A Dog's Life

A Dog’s Life contributes to the genre of animal fiction, which has a long history of teaching readers empathy and kindness toward animals. Animal fiction can be defined as literature that “comes to mean a fictional work where an animal plays an integral part of the story to make it complete” (“The animal turn in fiction”). This means that the plot, characters, themes, and other major elements of the text involve animals. Animals are typically the protagonists and often the first-person narrators. For instance, novels like Black Beauty (1877), The One and Only Ivan (2012), War Horse (1982), and The Call of the Wild (1903) feature animal protagonists who tell their tales in the first-person point of view. Numerous other novels fit into the genre of animal fiction, even if not told in first-person, including the classic Animal Farm (1945), which is told from a collective third-person point of view. The creatures’ perspective always features prominently in animal fiction, emphasizing animals’ thoughts, experiences, and emotions to build empathy in readers.

Like novels like The Call of the Wild and Garth Stein’s 2008 novel The Art of Racing in the Rain, A Dog’s Life is told from the first-person perspective of a dog. Squirrel narrates her journey, telling it in memoir fashion by looking back on her past. The plot highlights her life as a stray and the unique challenges she faces as a dog. For example, because she can’t communicate with humans, Squirrel can’t tell people that she’s cold, hungry, or needs to relieve herself. She must try to make humans understand her needs through actions and fend for herself to survive. As in most animal fiction told by dogs, Squirrel’s inability to speak to humans underscores her internal thoughts and emotions that she can share with readers. Through the intimate narration, she elaborates on her fears, challenges, thoughts, and decisions. Her canine instincts of following scents, learning from conflicts like the dog fight, and avoiding predators are aspects that don’t appear in human-voiced stories.

Anthropomorphism is a critical aspect of animal fiction because it helps readers connect deeply with nonhuman entities. Anthropomorphism is defined as “the showing or treating of animals, gods, and objects as if they are human in appearance, character, or behavior” (“Anthropomorphism.” Cambridge). Classic examples of anthropomorphism include Peter Rabbit in Beatrix Potter’s 1902 picture book The Tale of Peter Rabbit; Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends in A. A. Milne’s 1926 short story collection Winnie the Pooh; and the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, and the Caterpillar in Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. These animals exhibit human behavior, such as dressing in human clothes, talking, expressing emotions, and celebrating events like birthdays. In A Dog’s Life, Squirrel’s narration offers a simpler example of anthropomorphism. In sharing her memories, she uses imagery and emotions, including the safety she feels in her childhood shed with Mother and Bone. Just like humans, the dog loves her family and feels secure with them. After losing loved ones, she describes her loneliness and grief as she survives independently—relatable emotions because humans feel them too. Squirrel’s ideas, feelings, descriptions, and interpretations fill every page, immersively conveying what’s in her mind and heart, which makes this book a strong example of anthropomorphism and animal fiction.