Free «Puppy» Essay Paper

The writing style of the story “Puppy” by George Sanders totally differs from the stories I used to read, because the author wrote it in a unique way that reminds a light puff of the wind or a tender flitting of a butterfly at summer noon. The author pays a lot of attention to “the autumn sun” and “cornfield” revealing the vastness of the nature being and connecting the imaginary warmth that sun must emit with the most precious thing on the Earth – the family. I merely adore that airiness, full of freedom and life, the author represents in his story “plunging” into the non-existent, but imaginary world. However, the sense of the reality shows that there are two different families being not equal in their life’s position and style living in rich and poor conditions. Undoubtedly, it caused me to muse about such notions as poverty and charity that follow each other, but often oppose. Moreover, I felt some piteousness and “bitterness” when I imagined such a terrifying picture as “a young boy, just a few years younger than Josh, harnessed and chained to a tree” (Sanders n.p.). Even if the child was naughty, how could a mother treat his son like this method that would negatively influence the boy’s understanding of the reality. I suppose that the punishment can be different and more effective than Callie used.

The author discovers some mental realm based on the imagination that namely, the protagonist Marie represents it in all expressions, especially as for “the haunted house”. The words “Twice already Marie had pointed out the brilliance of the autumnal sun on the perfect field of corn, because the brilliance of the autumnal sun on the perfect field of corn put her in mind of a haunted house-not a haunted house she had ever actually seen but the mythical one that sometimes appeared in her mind” (Sanders n.p.) make the reader imagine the house that does not exist. Thus, this detail attracts the reader’s attention very much developing his own hidden world of the imagination. Besides, I can assume that the title of the story has both direct and indirect meanings, because the puppy’s description and treatment lead to the total absurd. It seems that it is a majestic creature, but only one part, where the boy is like a dog, confirms the idea of the double meaning of the plot, which is indeed a bit cruel. Thus, this metaphor is indicated like a thin thread during the whole plot in order to muse that in some cases, human life does not cost anything, because Callie troubles about puppy not thinking about her own little child. In such a way, the author touches different themes in this story drawing attention to poverty, love and relationships in the family, upbringing of children and others. Marie and Callie love their husbands and children, but this love is not the same and the upbringing of the children differs as well. The words “she loved him for his playfulness” (Sanders, n.pag.) said by Marie, show that in spite of the fact she is a wife and mother of two children, she behaves like a child herself. Besides, her husband never appears in the story saying only “Ho Ho”, but nothing more. As for Callie, the author emphasizes that “she hadn’t made his life harder by being a smart-ass, they had lain there making plans, like why not sell this place and move to Arizona and buy a car wash… and then they’d got to wrestling around or Callie, she is more realistic” (Sanders n.p.) proving that she understands this world in another way.

The author shows both “sides of the coin” in order to draw a parallel between two lives including two protagonists Marie and Callie, their relationships in the family with husbands and children as they differently express the divine feeling of love treating life like two components of the universe that have the opposite ways, that will never be combined as the whole thing, because this thing means the length of a lifetime. Moreover, as I indicated earlier, Sanders matches the obvious method of the children’s upbringing when Callie’s child lives worse than an animal. On the other hand, I cannot judge either Marie or Callie for those issues they make wrong, because Marie used to her life behaving like a child’s friend being an adult, and Callie lives in poverty overcoming the difficulties she often encounters. Undoubtedly, the author makes me feel sympathy with Callie because it seems that she exactly knows the price of life due to the strict conditions of the destiny.