyone in my family she just simply did not want the dog inside nor out side of the house. I was very upset because she asked me to get rid of it. I my self did not have the heart to do so and neither did I plan on getting rid of a little innocent dog who had no place else to go. One day as I come home from school I noticed that Pete, my dog was not outside in the driveway waiting for me. Which was strange, so I came inside the house and notice that he did not bark as I came inside and to my surprise my mother got rid of him. She gave it to a friend who has a passion for animals as well. The example I gave reminds me of Turgenev and Marx. Turgenev representing myself, and Marx representing my mother in my
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is told through the eyes of a fifteen year old boy named Christopher Boone. Christopher has a highly-functioning form of autism which allows him to understand complex mathematical problems, but also leaves him unable to comprehend many simple human emotions. His inability to understand metaphors, distinguish emotions, and his lack of imagination makes it possible to consider Christopher as functioning like a computer rather than functioning as a human being. Throughout the story, Christopher is faced with many challenges which he conquers using the stable and never changing system of mathematics. All of these factors suggest that Christopher does, in fact, function like a computer, but it is apparent early in the story that Christopher, regardless of anything else, is capable of independent thought which separates him from the programmed, dependent world of computers.
In the article, “The Joy of Watching Others Suffer”, author Andrew Shaffer discusses the horrible trait, schadenfreude, we humans often experience. Schadenfreude is a German word meaning the enjoyment of watching others suffer. The people in the Capitol thrive on watching others fight to the death, suffer in horrific conditions, and watch as friends become enemies – for it is every man for himself. In this article, Shaffer discusses how much society enjoys watching others fail, how propaganda is used to dehumanize the tributes, and that we humans .
In Tom Stoppard’s skilfully delineated play, The Real Inspector Hound, he seeks to merely parody the traditional crime fiction genre. The play does not criticise or parody at the expense of the genre but it is simply poking affectionate fun at it. Stoppard identifies the classic techniques used in crime fiction and exaggerates it to such an extent that it causes the audience to laugh at the ludicrousness of the genre. He parodies the typical layout and the archetypal characters used in traditional crime fiction stories. Stoppard adds to the amusement of the play through the use of parallel plots that absurdly and unpredictably merge, creating a classic yet twisted denouement. The Real Inspector Hound is a play that cleverly fulfils all the expectations of a parody and causes the audience to view the jocularity of traditional crime fiction.
On June 20, Charlotte Alter posted an article on TIME website titled, “The Problem with Pit Bulls”. In her article she starts with an event that happened to a three year old little girl that was attacked by three Pit Bulls. The little girl and her family were in KFC and one of the employees asked her to leave because her face was “disrupting their customers”. Half of the little girl’s face is now paralyzed and she has also lost her vision in one of her eyes because of the three Pit Bulls that attacked her. Her grandfather killed the three Pit bulls that attacked her; however her grandfather is now facing charges of child-endangerment. KFC was so generous to donated money to the family to help with her medical bills. But yet the rant is more
After reading “The Dogs Could Teach Me,” “The Flowers,” and “The Sniper,” It is aware to me that “The Dogs Could Teach Me,” by Gary Paulsen has superior description compared to the other two stories. The character is in agony but doesn’t fail to see the beauty in his surroundings. “The trail crossed the stream directly at the top of a small frozen waterfall with about a twenty-foot drop. Later I saw the beauty of it, the falling lobes of blue ice that had grown as the water froze and refroze, layering itself.” The reader can thoroughly picture what he is feeling and what he is seeing.
Candy, a major representation of loyalty and sacrifice, is an old rancher who has a dog, which is very old. Some of the ranchers who stays with Candy cannot even think of what keeps Candy from killing the dog who "...stinks like Hell"(35) and is "...all stiff with rheumatism"(44). Since Candy had his old sheepdog ever since it was a puppy, Candy does not want the ranchers shooting his dog to death because Candy's loyalty to the dog keeps Candy from wanting to sacrifice his lifelong partner, the dog. This is portrayed in the quote "Well-hell! I had him so long. Had him since he was a pup"(44). It was not until Slim, the most honored man in the ranch, agrees with the ranchers that putting the dog down would be the best that Candy gives in. Even though Candy gave in to put his dog down, he was reluctant to let the ranchers shoot him. This is shown in the quote where Candy is talking to George, "I ought to of shot that dog myself, George. I shouldn't ought to of let no stranger shoot my dog."(60). Up until this point Candy remained very loyal to his old dog. It was only the thought that this was best for the dog that allowed Candy to agree to put him down. This sacrifice tells us that there is loyalty even between man and dog.
George Herbert throughout his poem “The Collar” puts his thoughts, feelings and complaints on paper on freedom restrictions. He resolves to break free from the binds fastening him to the life he fights to be free from. In various ways, countless things hold down and confine us from doing certain things daily. All the way through history people fought for the rights that tied them down for what they believed in. Herbert explains in his poem that one requires some restrictions even if we cannot understand the motive behind it.
George’s relationship with Lennie has made him selfless; his conversations, with and with out Lennie, are generally revolving around Lennie, although in the case of their dream-ranch George seems to find fulfilment for himself as well. Due to these altruistic tendencies that he shows throughout the novel, a danger is bestowed upon George; he tends to care for Lennie far too much, and too little for himself. In occasional moments, he escapes his sympathy and compassion for Lennie, and realises the burden that he causes. This usually results in George taking his frustration out on Lennie, which can often harm his simple mind, leaving Lennie upset and forced to confess to his own uselessness, and George feeling guilty for what he has caused. We can learn very little about George through his actual conversations, which made it necessary for Steinbeck to focus the novel on him in particular, and let the reader gain an closer insight on him through his actions. Generally, he seems to be caring, intelligent and sensible, but is greatly worn by the constant attention Lennie requires. This illustrates a major theme in Of Mice and Men, the dangers that arise when one becomes involved in a dedicated relationship.
As a kid, I fell in love with the idea of getting a puppy for Christmas. Wrapped in a small box with a bow on top sitting under the tree just like the movies and tv shows I had seen. I can remember making a Christmas list of all the things I wanted that year, and every year the same thing that I wanted had said “puppy” with it underlined so that my mother knew which was my favorite on the list. Every year no surprise, I didn’t find a dog. I never understood why I never received one. When the kids at school talked about the few dogs they had at home made me so jealous, but I hoped that one day it would be me to have my own best friend at home.