43 pages • 1 hour read
Summer of Riley
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context: Eve Bunting’s Middle Grade Fiction
Content Warning: This section includes discussions of animal euthanasia.
Eve Bunting (1928-2023) was born in Northern Ireland and later lived in Scotland. In 1958, she and her husband moved to the United States, where she lived for the remainder of her life. Over the course of her career, Bunting published over 250 books. While they varied in subject matter and intended audience, many of them were written for younger readers. Her middle grade books often focused on guiding young readers through challenging personal experiences or teaching them about significant historical events. One of her notable novels, Fly Away Home, is about an unhoused boy who lives in an airport with his father. Another, Terrible Things, is an allegorical explanation of the Holocaust that features woodland animals as characters. The Summer of Riley aims to help younger readers understand and come to terms with several difficult issues of separation and loss, including parents divorcing, grandparents dying, and pets having to be relocated. William, the 11-year-old protagonist of this novel, learns to grow and accept the difficult changes in his life so that he can embrace his future.
Social Context: Animal Rights and Animal Welfare
The central debate in The Summer of Riley focuses on whether Riley ought to be euthanized after he chases and injures a horse. Although the novel does not explicitly frame the debate in these terms, the two positions essentially boil down to a question of animal welfare versus animal rights. The animal welfare movement focuses on an animal’s quality of life and on the best way to ensure that animals and humans can coexist. Euthanizing Riley would align with an animal welfare perspective because Riley is a potentially dangerous dog. If he were to keep living with William, he might chase a horse or another animal again, which could result in the death or endangerment of that animal or even a person. Rehoming Riley could be similarly dangerous, particularly if his new owners are not fully aware of his history or are not equipped to properly handle his potential behavioral issues. William’s small town has already faced an incident where a dog that chased livestock ended up causing a car crash that killed a cow and a person. According to this perspective, humanely euthanizing an animal ensures greater safety for the community.
On the other hand, the animal rights movement pushes for animals to have rights much like humans do, including the right to live and the right to be free. Those who hold this view typically oppose all animal agriculture and prioritize animals as individuals, just like humans. William takes an animal rights perspective when he tries to save Riley’s life, repeatedly saying that Riley does not deserve to die because he is a good dog who never intended any harm. Some of the people who agree with William are also animal rights activists who oppose all forms of euthanasia for animals. William does not extend his animal rights perspective to other animals; he does not, for instance, advocate for veganism or an end to animal agriculture. According to William’s view, euthanizing Riley would be an unjust form of punishment, not a public safety measure. In the end, William’s perspective is the one that prevails, but only on the understanding that it would in fact be unsafe for Riley to return to William’s home.
Unlock all 43 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 9,100+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features: