Dogs in Literature

The literature I want to talk about is The Dog and Sparrow by Grimm Brothers. The story tells about a shepherd who was mistreated by his owner and starved all the time. One day, he was so starved that he went outside to seek food. On his way he met a sparrow. The sparrow helped him to find the food he wanted, and after he was full he laid on the road to sleep. Then a carter with a wagon (carried wine) came and ran over the dog to kill him intentionally, and mocked the sparrow. However, the sparrow managed to spill all the wine and make the carter wrongly hit his own horses. At the end, the sparrow also sought for revenge for her friend on the dog’s owners.

The dog was not the first main character in this story, but there is some important information of the dog’s image. The dog here was portrayed as close to and even dependent on human beings, and he was not that smart and tricky—he could only get his food with the help of sparrow. However, he was kind and friendly in the story, since he became friends with the sparrow in a very short time.

I think a dog was chosen over other animals here due to two reasons. First of all, dogs were well domesticated at that time and lived close to human beings. In fact, they were closer to human beings than other animals. Secondly, dogs were seen as friendly and loyal rather than tricky, so they fit the image that the Grimm brothers wanted—he could easily became friends with the sparrow and put a lot of trust in the sparrow. To conclude, a dog was chosen largely because of socially constructed roles.

Sources Used:

http://www.authorama.com/grimms-fairy-tales-8.html

http://fairytalereviewshere.blogspot.com/2012/11/fairy-tale-1-dog-and-sparrow-by-grimm.html

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