STUDY GUIDE
Table of Contents o Plot Summary
2
o Chapters
3
Section 1: Dear Pen Pal & Canis Exequiae
3
Section 2: Nirvana, Where Swine Live
& The Pianist and the Platypus
5
Section 3: Spork
7
Section 4: A Segue I Suppose & The Viper's Nest
9
Section 5: Drama & You're Invited!
11
Section 6: Nocturne and The Hangover
13
Section 7: Fire Is Bad
15
Section 8: Our Sister of Mercy & Salisbury Steak
17
Section 9: Warsaw War Song & Mal Di Luna
19
Section 10: Taphephobia, Peer Counseling & Changing Evolution
21
Section 11: Brothers and Sisters & Dear CB
23
o Characters
25
o Objects and Places
28
o Themes
30
o Style
34
o Quotes
36
o Topics for Discussion
39
Page 1 of 39
Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead by Bert V. Royal
Plot Summary
Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead by Bert V. Royal is a play about a teenage boy, CB, who begins to question the existence of an afterlife after his dog dies. Unable to find solace from his friends after his dog's death, CB turns to an artistic classmate, but their rekindled friendship pushes the bounds of what CB's friends are willing to accept, forcing CB to consider who he wants to be. Dog Sees God is a touching and thought-provoking play about being different in a school filled with people who all pretend to be the same.
Throughout the play, CB writes to his pen pal who has never responded. CB and his sister hold a funeral for their dog that was put down after contracting rabies, but they argue about who should say a prayer for the dog. When CB questions his pothead friend Van about where people go after they die, Van tells CB he has recently converted to Buddhism and believes in reincarnation and nirvana. CB's friend Matt believes that the dead return to a vagina that does not belong to their mother. At lunch,