Dark Brown Dog Psychoanalytic Criticism

Toni Morrison’s main purpose of animal imagery throughout Beloved is to more deeply connect the underlying question of self-identity that African Americans experienced as a result of slavery. This question specifically relates from the widely accepted subhuman treatment of African Americans in the South even years following the emancipation of slavery, and it provides a deeper understanding of the brutal dispositions of white slaveowners. Characters in Beloved, including Sethe, Stamp Paid, and Paul D, who have directly experienced this type of animalistic dehumanization as former slaves find themselves frequently question their own fundamental self worth and identity. Through constant abuse and antagonization, these slaves unavoidably accept themselves as subordinate to animals. This sentiment derives from several instances throughout the novel where these characters directly confronted with comparisons to animals as a result of this sub humane treatment by former slave owners. Toni Morrison uses animal imagery to more effectively emphasize the relation between the brutal and dehumanizing experiences in the South with the actual barbaric dispositions of white slave owners.

Fear had taken over the south, whites were afraid to stand against the crowd, and blacks had to fear their lives every day. Two black men saw a car stopped on the side of the road and offered to help, little did they know they’re kindness would turn so ugly because of racism.

The child symbolizes slavery because it is not free and is a servant to all the citizens of Omelas. The narrator clearly gives the reader a contradiction stating, “…they did without…slavery,” but she fails to conclude that the child is a servant of Omelas as a slave is to its owner. The citizens of the city are described as equal, prosperous, and joyous, except for the child who is malnourished, mistreated, and confined. The child lives very much as slaves did in America, where the birth of a slave’s child was to become a slave and never to be freed. The filth and dirt on the bottom floor of the tiny prison where the child sleeps reflects what many slaves used to sleep in. Another symbol that reflects slavery in the story would be the smelly mops next to the rusty buckets in the corner of the dirty closet, which serves as a reminder the role the child has as a slave, as a servant to the people. The narrator tells the reader, “[i]t is afraid of the mops. It

Animals by Simon Rich is an outstanding short story which takes a unique perspective on the everyday life in a classroom. The story is written from the point of view of a hamster who spends his tortured life entrapped in a cage. From the first point in this story, it is clear that the purpose of the writing is not to understand the hamster, but rather to analyze the different actions of the people, and to discover that how they act towards the hamsters reflects on their character. It is curious to view the everyday interactions of people through a different set of eyes, that is done by humanizing the narrator’s perspective. Based on the actions of the many people and the treatment of the class pet, the author suggests that human nature is very much a product of the financial circumstances a person is subjected to.

The story reveals that there is some degree of evil in everyone because humans are born with the freewill to do right or wrong. As humans, we are born into an imperfect world and we have many flaws. We can choose to be good honest people or evil doers. The older man in Young Goodman Brown said that Goodman Brown had more evil power then he did. This older man could represent an evil spirit or even the devil himself. This line in the story could

As children grow up, they open their eyes to the harsh truths in the world around them that they once did not understand or question. This is experienced by the main characters of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. The story is of a girl called Scout and her older brother, Jem, who go through the trials of growing up in the fictional small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930s. Racism is rampant in the mindset of the townspeople, shown when the children’s lawyer father, Atticus, takes the case of an obviously innocent African-American man and they convict him in their hearts before the trial even starts. Through this all, we can see the theme of loss of innocence in the children. Lee uses characterization to portray

Although this book is titled, “The Black Codes of the South,” the writer begins his story discussing slavery, then leads up to emancipation, where four million slaves were freed. The freedom of slaves brought about the enactment of the Black Codes in the southern states. Interestingly, the writer includes newspaper sources from the South, as well as the North, excerpts from various plantation owners ‘diaries, notices and laws. The Black Codes came to fruition because the Southerners needed them as laborers , and because the free Negros were not anxious to sign contracts, the South labeled them as idle and vagrants

