“Kill every dog, every cat, she said slowly. Kill every mouse, every bird. Kill every fi sh. Anyone objects, kill them too.” said the mother.Everyone is born self-centred. As humans, one holds oneself to be the centre of the universe and puts oneself before “others”. Love alone is the source powerful enough to break away from this self-centeredness, for when love exists, it’s the only time one puts the loved one before oneself, and this centredness around oneself breaks away. Being a father, I have realised that the daughter and father relationship is one of the most beautiful experiences we encounter. The death of the little girl that the plot of the story circles around is the most saddening part, the way her parents suffer the grief of losing their dear daughter. It is interesting how uncle Tim uses this loss to gain power.
A mother and father lose their daughter to a dog attack in this narrative. The father is the narrator, who goes on a journey to fi nd the manic dogs alongside his child's uncle, a person who, although never having shown any ambition or spirit before, makes it his life's mission to see that every infected dog is slaughtered personally. While honourable at the beginning, Saunders' story demonstrates that human nature may lead to chaos regardless of how pure the intentions in this story yet they escalate into a full-f l edged witch hunt, with the city's dogs, cats, and then all animals being hunted down.
Another aspect if examined is that whenever power is centralised in fewer and fewer hands, chaos is destined. The uncle's character seems to enjoy the passion and uses the tragedy as an excuse to gain popularity and power.
- Topics I explored through this story.
- Suffering for the loss of someone you love.
- Centralisation of power always corrupts.
- Fascists use people's pain, suffering, faith and fear to centralise power.
