The dog does not die.
June 22, 2018 10:23 AM   Subscribe

A big swift car squealed its tires and jerked his wheel, the car nearly tipping up on two tires as the vehicle narrowly missed the family pet. “Dammit, but I won’t be a symbol for the suffocatin’ and murd’rous weight of capitalism and the myth of the American Dream on the day laborer and migrant worker by killin’ your pup with my sportscar!” the driver screamed out his window, giving the whole Joad family the finger. And he wouldn’t. Everythin’ else — ev’ry death an’ loss an’ unjustice an’ tragedy an’ animal for the next 400 pages or so would basically drive that point home — but at least the whole time, through everything, the Joads had their beloved dog. He wasn’t very good symbolism, but he was a very good boy.
posted by ChuraChura (7 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
I have prescreened a lot of novels for my wife who doesn't want to read any animal deaths. Don't even get me started on dog deaths in Wes Anderson movies too.
posted by BrotherCaine at 10:35 AM on June 22, 2018


Aww. This was great. Also, now I'm kicking myself for having read most of the rest of Steinbeck but NOT The Grapes of Wrath yet. Always another book for the list, eh?
posted by AnhydrousLove at 10:43 AM on June 22, 2018


The Odyssey one got me. Excuse me while I dab away tears...
posted by Lexica at 10:44 AM on June 22, 2018 [5 favorites]


I'd love a version of this for John Wick. I mean, there'd still be Keanu going off on Bad Dudes, but alongside a grizzled yet lovable beagle pal.
posted by zombieflanders at 10:56 AM on June 22, 2018 [5 favorites]


Hahahahaha. I just reread The Grapes of Wrath and I appreciate that particular rewrite. Also, Steinbeck writing about dogs doing things other than getting run over (a la Travels with Charley) is just about the most delightful thing.

Charley likes to get up early, and he likes me to get up early too. And why shouldn't he? Right after his breakfast he goes back to sleep. Over the years he has developed a number of innocent-appearing ways to get me up. He can shake himself and his collar loud enough to wake the dead. If that doesn't work he gets a sneezing fit. But perhaps his most irritating method is to sit quietly beside the bed and stare into my face with a sweet and forgiving look on his face; I come out of deep sleep with the feeling of being looked at.

It is my experience that in some areas Charley is more intelligent than I am, but in others he is abysmally ignorant. He can't read, can't drive a car, and has no grasp of mathematics. But in his own field of endeavor, which he was now practicing, the slow, imperial smelling over and anointing of an area, he has no peer. Of course his horizons are limited, but how wide are mine?

I'll stop, but it's basically my favorite
posted by sunset in snow country at 10:58 AM on June 22, 2018 [11 favorites]


Hilarious! I want Riane Konc to do David Foster Wallace’s “Girl with Curious Hair” next.
posted by ejs at 11:35 AM on June 22, 2018


DoesTheDogDie.com
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:36 AM on June 22, 2018 [6 favorites]


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