Robert and the Dog
Ken Saro-Wiwa's short story "Robert and the Dog" tells about a steward and his master and mistress, the main character is the steward: Robert.
To understand the character Robert, one must look a bit at his background. Ken Saro-Wiwa has left several clues in the text that can tell us a lot about this. Before Robert was employed by the young medical doctor, he had worked for several different households. It is indicated in the text that these had not been as pleasant a workplace as with the young doctor. It seems that Robert had been used to his employers' shouting and losing their tempers. And never calling him by his first name. Also the gratitude Robert feels towards his new employer, for his mere politeness, indicates that Robert is not accustomed to gestures of this sort. All this shows how Robert probably has been degraded and suppressed throughout his whole life.
Later in the story Saro-Wiwa tells that Robert never misses a chance to exercise the power he has over his family. This type of pathological behaviour is common among people with an inferiority complex, something Robert is very likely to have attained, due to the treatment he has received. Later when the dog is introduced to the story, Robert has enlightenment and reveals to us and to himself his place in the hierarchy. He had always thought himself above them, but now discovers he is down with the dogs. This shattering blow to his self-image makes him aware of his own feelings and features. When his master throws him a treat or a kind word, he "wags his tail" and feels indefinite gratitude, just like a dog. He does his master's bidding with a heartfelt glee, just like a dog. And he loves his master above all else, just like Bingo, the dog. The revelation causes hatred to swell his servant mind, at length resulting in Robert taking a step up the hierarchical ladder, and the tragic premature death of Bingo, the dog.
Ken Saro-Wiwa's short story about Robert and the dog Bingo also portrays a culture clash that not everybody thinks about, the view of the pets. In our rich western world pets are not uncommon. A lot of people have them, and among the most popular are dogs. Pets or "house animals" are nothing new, man has for the last 15 000 years kept animals as companions.
Have you ever had the pleasure of sitting beside an animal on the Skytrain on your commute to work or stood in line beside one at the grocery store? Did you know that there's a difference between service dogs and emotional-support animals? These are one of the many struggles that individuals are faced when in public. The article "Pets Allowed" written by Patricia Marx gives you an inside look on the struggles people are faced with while also explaining the rules and laws regulating emotional-support animals that many aren't aware of. Many business owners are being taken advantage of by pet
Robert is a very interesting character with strong values, preservation of life being one of them. He goes through an emotional and psychological change throughout the novel. He assigns himself a responsibility of taking care of his sister
From the beginning of the story, and throughout most of it until the end, the narrator makes comments about his dislike for blind people. He is unwilling to meet Robert, his wife’s friend of 10 years because he can’t see. The narrator is so fixed on his physical handicap that it makes him unable to try and get to know Robert’s character at all. His
Pets can have real jobs like people. Dogs-rescuers save lives together with people. For instance, when people get in appalling avalanches courageous dogs-rescuers help to find them. Also, some breeds of dogs, e.g. sheep dog, badger-dog, labrador, spaniel, and so on, serve at customs. More than that, they can find illegal things like drugs, dangerous weapons, or explosive stuff. What’s more, they help to control order and assist in avoiding terrible acts of terrorism. Some people literally can't live without pets. For example, blind people need guide-dogs to move around their homes. The connection between such masters and their pets becomes really strong and truly close and a person gets pet-dependent in this case. Enthusiastic owners devote their life to pets. They try to make the best for them and like to take part in exhibitions. Pet's clothes, food, houses, brushes take on special value for
Want? -"(P721). By treating everyone generically and denying their importance, the narrator is trying to make himself seem more important in the lives of others. He simply calls his wife's first husband "the officer"(P720) or "the man"(P720). His refusal to even use his wife's name while narrating as well as constantly referring to Robert as the "the blind man"(P720) shows that he has decided to block out the importance of the people around him. He is even less considerate of Roberts wife, whom he refers to as "Beulah, Beulah"(P721). The narrator chooses not to see everyone around him as individuals, but as a whole group. A group he is scared to look at. The narrator's feelings toward Robert are...
