"Somewhere a dog barked..."
While reading this novel, I kept noticing the recurrence of a dog barking (or just dogs in general.) I didn't really know what to make of it. At first, I thought it was just a coincidence or that Vonnegut just reeeeeeally loved dogs. But as the time to post another blog approached, I tried to think harder about this motif without looking too deep into it.
I have two theories. One is that the phrase "somewhere a dog barked" is supposed to take the reader away from the current scene and whatever intenseness in involved in that scene and show them that life goes on and that on the grand scheme of things, each individual person's story doesn't affect the entire world. Billy couldn't do anything to chang the war and nobody knew Billy or cared about his story. Same thing for most of the other people that died in the Dresden bombing.
The other theory that I have is that the dogs are supposed to blur that line between Good and Evil further. Let's look at the scene with the German Shepard and the farmers-now-German-Soldiers. From afar, we are just given the sound of the dog barking. That is supposed to trigger fear and also represent how tough the soldiers are (a.k.a it's dramatic.) But when Billy finally encounters the barking dog, it is anything but scary. The dog had its tail between its legs and was a farming dog, just as equipped for war as Billy was. From afar, the enemy sounds scary, tough, and can be characterized just by a dog's vicious bark. But up close, it's just a farm dog.
Any other theories?
I think its also an interesting way that Vonnegut could be showing that outside of Billy Pilgrim's crazy life, the world is still moving along. Outside of the war, there are dogs barking, time still moves, children still play.
ReplyDeleteDogs are neutral. They can be on either side or no side, like Princess, the German German Shepherd who "didn't know what game was being played." I really like your first theory of taking interest away from the action. A faraway bark/sound makes you prick up your ears (so to speak) to listen for something, and takes focus from what you're doing (related to Vonnegut's suspense-draining).
ReplyDeleteI don't have a theory, but I would agree with your suggestion that Vonnegut seems like a dog person. I don't have any evidence apart from his novels, but he writes dogs and their interactions with humans in such a nice, familiar way that suggests a lot of experience in this area. In chapter 1, "Vonnegut's" own dog is a source of companionship and unproblematic comfort when he's up late, drunk, calling old war buddies to talk and finding no one to relate to. And Billy's dog serves a similar role. And poor old "Princess," the German farm dog, is just eager to know "what game is being played." There's a kind of moral purity to dogs in this novel, and a kind of innocence, that is compelling at a really simple level.
ReplyDeleteThe dog barking reminds me of how Vonnegut also uses the bird tweet as something to say when there is really nothing else to say, maybe he was using the dog barking to achieve a similar goal? Vonnegut also never refers to the Germans as being evil, just as the dog sounds scary but is actually terrified and harmless. Both of these interpretations of the dog bark serve to show that war isn't really how it is glorified to be.
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