Animals and their actions appeared to be a physical representation of the path or right and wrong. They were a direct line to the heavens so their actions, which are natural for them are taken as a sign of virtue. In T.H. Whites translation of The Book of Beasts the fox and the dog, which both belong to the Canidae family, are painted so differently. The wildness of the fox in contrast to the obedient nature of the dog plays into emotional and logical aspect between these two animals. The fox’s intelligence and the dog’s loyalty are highly revered and are examples to live one’s life faithfully, and wisely so as to avoid the sinful workings of the Devil.
The anthropomorphizing of the fox paints him as this weak creature who feigns death to capture his prey. So his ability to trick the weak makes it a strong creature, yet his method of putting “…red mud…[on himself] so that he looks as if he were stained with blood” (White 54) gives him this vulnerable feature that allows him to trick others to
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The most notable tale is the soldier who was murdered without a known suspect and the dog who “…was weeping for master’s woe…[smelled the murderer] took up weapons of revenge, and gripped the fellow tight…” (66) thus bringing justice to the situation and revealing his undying loyalty to his friend. It’s interesting that the dog tongue “…cures a wound by licking it…” (67), yet the fact that the speaker states that dogs tend to eat “…its vomit…[and that] signifies…human beings, after a complete confession, often return…to the crimes which they have perpetrated” (67). After the loyalty and kind nature dogs are known to have, to end with connecting a common quirk to humans living a life of guilt and addiction to sin anthropomorphizes a creature who has been portrayed as an animal for most of the
Life gives us the opportunity to act and behave in ways that would make us either live a happy or dreadful life. Human intelligence is the basis of our society and can either make us unhappy or happy. In the novel, Fifteen Dogs by Andre Alexis, the two human Gods, Apollo and Hermes make a bet on if an animal had human intelligence, would they have a happy life? As they were bickering upon this bet, they passed a veterinary clinic. They then enter the clinic to realize majority of the animals were dogs, therefore, that was the animal that was chosen for their bet. Throughout the novel, fifteen dogs have the challenge of having human abilities. The two dogs, Majnoun and Prince, both live a life with human intelligence but very differently.
First Friend: A History of Dogs and Humans, by Katherine Rogers, articulates the history of the relationship between dogs and humans. Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals, by Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce, investigates if and how dogs exhibit morality. In both texts, anecdotes and observations are used to portray instances of dogs displaying cooperation, empathy, altruism, and, by extension, morality. Consequently, it stands to reason that dogs have a capacity for sociality, but how can the sociality of dogs be described? A dog’s capacity for sociality is the ability to form long term relationships with members of the same or other species. Dogs, in particular, dogs who hunt as well as dogs who play, are able to form long term relationships with humans and other dogs through trust, love,
...I never had been bor-r-r-r-rn!” (Thoreau 117). His unequal reverence for men and beasts are indicative of a religion that still needs to be reworked, and adapted to the central characters- for one individual it may work, but for a society a religion that cannot account for people with the regard it gives to other animals will almost certainly fail.
The short stories “Lu-Lu” by Joy Williams and “Stay” by David Schuman appear somewhat different on the surface; however, in greater depth the two emulate one another more than once. The two stories greatly mirror real-life in regards to the way humans view and treat fellow animals. Both stories present a similar situation, while emphasizing the individual human and animal relationship found within each. Through the acknowledgement of each character and how they acquire the animals, it is evident the animals are influential aspects of the stories and illuminate into everyday life. Although somewhat different, “Lu-Lu” and “Stay” both illustrate the idea that humans hold significant expectations as to the belief that animals can provide positive transformations in life.
Why is it so easy to use animal characteristics to portray what human nature craves? In writing, it is so much easier to say it is the animal in us because readers do not want to face the idea of calling it as it is, which is to say that it is the human in us. That human nature is only described as animalistic because no human want to say that they have animal characteristics but to give the animal human characteristics. When humans want their freedom, they write about how “free” an animal is. They write how animals can feel certain emotions. "In the 'Red Fox Fur Coat,' the author uses the main character's transformation into a fox to comment on how humans only feel free when they escape the confines of civilized society, while "Blood" uses
The dog they rescued is a particularly prominent topic, a vestige of the past civilizations. In defiance of the treacherous environment, the dog managed to survive, a feat that even Lisa, the most cold-blooded of the three main characters, could not help but be “impressed by” (Bacigalupi 61). Therefore, the dog is a symbol of hope for the reader, an animal that is in the extreme, completely out of its element, and yet capable of surviving. As a result, nature’s idea of itself is astoundingly resilient, keeping certain species alive as an attempt to return to the normal state of the world. Even after horrendous trauma the natural world is still capable of a stalwart attempt at reclaiming itself. Accordingly, it is never too late to start fixing the damages and help nature’s cause, before allowing it to escalate to such a degree where the oceans are black with pollution and there is no room left for the humans of today. Chen could not help but notice that the dog is different than them in more than just a physiological nature; “there’s something there” and it’s not a characteristic that either them or the bio-jobs are capable of (64). Subsequently, the dog has something that the evolved humans are missing, compassion. In consequence, the author portrays the idea that the dog
While the main focus of this essay is the wild dogs we can notice a cultural conflict in the town, because of religion or tradition. This essay describes the town of Istanbul as having “a hundred thousand” dogs throughout the city, and how that the city is filled with trash. In addition to the above description, Brunner tells us some people are more sensitive to dogs and they feed and care for them, but do not allow them in the houses because “Quran, strict Muslin consider dogs—especially their drool—to be unclean”(89). We can relate the above statement with the passage when Brunner says that “[i]t sounds like the dogs, not the authorities, set the tone. In popular shadow-puppet plays, dogs were compared to the poor” (91). Mostly this essay, by focusing on dogs, is addressing a big conflict that Istanbul is experiencing with poor people. They cannot eliminate the dogs as they cannot get rid of people because that would be an act of “barbarism”. The essence of this essay is to show that the culture of this city is trying to deal with the unclean, both dogs and poor people, in a way that does not seem cruel. This essay reflects the above with all the attempts they have made to eliminate the dogs, meaning that they would like to get rid of them but they cannot because they just cannot eliminate a living creature just because its nature. Therefore, they most find some alternative to live with them, as most rich people
Animals can protect us from things that are bad.In the book, Marley and me by John Grogan Marley protects the family by running to someone that tried to touch the baby. In the book travels with Charley, Charley goes crazy towards a bear for his owner's safety. As you can see animals can protect us from bad things.
“The delightful tale of a fox who lives by poaching food from his three neighbours, Messrs.
According to his article “The Lowest Animal”, Mark Twain raises the idea that “humans are declining from the Higher Animals” by researching and illustrating evidences. He refutes the idea taken by Darwinian that “humans are rising from the Lowest Animals”. In his article, he offers the idea that most animals have a lot of features which do not belong to human beings. He uses the cats and roosters as examples to contrast them with the traits and dispositions of man, to notice the dark side of human’s nature, and criticize cruel and greedy humans. He wants to distinguish the specific habits and behavior of both animals and humans, and to indicate “the lowest animal”. Twain uses religious shocks and unlimited accumulation as examples to demonstrate
feelings in the man and the dog, of a constant battle with this world of
The fox teaches the little prince how to love. It is the time that one 'wastes'; on someone or something that makes it important. It is the fox that tells us how love overcomes existentialism: 'One only knows the things that one tames… Men buy things already made in the stores. But as there are no stores where friends can be bought, men no longer have friends.';
Since animals, especially dogs, share similar emotions as people they to make great companions. Animals do show us how to love better, because their emotions are more pure than a human's. According to Mary Lou Randour, in "What Animals Can Teach Us About Spirituality", animals are spiritual companions to humans. She tells the story of a boy who, after murdering someone, receives a dog to care for as a form of therapy. The dog comforts him, and the teenager learns to love the animal over time. The boy's pet is "healing his soul" by teaching him how to love. Dogs give their masters unconditional love, never questioning the human's orders or disciplines. I thought the story of the dog appearing in the author's backyard as her dead grandfather was rather outlandish. All of Randour's examples of how animals influence our feelings were viable aside from the disappearing ghost dog.
The Fox seems to captivate and mesmerize March to the point where their first interaction becomes sexual. She becomes so entranced by the Fox’s body that she starts to take in every detail and feature on it. She describes the fur’s color, the texture, and oddly enough, its buttocks. The sense most closely resembles love at first sight. The Fox blows her away and makes her forget about everything around her. But, there are many deeper meanings within their first encounter. The Fox represents more than just a mysterious creature, it also represents what is missing in March’s life: a man and love. In March’s and Branford’s relationship, March is forced to take up that role. But, the Fox foreshadows events that are to come: a mysterious “youth” will arrive and take control. March uses the Fox as a distractor from Branford, because Branford “drowns” March with her issues and