The Analysis of "A Dark Brown Dog" by Stephen Crane

Read the story A Dark Brown Dog. Click here . . .

Elements of The Dark Brown Dog
•    Plot
We can see that there so many physical conflicts here or external conflict between the family (especially the father) and the dog. In other hand, there is internal conflict, conflict in the dog itself (when he felt so suffer, cried a song of infinite lowliness and despair but he knew that he couldn’t leave the child). But the major conflict here is between the family and the dog. The problem comes from the family who didn’t like the dog. They did something cruel to the dog.

Then, we can see the climax of the story is when the father got drunk and he was not too aware, he revealed his anger to the dog like he was on the top of his anger. He knocked the dog down with a heavy coffeepot. We know that because of that, the dog yelling in supreme astonishment and fear. The father threw the small body of the dog and the child cried and screamed, tried to avoid the what the father did.

•    Characterization
There are some characters in this story; there are the dog, the child, father, mother (the family), and the neighbor. They divided into two kinds, major and minor characters. Major characters are the dog and the child, and the others belong to minor characters.

Dog
The dog had a very small body, soft and weak body is the dominant of the story. The dog was a very unlucky animal, pity animal, a suffer animal. The dog is a flat character because it remains the same, from the first time the dog met the boy until he died he never changed his attitude or mind towards his friend/the child. He was very faithful to the child. Even though the child ever beat him, but he forgave the  and always be a good friend to the child

I think all of characters are flat, because from the beginning to end they all are same, their attitude, still the same.
The other characters are protagonist (except the child), they molest the dog badly and even they hate the dog so much.
•    Theme
The theme or the main idea of the story is friendship between human and dog, and a faithfulness of a dog towards his master.

•    Setting
If we take a look to the story, the events happened in different places. First, some event happened in the street (when the dog and the child met in the very first time). Second, some events happened in a room or inside a house (when the family mistreated the dog in the kitchen). Third, some events happened in pavement (when the child in the first time saw the dog died).

Literary Analysis of A Dark Brown Dog
A Dark Brown Dog by Stephen Crane is a story about a little dog, a young boy and their relationship.  A dark brown dog was a story, which told about the unfortunate dog and story about a friendship relation between a child and a dog. We can see from the story that the dog always got a bad treatment from the family, as shows in the quotation below :
“Ever after, the family were careful how they threw things at the dog. Moreover, the latter grew very skilful in avoiding missiles and feet. In a small room containing a stove, a table, a bureau and some chairs, he would display strategic ability of a high order, dodging, feinting and scuttling about among the furniture. He could force three or four people armed with brooms, sticks and handfuls of coals, to use all their ingenuity to get in a blow. And even when they did, it was seldom that they could do him a serious injury or leave any imprint.”
Even for the first time the child met the dog, he also mistreated the dog. It shows in the quotations below,
“The child beat his pursuer with a small stick he had found. The dog lay down and prayed until the child had finished, and resumed his journey. Then he scrambled erect and took up the pursuit again.”
“On the way home the child turned many times and beat the dog, proclaiming with childish gestures that he held him in contempt as an important dog, with no value save for a moment.”
“Sometimes, too, the child himself used to beat the dog, although it is not known that he ever had what could be truly called a just cause. “
But the dog forgave the child and the family and he still stayed at the house because the dog felt that he has found his true friends there as shows in the quotation below :
“The dog always accepted these thrashing with an air of admitted guilt. He was too much of a dog to try to look to be a martyr or to plot revenge. He received the blows with deep humility, and furthermore he forgave his friend the moment the child had finished, and was ready to caress the child’s hand with his little red tongue.”
Although the dog was very unfortunate but he felt very lucky met the child. The dog felt that the child was his close friend. That the reason why the dog chose to stay alive with the child and the cruel family.
The child and the dog had a very close relationship. We called it “friendship”.  The boy protects the dog from being beaten and hurt by the father, but in turn still beats the dog. The dog accepts these beating from the child, because the child is the one he is faithful to. When the father fails to feed the dog the child attempts to fetch some food for his companion.
In the end of the story, the dog closed his sufferings. The dog killed by the father. The child was very sad. He lost a friend that was faithful to him. The child cried looking at a death body of the dark brown dog.

