How Does Benjy Have The Gift Of Human Intelligence?

Although only a small beagle, Benjy’s resourcefulness, and wit are enough to deceive others to fulfill his selfish goals. Benjy is a given the gift of human intelligence - along with fourteen other dogs - from two greek gods: Apollo and Hermes. The reason behind this is because the gods - who were always interested in mortal affairs - were curious to see if animals would be just as unhappy as humans with their new gift (Alexis 14). Of this gift of intelligence soon followed being capable of dog speech. Benjy however, did not use the gift of human intelligence as one might expect. For Benjy, language isn’t as much a means of communication, as it is a tool to aid in his manipulation of others for his own self-interest.

When the dogs received

When reciting what had happened to the pack to Majnoun, he left out any information that would direct any blame towards himself, such as the truth of what truly happened to the pack. Although he did slightly add details to the story as well to make him look better. For example, he depicted the garden of death being no more than just a sickness, and that he himself had taken ill but was spared (Alexis 59). Benjy had told another lie after Atticus had taken dictatorship of the pack, he was quick to give praise to him and tell him he would “... make a wonderful leader…” (Alexis 60). Benjy proves one way in which language can be ineffective, in its use to mislead and

For example, he proceeded to talk to Nira which Majnoun explicitly said not to do (Alexis 82). After that had failed, Benjy managed to use his newly developed grasp on the Human language to win over the affection of Miguel instead. He manipulated him so that he could help teach him more English. Majnoun regarded Benjy as “... resourceful and dishonest in ways Majnoun did not fathom” (Alexis 54). Benjy had no love for Miguel. He just used him to learn more English that Majnoun could not teach him.

Benjy did not care for anything that failed to benefit him directly. For example, when Prince was recalling his travels before the two reunited, Benjy found it dull and cut him off to inquire about where Prince found his food and shelter (Alexis 105). “Benjy was not curious about Prince’s fate. What he wanted to know was whether or not Prince had learned anything useful.” (Alexis 103). Benjy was only out to benefit himself. He manipulated others and used them as pawns to get his