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Russian Dogs Research Paper

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Ever since man learned how to domesticate animals they have been an important aspect of human life whether they are watchful eyes in the night as man sleeps or carrying him across great distances quickly. Russian science fiction is no different in this reliance on animals, using them as protagonists, reoccurring symbols of something greater, or as plot devices the main character can open up to explaining their emotions however, one theme seems to appear more often than any other. In this paper, I propose that in Russian science fiction the dog is loyal and trustworthy which comes from Russia's long national love of dogs. While this animal is not the only one used by Russian sci-fi authors, dogs are the most prominently used for their symbolism. …show more content…

Even their current President, Vladimir Putin, who has been known to be the bully and stone cold on the international playground has several dogs that he has been photographed smiling and playing with in the snow with (Prez Putin). The capital of Moscow has so many stray dogs that not only have they learned how to use the subway system but that Russian people have created a popular website strictly for posting pictures of dogs on the metro (The Dogs). The nation's love and trust with dogs has written roots dating back to medieval times, with the Russian folk tale of Tsarevitch Ivan, the Firebird and the Gray Wolf (The Tale) which starts off with a king who has 3 sons with Ivan being the youngest. The King has a tree that produces golden apples and at the start of the story there is a firebird that has been stealing them one per night, so to combat this the King offers half his kingdom and the title of his heir to whoever can catch the bird. The two older brothers attempt to catch the bird and fail leaving it up to Ivan who manages to pull of a feather which stops the apple stealing yet the King …show more content…

Russian press knew that their people loved Laika so much that they lied about how she passed away in space, saying she went peacefully from the oxygen running out when really she died from stress and overheating relatively soon into the space flight so they would not be as heartbroken (Latson). In the story The Heart of a Dog, a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, a scientist experimenting with eugenics attempts to operate on a dog he brought in from the street giving him a human pituitary gland and testicles which results in him turning into a man with horrific behavior with the transformation being reversed when the testicles and pituitary gland are removed (Bulgakov). This story shows how in Russian culture they believe that dogs are only able to be brutish when given human parts, since in the story the dog is taken off the streets and acts very well behaved but once he is given human parts he becomes an animal. A quote in the book that summarizes it very well is an exchange between Professor Preobrazhenzky who is doing the operation and his assistant Dr. Bromenthal whose point of view the middle of the story is told from who wants to put the man-dog down. The assistant explains the man-dogs behavior with

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