Stephen Crane was an American Novelist, short story writer, poet and journalist. Stephen Crane’s fiction is typically categorized as representative of Naturalism, Realism, Impression or a mixture of the three. When Stephen Crane wrote a Dark Brown Dog short story, it represented their characteristics, which showed naturalism. (stephencranebibliography)
The author wrote the story to show toward the readers about loyalty, friendship, and faithfulness between the dog and the child. In a dark brown dog, Crane wanted to show that a dog is an animal that is very loyal, and opinion that a dog is a friend of human is true.
Back to Crane, he liked animal especially dog. From the source, Wikipedia; when Crane back to England (England and Spanish-American War) and his friend Velestino and the dog sickened and died soon after his arrived, Crane who had great love for dogs wrote an emotional letter to a friend an hour after the dog’s death. In December 1879, Crane wrote a poem about wanting a dog for Christmas, entitled “ I’d Rather Have” at age 8. So we can say that the author; Stephen Crane loved dog.
The author wanted to make the readers know that a dog also had a heart, had a feeling. In this story author described the feeling of the dog when the family did something bad to him well. The author can bring the readers as if the readers were the dog itself. Friendship is about loyalty, whenever our friends need us to be there, to protect and care them; it showed by the dog towards the child.
If we look closer to the story, A Dark Brown Dog is a symbol. A dark brown dog represents a man who has recently been freed from the chains of slavery. Slaves had been emancipated, and equality was supposedly underway. Unfortunately that was not the truth of what really went on in the United States. Stephen Crane flirted with the reality by wrote this story when he was living in America. Many blacks were either still kept as slaves, or subjugated into serf like state. A dark brown dog, which the story derives its title form, enters the story and takes on the role of a former slave. In the beginning, he is seen walking down the road, tripping over the long piece of rope tied around his neck. This piece of rope is symbolic of the former slavery which became free.
On the opposite, there is a child, by the author it is a boy. The boy represents the generation of people in United States. The dog and the child regarded each other with curiosity, as two strangers from different worlds often do. The dog makes advances towards the child, and they start to play. Unfortunately the dog becomes too excited, so the child has to put the dog in its proper place by beating it. This is what people do during the period of time that black person was almost equivalent to a dog. The dog doesn’t run away or bite the child, but vice versa, he admits his fault. The author wants to show us how the dog needs a friends and vivid metaphors “the dog offered more prayers” , “ the dog apologized and expressed regret” are additional indicator of the fact.
When Crane’s mother and father died, he moved to New York. He lived around pour people and saw how the poor socialized with each other. Since Crane lived in New York among the poor he probably saw this kind of family there. As we know the father of many poor family usually is a drunken. So the background of the story is the poor society in New York around 1890.
The child and the dog begin to bond, as master and servant often do. The child protects the dog from being beaten and hurt by the father, but in turn still beats the dog. The dog accepts these beatings from the child, because the child is the one he is faithful for. When the father fails to feed the dog, the child attempts to fetch some  food for him. This shows the reader that the hatred of black people is something which is taught, not innate.
The dramatic death ends Stephen Crane’s story. From beginning to end, it is richly detailed with symbolic messages of the time he lived trough in the United States. Symbolism gives the reader a flash back to the past, to what really happened in United States and the slavery. At the end of the story, the dog closes his suffering. The dog dies and killed by the father. Maybe it is good for the dog itself, no more suffering the pain. I think Crane decided to end the story like this because he thought that it is the best solution for the dog/the blacks to end their pain rather than suffering everyday through their lives. It’s tragic how the father killed the dog, he was drunk and did the things he wanted to do for having fun. By this event, the father really disliked the dog, disrespected and disgusting. This is really a sad ending that Crane brings to the reader, the sadism of the father; the poor dog. No one has the rights to takes other’s life. But I rather choose the dog died rather than he had to suffering more pain in that family.