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Essay on A Dog's Journey by W. Bruce Cameron

Decent Essays
The main character is developed over the text. In the book the main character is a dog named Buddy, who is reborn as Molly, who is reborn as Max, who is reborn as Toby, who is the ending incarnation of the dog. When the book starts Buddy is an older dog who is a big labrador sort of dog. “The fur on my legs was as black as the rest of me, but down at my paws it had, over time, become tinged with white.”(pg 1) Shows that he was an older dog, because when dogs grow older their hair turns gray, like a humans. He is a brave, kind dog. “I could see he was going to step on the baby. I was afraid of the horse….. My instincts were telling me to back up, to get out of there, but Clarity was in danger and I had to do something, something…show more content…
Wrestling with little dogs had taught me they have very sharp teeth. I would just have to convince bad men that I would be willing to sink mine into their hands.” Shows that he knew he could still protect CJ if he needed to, and that even though he was little he would bite and snarl. After Max dies, he becomes Toby. Toby is a therapy beagle. He is a gentle, calm dog.“This is the one,” she would say. “See how calm he is?”He lives with CJ until she dies, (completing his purpose) after that he lives the rest of his life.

The main idea is to live for your purpose, and strive to fulfill it. This is shown through the text because at the beginning of the book, Buddy thought that he had fulfilled his purpose, so now he could die. But he had thoughts that his role might not be over. After being reborn again he realized his time in the world was not done so he must go onward, even if he did miss his boy. That he could only die when he could, and until then he had to take care of his people even if it hurt himself. His ultimate overall goal was to love his people.

1 fierce dog (pg 192) denotative- aggressive dog connotative- a dog that is feisty, or spunky
This phrase is important because Max was called a fierce dog, and it pretty much sums up what he is.
2 ultimate purpose (pg 10) denotative- final reason something exists connotative- the overall meaning of life
This is important because the entire book is the main character striving to achieve their ultimate
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