Elements Of Humor In 'My Kid's Dog'

Children’s literature is the precedent for the development of all children. Children’s literature varies from poetry to children’s picture books. Every aspect of children’s literature gives an ability to grow a child mentally and develop their ideas and imagination. In early literature, children were romanized to be perfect and well behaved. Author Maurice Sendak counters the idea of a perfect child in his book “Where The Wild Things Are”. Sendak uses his picture book to illustrate a child’s ability to have feelings of anger, resentment, and frustration. The interviewer, Patrick F. Roughen of Red Feather Journal states that“Where the Wild Things Are (1963) contains some of the earliest attempts in children’s literature to represent the intrapsychic challenges of the lives of children. Anger, frustration, and the complexities of parent-child relationships can be found throughout its pages”. “Where the Wild Things Are” reinforces the idea that children are capable of emotions that one would imagine are only depicted in the adult world.

While reading Dr. Bruce Perry’s The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, I found the case of Peter to be the most interesting. At the age of three Peter was rescued from the inhumane conditions of a Russian “baby warehouse” in which one caretaker was responsible for the wellbeing of thirty wailing newborns (Perry and Szalavitz 218). This less than ideal solution for the issue of finding appropriate childcare left Peter and hundreds of other infants deprived of human interaction. During such a crucial period of brain development, this lack of attention had serious repercussions. Luckily, Peter was adopted by extremely devoted American parents who would help pave

At first, the puppy light-heartedly explains an average day to display his playfulness with “[b]alls and sticks” (Doty 1). By starting the poem as a description of a simple day, Doty exceeds the normal phrasing of a sonnet which surprisingly alters normality to display the truth of a dog’s mindset. The puppy’s thoughts highlight his short attention span when he sees a moving object or “squirrel” (Doty 3). Since the poem begins as a light-hearted portrayal of a day in the life of a dog, the shift to an unsettling conclusion comes as a surprise which illuminates the intellectual capacity for dogs to offer insight to humans. This pup experiences the jubilation when he realizes the squirrel he chases is “—oh/ joy—actually scared”

“We got off on the wrong foot. Whining in his pen those first nights. My squirt gun in his face and him blinking from the water. And then the holes in the yard. The so-called accidents in the house. His nose snuffling into my Brooks Brothers trousers. Him slurping my fine Pilsner beer or sneaking bites of my Dagwood sandwich when I fell asleep on the sofa. Also his inability to fetch, to take a joke, to find the humor in sudden air horns. To be dandled, roughhoused, or teased. And then the growling, the skulking, the snapping at my ankles, the hiding from me under the house, and literally thousands of abject refusals to obey. Like, who the hell are you?” (466) Not only does he reveal why the narrator dislikes the dog, but he also reveals to the reader what type of a personality the narrator has. He talks about squirting the dog with a water gun and scaring the dog with sudden air horn blasts. This reveals that maybe the narrator is just as much to blame for the stressed relationship between him and Sparky as Sparky himself is.

Ron Hansen’s work, My Kid’s Dog, is a story about revenge, irony, and circularity. The family pet, Sparky, dies. We are informed of this in the first lines of the piece, “My kid’s dog died. Sparky. I hated that dog (244).” Here Hansen gives us a clue to their relationship, “We got off on the wrong foot. Whining in his pen those first nights. My squirt gun in his face and him blinking from the water. And then the holes in the yard. The so-called accidents in the house (244).” Right off the bat we get a clear sense of the mood between the two.

After Doodle dies, Brother throws his body on top of him crying and “sheltering [his] fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of rain.” Brother grows up with Doodle, teaches him how to walk, and is proud of how much he has accomplished. Brother even calls Doodle as his, showing possessiveness. Nevertheless, he feels guilty, that he was the reason his brother died. The act of sheltering Doodle also shows his guilt because previously, Brother did not protect him or show his love. Nonetheless, now that he is dead, Brother is protecting Doodle because he had not done so before. Another example where a remorseful tone is present is as Brother is hearing the oriole singing, he feels sorrowful as the song “seems to die up in the leaves.” The tone the author sets is opposite to what emotions are typically felt about a bird singing. Instead of making Brother feel happy, it is the opposite, creating a feeling of sorrow and remorse. Hurst’s word choice contributes to this. The word “die” gives off a negative connotation, seeming as if the happiness of the song is fading away in the leaves of the tree. The elm tree also has a direct relationship with Doodle, and this reminder causes sadness and guilt in Brother. Clearly, the tone is impactful in conveying Brother’s

