A Dark Brown Dog Summary

Ramonalisa Cummings

ENGL 1302

Karen Peterson

October 19, 2017

Short Story Analysis

A Blast To The Past

Unfortunately, there are many dogs that are being mistreated in the world. That is very ironic due to the fact that a dog is supposed to be a man’s best friend, right? In the short story “A Dark Brown Dog” by Stephen Crane, a dark brown dog with a rope hanging from his neck is found on the street by a little boy and befriended by him. He is later brought home to live with the little boy and is abused by him and his family. The symbolism in this story represents the Jim Crow Era, where African Americans were separate but equal. Throughout the story it mentions how the dog is “praying” for the beatings to stop, which is ironic because dogs

Even though slaves were free, there was still a separate but equal law, known as segregation. “A short rope was hanging from his neck. Occasionally he trod upon the end of it and stumbled.” This shows how the dog or “slave” was free, but basically useless because he is homeless. Because the dog is stumbling, it shows how he does not know what to do with the freedom he has obtained. When the dark brown dog stumbles upon the little boy on the street, he get very excited. The little boy hits the dog on the head as if to put the dog back in his place. This shows that even though the dog or “black man” is no longer a slave, he still has the mindset of one. The little boy represents the way white people were in the south during that era. Every time the little boy would hit the dog, the dog would lay on his back and began to “pray” or ask for forgiveness. “He turned over upon his back and held his paws in a peculiar manner. At the same time with his ears and his eyes, (Crane 15-16) he offered a small prayer to the child.” Since the dog still has that slave mindset, it is almost as though the little boy is his master and he is worshipping him. As the little boy and dog are walking, they reach the little boys house. The dog has a feeling that bad things are going to happen so he tries to resist going inside, the little boy then forces him up the stairs and into the

When the little boy and the dog came home, the little boy sees how his dad is acting and decides to take cover with the dog. The father decides to mess with the dog by hitting him with a coffee pot and knocking furniture on him. "When misfortune came upon the child, and his troubles overwhelmed him, (Crane 112-113) he would often crawl under the table and lay his small distressed head on the dog's back. The dog was ever sympathetic. It is not to be supposed that at such times he took occasion to refer to the unjust beatings his friend, when provoked, had administered to him. "When the little boy yells out for him to stop, the dad just continues. This is symbolism of how blacks were becoming too equal to white people. The father then decides to pick the dog up and throw it out of the window. "A woman watering plants in an opposite window gave an involuntary shout and dropped a flower-pot. A man in another window leaned perilously out to watch the flight of the dog. A woman, who had been hanging out clothes in a yard, began to caper wildly...children ran whooping. "The dog falls five stories down and dies. This symbolizes how black people were lynched, lynching’s were what enforced Jim Crow