I believe that if it weren’t for Robert’s visit and presence, the narrator more than likely wouldn’t have had this kind of experience. Maybe, the narrator wouldn’t have changed his mind of thinking and feeling at that moment. Who knows if he did change for the long run, but maybe it was a much-needed moment that he was eager to have, for himself, for his relationship sake. To realize that there is much more to seeing then what he just sees in front of him, because Robert taught him that even though you have your vision, some can still be blind to
The narrator has a negative view of himself and it rubs off on him before his initial meeting with Robert. The narrator clearly is was passionately in love with his wife early in their relationship and she clearly loved him. The narrator is very protective of her and no
The other day I was sitting with a friend of mine in a class, all of a sudden she turns to me saying, "You got to see this." Expecting to be handed a phone to read some text or watch a video to my surprise she hands me a copy of National Geographic turned to an article about the domestication of foxes. "Borrow it from me, I know you're into animal stuff, you got to read it." Only my friends would do this, but this article is a really great starting point to discussing pets. I think it is important to explain how I happened upon the article, because I doubt I would have gotten passed an article about wild foxes, or wild animals for that matter. The fact that they were able to breed foxes specifically to be pets for humans was the reason of interest, as her later comment that, "I totally want one, they are so adorable" shows . Pets are our strongest connection to the natural world; they are the part of nature we interact with on a day-to-day basis. Pet stores, like Petco which I visited, do a lot to mediate and influence manner in which relationships between people and their pets' form. Pets have a distinct role in people's lives as children, best friends, and members of the family which not only impact how the pet is treat it also impacts how other animals are seen and ranked in their importance towards humans.
In a way he was kind of a “blind” person at the beginning of the story, he was blinded by jealousy and fear to find out that the blind man and his wife share and intimate relationship. Once he got to know the real Robert, he opened up to him and realizes that his wife and and the blind man are nothing more than friends. The author makes it seem as if the narrator is not happy in his marriage, since jealousy doesn't show good sign of a healthy relationship. The narrator thinks his wife could be secretly in love with the blind man and, he thinks that because his wife usually writes about things that matters to her. We can also see that he definitely loves his wife, since at the end of the story he is nice to Robert in a gesture to please his wife, turning him into a friend in the end. As for the narrators wife Some of the traits observed in her are kindness, sincerity and openness. She gets friends easily, but they doesn't las long. This gives a clue why Robert’s friendship is so important to her, but she doesn’t realize that by her trying to make Robert feel comfortable, she is forgetting her husband’s needs, which makes him jealous and maybe
He is also seen to have a constant negative attitude towards his wife and also perceive other people through prejudices, bias, and jealousies. The husband is seen to describe the life of Robert’s wife as being pathetic as a result of the jealous he develops on the relationship of the two.
Throughout the book, Robert develops a bond with the animals as he lacks connections with the everyday people in his life. Robert’s natural instinct to save but failure to do so is portrayed with horses: “I’m going to break ranks and save ...
The other emotion highly present from the beginning is that of the attitude of Robert. We are introduced to what appears to be a quick witted and pleasant man, especially considering the recent death of his wi...
Having an exotic pet is not a relatively new idea. The idea to have an exotic animal has been around since the Mesopotamia was thriving around 3000 BC, and these pets were a symbol that the owner was of royalty or relatively rich (McNie). Owning an exotic animal made a person relatively famous among the population that was not as fortunate to have one. This supremacy of owning an exotic animal has prospered throughout the centuries gaining popularity, especially during the 1960s in England where anyone that was able to have an exotic animal became favored among movie stars and the general population (Bourke and Rendall 22). Nowadays people owning exotic animals cherish their time with them while providing the animal with a proper habitat and diet. Toby a tiger that is now under the care of the National Tiger Sanctuary was loved and cared for by a private home for most of his life along with many other ...
We see in the wife how straightforward she is but at times she cannot express herself fully just like the husband she does this when she gets upset and throws the potato to the ground in anger. Makes it feel as there is an underlying problem going on that the reader does not know about. Robert means hope to the wife because he is one of the oldest friends she has. She and her husband do not have mutual friends and she hopes for him to recognize the blind man as a possibility for him to make friends and share something in common to bring them closer she emphasizes that if he loves her that he would be nice to Robert therefor it is visible the pressure that is out in the husband to perform well when he meets Robert and understand that he is a dear friend of his wife. The wife trying to pay attention to Robert forgets how her husband feels about this situation and underestimates the narrator feelings. In the short story we realize that contact is always the best connection you can have, examples are when the blind says this beats the tapes when he is talking to the wife also at the end when the husband creates the painting of the cathedral instead of dictating it to Robert. For the narrator the routine the monotony, and his own limited vision leads him to encounter an experience that he once never felt before it was describing a picture to a blind man without having to speak a word. Meanwhile this was going on the wife had fallen asleep and all of this progress between them was occurring. Again, something amazing that is not visible. The ending concludes abruptly because it does not say if the husband and Robert became good friends or the wife gets closer to the husband because of his newly relationship with one of her friends or if he just went back to being superficial and at times ignorant. In spite of the narrator's jokes, and exaggerated assumptions. He is more blind than