Brother showed him just how incapable he thought Doodle would be by taking him to see his coffin that he would have been buried in if he died. “One day I took him up to the barn loft and showed him his casket, telling him how we all had believed he would die.” (Hurst 3) Just the words that James Hurst wrote “how we all had believed he would die” shows how his family never believed Doodle would be anything. Doodle’s family did not ever give him a chance to prove how capable he was because he had a few issues with his health and he wasn’t as normal as other little boys his age. Doodle seems to be a very passionate person and it’s cool that a little kid like him could care so much and show so much emotion toward a bird like he did with the dead scarlet ibis that he found. “Now we were watching him through the front window, but he didn’t know it. His awkwardness at digging the hole with a shovel whose handle was twice as long as he was made us laugh, and we covered our mouths without hands so he wouldn’t hear.” (Hurst 7) This shows how cruel his family was because laughing at someone is rude and mean. Instead of them seeing the how cute it was that he cared so much about a bird they just thought he was awkward because the shovel was really big for him and her was burying a bird that he didn’t even know. His family is not the nicest most accepting between taking him to see

John Updike's "A Dog's Death" is a heart-wrenching poem in which a narrator remembers a puppy that he and his family rescued. In the poem, the puppy tragically dies due to unseen injuries that it had. In the poem, Updike illustrates how the puppy fought to live and did not give up despite the many obstacles that she faced. Through the use of imagery, Updike is able to describe the brief moments that the family had with the puppy and demonstrate how quickly circumstances changed for his family and the puppy.

The dog came close to Albert without showing any aggressive reaction to him. He didn’t cry at first but when the dog turned and walked away Albert started to cry. Then they did a close contact with the dog, which in turn made the child fall on his side and made him start to cry.

Father’s Impact on Christopher In the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Father is the most influential character to Christopher because he is always there for him, but he also hides the truth from him which causes Christopher to pursue his passion of being a detective and writer. In this book Father is supportive of Christopher’s goals and dreams which encourages Christopher in writing his book. Father shows this when he explains to Mother that he does everything for Christopher from cooking his meals to worrying about him when he wanders off somewhere at night.

The author utilizes a reminiscent tone to reflect on the positive aspects of the dog’s life, while also mentioning her somber last few days. EVALUATION Imagery within John Updike’s, “Dog’s Death,” allows the author to create a tone that evokes the wanted emotions from its audience. He uses phrases such as, “Blood was filling her skin” (Updike 758) and “Of diarrhoea and had dragged across the floor” (Updike 758) to demonstrate heartbreaking moments that occur as the dog dies. Specific words allow the

The viewpoint of an autistic child, in Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, creates a theme of order and logic that directly affects Christopher’s investigation. This perspective differs from the norm; however, it promotes an authentic look into a commonly misunderstood population. As the protagonist, Christopher liberates readers from preconceived notions by forcing them to observe a new perspective. Thus, the readers must reexamine their view on others. Through Christopher’s chain of reason, pattern of cars, and list of rules, Haddon creates a work that reveals to the reader a more meaningful look into the reality of someone with autism.

The American author and humorist, Mark Twain, is well known for his novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. However, he also wrote a variety of short stories to entertain, and inform his readers. For example, in “How to Tell a Story” Twain opinions on the essential concepts of a well told story, and educates readers on how a story should and should not be told. The same concepts of a humorous story from “How to Tell a Story” are used in the dark tale of the act of cannibalism told from the point of view of a congressman on a snow bound train car. The story “Cannibalism in the Cars” by Twain achieves its humorous effect by including the features of a well told story through diction, syntax, and satire.

The play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nigh-Time is about a 15-year-old boy named Christopher who finds his neighbor’s dog in the yard dead. The neighbor then assumes it was him, but since it was not he wanted to find out who did kill the dog. He goes on to write a mystery novel about who killed the dog. Later in the book we find out that Christopher’s father is the one who killed the dog. Christopher is so upset by this he runs away to his mother’s house because he is now scared of his father. While he is there his father comes to take him back home, but he does not want to go. Christopher and his mother decide to go back home, and his father winds up buying him a puppy.

First, I am going to analyze the dog’s relationship with the man. the man is on his way to meet the boys with his only companion, a wolf dog which represents the bond we have with nature. The dog relies on the man to provide warmth by fire and the man needs the dog for his instincts. I believe the that since it is a wolf dog it has both traits as a wild wolf and a domesticated dog. It is like a gateway between humanity and nature which allows us to be a part of it. The dog never left the man’s side because he needed him. The man however, the attempted to kill the dog to spare his life. The man also sent the dog across the lake knowing that the dog’s instincts could get him across. The man heavily relied on the dog for his survival and was willing to sacrifice him for the man’s