Beware Of The Dog By Roald Dahl

In “Beware of the Dog” by Roald Dahl, the author develops the theme that things are not always as they appear through foreshadowing, conflict, and situational irony. In the beginning of the story, Pilot Peter Williamson is flying a Spitfire. While in flight, he injures his leg really badly after it is blown off by a cannon and he decides to unbuckle himself, flip the plane over, and fall. In this hospital, after Peter wakes up and the nurse and doctor try to reassure the pilot that he was in Brighton, the nurse started scrubbing Peter’s right arm, chest, then his left leg. As she did this, she complaines in agony how “this wretch soap won’t lather at all. It’s the water. It’s as hard as nails” (203). As these words escape her lips, they seemed

as if they are “never being still” (206) because of her jumpy attitude of “never looking at anything for more than a moment and moving too quickly from one place to another” (206). Furthermore, from his time in Brighton as a kid, the pilot remembers that in “the baths which he used to take at schools in Brighton…, the water was so soft that you had to take a shower afterwards to get all the soap off your body” (203).

After a brief moment of silence, Peter said, “in Brighton, the water isn’t …” (203). Then he paused not finishing that sentence, and just sat in silence. The author uses foreshadowing to illustrate that the plot has started to leave Peter and readers in suspense realizing that something is offbeat, hinting that this is not Brighton. This proves that no matter how much the spies try, you cannot always believe what appears in front of you. Later in the story, after experiencing more foreshadowing clues, it was time for Peter to rest. Yet, that night, Peter was restless looking back at all of the clues, “he lay awake thinking of the Junkers 88 and of the hardness of the water”

(205). The use of conflict demonstrates how Peter is laying there in his thoughts rethinking all of these indicators that are trying to lead him to understand where he actually is, but making him fight against his own thought overall leading to internal conflict. This guides Peter to uncover the little “mistakes” in this room, that have not been given to him but found, that will led to him uncovering the complete, general picture.

Towards the end of the novel, Peter has wakes up and “just as the first light of day was showing through the slit in the curtains over the window. The room was still dark, but he could tell that it was already beginning to get light outside… He looked around the room. The nurse had taken the roses out the night before. There was nothing except the table with a packet of cigarettes, a box of matches, and an ashtray. The room was bare. It was no longer warm or friendly. It was not even comfortable, just cold and empty, and very quiet” (205). Looking at the window 10 feet away Peter got on his hands and knees and crawled to a window pushing his face on the glass. “There were three words, and slowly he spelled the letters out loud to himself as he managed to read them. G-A-R-D-E-A-U-C-H-I-E-N. Garde au chien” (205). Which meant “beware of the dog” in French. This quote exemplifies epiphany, or when Peter has a “Ah ha” moment when he realizes where he actually is. Although this event would not have been possible without his curiosity, it has an unexpected ending changing Peter’s whole

perspective. The gloaming room would look so friendly, but without the roses the room was just cold and barren with a tenebrous feel, proving that this room could change just like that. Although it may be convincing, readers can learn that many situations may be masked and they need to be aware of little facts and details.