A Dog's Death Analysis
Dog’s Death Analysis
Cillia Rivera
ENG: 125 Introduction to Literature
Professor: Corey King
September 30, 2012
Dog’s Death Analysis
The reason why I chose to write about of A Dog’s Death, is because it reminds me of a dog that I had growing up. Whenever the dog got sick my brothers, sisters and I would always think the worst about what happened to him when he got sick. Since we lived in the country on farm land there was always the possibility that he may have gotten hit by a car, bitten by a snake, or poisoned by neighbors that didn’t like him. In John Updike’s poem, “Dog’s Death”, the dog who dies in the poem and her owner expresses a sense of abandonment which illustrates the mourning of one who loses their dog. I think the approach for analyzing this poem will best fit for reflecting the imagination, tone, image, and similarly designed to reveal the tone I observed in the poem. The theme of “Dog’s Death” is based on the life and death of a family dog. When the author, John Updike starts at the beginning explaining how the dog might have gotten the fatal injury. This short paper will discuss the dog’s death as a theme for this short story. The beginning talks of the fatal injury that might have brought this family pet to her demise. The family thinks that she must have been kicked unseen or brushed by a car (Updike, Clugston, 2010). Imagination comes into play by speaking of the dog learning to use the potty on the newspaper, and then again it could also be that the paper was put down on the floor because the dog was suffering from diarrhea and didn’t have a chance to go on the newspaper either. It gives the reader a chance to think of a pet they once had and empathize with the writer about his dog dying (Clugston, 2010).
The plot of the story is very similar to the theme of the story. The plot discusses the manner in which the dog dies, or the circumstances surrounding the dog’s death. The family continues to play and go on as if
Cillia Rivera
ENG: 125 Introduction to Literature
Professor: Corey King
September 30, 2012
Dog’s Death Analysis
The reason why I chose to write about of A Dog’s Death, is because it reminds me of a dog that I had growing up. Whenever the dog got sick my brothers, sisters and I would always think the worst about what happened to him when he got sick. Since we lived in the country on farm land there was always the possibility that he may have gotten hit by a car, bitten by a snake, or poisoned by neighbors that didn’t like him. In John Updike’s poem, “Dog’s Death”, the dog who dies in the poem and her owner expresses a sense of abandonment which illustrates the mourning of one who loses their dog. I think the approach for analyzing this poem will best fit for reflecting the imagination, tone, image, and similarly designed to reveal the tone I observed in the poem. The theme of “Dog’s Death” is based on the life and death of a family dog. When the author, John Updike starts at the beginning explaining how the dog might have gotten the fatal injury. This short paper will discuss the dog’s death as a theme for this short story. The beginning talks of the fatal injury that might have brought this family pet to her demise. The family thinks that she must have been kicked unseen or brushed by a car (Updike, Clugston, 2010). Imagination comes into play by speaking of the dog learning to use the potty on the newspaper, and then again it could also be that the paper was put down on the floor because the dog was suffering from diarrhea and didn’t have a chance to go on the newspaper either. It gives the reader a chance to think of a pet they once had and empathize with the writer about his dog dying (Clugston, 2010).
The plot of the story is very similar to the theme of the story. The plot discusses the manner in which the dog dies, or the circumstances surrounding the dog’s death. The family continues to play and go on as if
References: Armbruster, K. (2002). 'Good Dog ': The Stories We Tell about Our Canine Companions and What They Mean for Humans and Other Animals. Papers on Language & Literature, 38(4), 351. Clugston, R. W. (2010). Journey into Literature. San Diego, California: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/books