Real Friend

Well, we know that there are some characters in this story, the characters 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 the minor characters. But we can see that the dog is the most character which always rose in most of events. So the dog which had a very small body, soft and weak body is the dominant in this story. We can imagine that the dog was a very unlucky animal, a pity animal, a suffer animal.

Although the dog was very unfortunate but he felt very lucky met the child. The child and the dog had a very close relationship. We called it “friendship”. The dog felt that the child was his close friend. They had the chemistry at the very first time they met. That the reasons why the dog chose to stay alive with the child and the cruel family. And as we know why the family (especially the father) hated the dog so much. The family looked the dog as something unimportant and disgusting thing. Diferent with the child who treated and guided the dog well.

The Plot of the Story

We can see that there so many physical conflicts here or it belongs to external conflict, between the family (especially the father) and the dog. In other hand, there are 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. Main problem comes from the family who didn’t like the dog; thus, they did something cruel to the dog. If the family liked the dog, there weren’t problems and conflicts in this story. 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 coffee-pot. We know that because of that, he dog yelling in supreme astonishment and fear. Imagine that we were the dog, how pity we are. It was not enough for the father whom had made the dog so suffer, even the dog had screamed by full of fear in him. The father threw the small body of the dog throw the window. It was very cruel for the dog, but the father didn’t care. At the time, he child see what the father did to the dog, and the child cried and screamed, tried to avoid the father did that. We can imagine, the situation must be strained and full of tears.

More about the story...

This story takes place in a city setting. The two first meet on a street corner. There were noisy trucks driving on the cobblestone road. It was summertime and it was a beautiful sunny day with clouds in the sky. This setting makes us feel like its going to be a good day, and it was for the boy. The family lived in a tenement so from that we learn that they were a lower class family. This is reflected with the child’s drunken dirty dad. You can tell that he doesn’t come from a classy family. The other family members in the house used to get enjoyment out of underfeeding the dog. This setting is also important because of the ending. The dad threw the dog five stories out of a tenement building!

Author's Individual Style

One of America's most influential realist writers, Stephen Crane, born in New Jersey on November 1, 1871, produced works that have been credited with establishing the foundations of modern American naturalism. His Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage (1895) realistically depicts the psychological complexities of battlefield emotion, and has become a classic of American literature. He is also known for authoring Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. Stephen Crane’s fiction is typically categorized as representative of Naturalism, Realism, Impression or a mixture of the three. Stylistically, Crane’s writing is characterized by vivid intensity, distinctive dialect and irony. Common themes involve fear, spiritual crises and social isolation.

The Plot and Events Of The Story

The short story I read was " A Dark Brown Dog" By: Stephen Crane. It was about a little boy and a dark brown dog. The boy was outside just kicking his feet around in the gravel and a little dog came up. He held out his hand and the dog came over. When he came over the boy drew back his hand and hit the dog on the head. The dog fell to the ground around the boy's feet as if he had done something wrong. He really didn’t the boy hit him for no reason. Later in the story when the boy was taking the dog home he would turn and strike the dog to make him walk. As they reached the door of the house the boy just drug the dog up the step because he was too short to go from step to step. But the dog just kept holding strong. When they got to the top of the steps they sat down and the boy talked to the dog like he was another person. They got in a vicious fight and the child came out on top. Then he kept dragging the dog up the steps to the door. When they arrived at the door they went up some ore stairs to the boys room. The dog and the boy sat down in his floor and became very good friends. he parents of the kid came to the room after they heard the noises the child was making. The dad scolded the child because the dog was in the house. So they examined the dog for anything unusual. Still the father was feeled with anger. The father of the family, it appears, was in a particularly savage temper that evening, and when he perceived that it would amaze and anger everybody if such a dog were allowed to remain, he decided that it should be so. Then the child lived happy after that he nourished the dog back to health. They became very close.

About the Author

"Such an assemblage of the spraddle-legged men of the middle class, whose hands were bent and shoulders stooped from delving and constructing, had never appeared to an Asbury Park summer crowd, and the latter was vaguely amused."
— Stephen Crane, account of the JOUAM parade as it appeared in the Tribune.

Stephen Crane began writing at the age of four and had published several articles by the age of 16. He has liked writing since he was very young. Stephen Crane was an American novelist, short story writer, poet and journalist. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the tradition Realism on as well as early examples of American naturalism and impressionism. He is recognized by modern critics as one of the most innovative writers of his generation. Stephen Crane’s fiction is typically categorized as representative of Naturalism, Realism, Impression or a mixture of the three. Stylistically, Crane’s writing is characterized by vivid intensity, distinctive dialect and irony. Common themes involve fear, spiritual crises and social isolation. When the Stephen Crane wrote a dark brown dog short story, it represented their characteristic which showed naturalism. The language in a dark brown dog was natural or used denotative sentences. Even so, intention of the story could be understood by the reader without thinking so hard, but Stephen Crane used a lot of words, I mean that he used uncommon word. Diction of the story seems difficult for the readers who aren’t from the native country. But, the positive side is the readers can increase their vocabularies. And also, the story had frighten substantive by showing the strictness which was done by the family to the dog; moreover, the story described how suffering the dog is, and the part when the dog fell his tears can make the readers feel eerie.

Unforgettable Story

http://www.americanliterature.com/author/stephen-crane/short-story/a-dark-brown-dog



A Dark-Brown Dog by Steven Crane is a story about a little dog, a young boy and their relationship. This young boy was leaning against a fence one day when this little dark-brown dog was walking along the sidewalk. 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. I think that the story is very heartwarming. We can see from the story that the dog always got a bad treatment from the family, but the dog still stayed at the house because the dog felt that he has found his true friend there. The author wrote the story to show toward the readers about loyalty, friendship and faithfulness between the dog and the child.
Unfortunatly, this story had a really sad ending. =( It was terrible. I could not expect that boy's father did such cruel thing. So, I recommend you to read this story. I'll get a lot of impressions about real friendship.