A Dark Brown Dog

“A Dark Brown Dog” Character Analysis
In Stephen Crane’s “A Dark Brown Dog” it is clear that people are capable of change, for example, in the beginning,
In the beginning, the boy views the dog as an unimportant object with no value: “on the way to his home the child turned many times and beat the dog, proclaiming with childish gestures that he held him in contempt as an unimportant dog, with no value save for the moment” (Crane 2). This shows how the child would hit the dog because of the way he viewed the dog. Despite the way the boy treats the dog, the dog still decides to follow the boy home.
Gradually, however, the boy finally gives the dog a chance: “The child sat down on the step and the two had another interview. During it the dog greatly exerted himself to please the child. He performed a few gambols with such abandon that the child suddenly saw him to be a valuable thing” (Crane 2). Here the boy views the dog as a valuable thing rather than an object with no value and the boy starts warming up to the dog. This is where the boy changes from seeing the dog as unimportant, and with no value, to viewing the dog as important and valuable.
Finally, in the end, the dad came home drunk and thought it was fine to beat the dog violently, and ended up killing the dog, hurting the boy’s feelings: “But the father was in a mood for having fun, and it occurred to him that it would be fine to throw the dog out the window… The child in the room far above burst into a long, dirge-like cry and tossled hastily out of the room… When they came for him later they found him seated by the body of his dark- brown dog” (Crane 6). When his dad threw the dog out the window, he tossled down the stairs and stayed by the dog’s side showing his love and affection for the dog. This also shows how much the boy bonded with the dog because of his dirge-like cry which shows how much it hurt him that his only and only friend which he has truly bonded with him and shared a special connection had died.
Stephen Crane shows a change of character in the boy. In the beginning the boy viewed the dog as unimportant and not valuable. The boy hits the dog because it is the only thing he sees at home. Once the boy starts bonding with the dog he then realizes the dog gets upset when he hits him. The boy then little by little stops hitting the dog. When his dad threw the dog out the window, it was really heartbreaking for the boy because he had bonded so much with the dog that he burst into a dirge-like cry showing his love and affection for the dog. The boy went from viewing the dog as unimportant, and with no value, to viewing the dog as important and valuable.