That child was Janie’s mother who ended up being half white half black. Janie’s mother was raped by her schoolteacher when she was 17. She then gave birth to Janie and ran away. Nanny explains, “She was only seventeen, and something’ lak dat to happen! Lawd a’mussy… Couldn’t git her to stay here and nowhere else” (Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston 73). Because Janie was a quarter black she faces judgment from others. She explains how her grandmother had to raise her since her mother left her behind. Nanny tells Janie “Ah even hated de way you was born. But, all de same Ah said thank God, Ah got another chance. Ah wanted to preach a great sermon about colored women sittin’ on high, but they wasn’t no pulpit for me. Freedom found me wid a baby daughter in mah arms” (2.56). Although her situation is tragic, it makes Janie stronger. Janie is able to learn from the mistakes of the women that came before her. Virginia Heffernan states “In spite of her circumstances, Janie stubbornly believes that she deserves to be rich, happy and sexually satisfied” (The New York Times). Because she is fair-skinned, her beauty makes others envy her. The silver lining in Janie’s situation Nanny stepping up to be her parent and loving Janie to her best ability. Although the women in her life were not perfect, it aids Janie to remain strong Janie was raised in West Florida surrounded by white people. Janie was blinded and did not realize that she was black. Janie

William Wells Brown was born a slave but died a free man. He wrote an autobiography about his life as a slave. He went into detail of how he and others were treated so cruelly. His master had owned forty slaves, they lived on a rather large plantation and their main production was of hemp and tobacco. This plantation was located some forty odd miles from St. Charles, Missouri. The master had no family but kept a female slave in the house with him to oversee the plantation. Every morning at four, a bell would sound, this was the signal to get up, eat and get to work. If any slave was late to the fields they would immediately receive ten lashes from the negro-whip. Brown was not a field slave so he had only heard and witnessed from a distance of this lashing. He

The story stars with a little boy born, who is the son of Crazy Horse. This boy is different from the others with the unusually lighter hair color, which gave him his name of Light Hair. This difference is a source of teasing from the other boys. In the early years of his life, we learn that not only is he

Frederick Douglass, author of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, illustrates an emotional and extremely tragic story that describes the struggles of a slave Pre-Civil War in the South. Douglass writes with the sole purpose of showing the truth about slavery and how inhumane the slaves were treated. The slaves treated like animals and fed even worse than animals. Throughout Douglass’ narrative, he uses blunt diction to express how serious the situation is, figurative language to convey imagery to make it more emotional, and ethos numerously to make the story more credible in the hopes of abolishing slavery.

Aware of the societal policies and practices discriminating against them, the African Americans in “Sonny’s Blues” perceive this societal oppression as a “darkness” surrounding them. The darkness in “Sonny’s Blues” is the metaphorical embodiment of their suffering and the eventual culmination of that suffering: death. The narrator remembers the darkness in his youth, when he saw “the darkness coming, and the darkness in the faces” (11), which frightened him. The narrator was afraid of his destiny, afraid of the brutal reality awaiting him, afraid of the finality of death. He hoped that “the hand which stroke[d] his forehead [would] never stop — [would] never die… that there [would] never come a time when the old folks [wouldn’t] be around…” (11). This darkness, the darkness of racism and the darkness of death, affects all the black populace of “Sonny’s Blues.”

(1) Braden’s analysis was a very deep reading on what he saw behind the story. But after reading deeper into the life of Stephen Crane it is very easy to see that “A Dark Brown Dog” is the story based off what Crane witnessed on the streets. The young boy lived in a very run down part of the city in a fifth story apartment; tales of the father coming home and abusing not only the dog but his family as well.

experiences a realization about life when there is an incident with a dog. The narrator then expresses his

Wellington had been murdered, but still Christopher decided to pick up the dog and hold it. After all Christopher loved dogs especially Wellington. During that time, his neighbor Mrs. Shears who owned the dog came out shouting and screaming. Soon the police arrived at the crime scene, the police man touched Christopher. However Christopher was autistic and he did not like being touched, so he assaulted the police officer and was put into jail. His father was soon notified and he reached to the jail very soon.