{"id":2591,"date":"2025-02-06T16:27:08","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T21:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/?p=2591"},"modified":"2025-02-06T16:27:08","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T21:27:08","slug":"good-dog-feral-dog-written-on-the-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/2025\/02\/06\/good-dog-feral-dog-written-on-the-body\/","title":{"rendered":"Good Dog\/Feral Dog (Written on the Body)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI phoned a friend whose advice was to play the sailor and run a wife in every port. If I told Jacqueline I\u2019d ruin everything and for what? If I told Jacqueline I\u2019d hurt her beyond healing and did I have that right? Probably I had nothing more than dog-fever for two weeks and I could get it out of my system and come home to my kennel.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Good sense. Common sense. Good dog.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Written on the Body<\/span><\/i><\/b>, pg. 40<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the surface, this passage is a segment of the narrator\u2019s deliberation. They consider the cons of telling Jacqueline the truth about their affair. On a deeper level, this passage reveals how the narrator views themself; it also carries notes of societal normativity.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The syntax of this passage holds contrast: it begins with long, unbroken sentences, questioning in tone. This is the narrator\u2019s pure stream of consciousness. It then transitions into clipped part-sentences which shut down the narrator\u2019s earlier ruminations. After all, there is no need to worry about the ethical implications of being honest with Jacqueline if they <\/span>\u2018get it out of their system\u2019 and move<\/span> on (40).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The narrator says that they have \u201cdog-fever\u201d and need to return home to a \u201ckennel,\u201d which conjures imagery of a crate or cage that might be too small for the dog (40). Something constraining. This is not the last time the narrator refers to themself in dog-like terms. On page 56, the narrator explicitly thinks, \u201cI want to snarl like the dog I am,\u201d and on page 91 they are \u201cdog-dumb.\u201d Interesting, then, that the narrator draws comparisons between themself and a cat later in the book, stating that they take it in \u201cthe way Louise had taken me\u201d and then referring to themself and the cat in tandem (109). Whether cat or dog, the narrator thinks of themself in terms of a household pet. Feral and dangerous, protective, mistreated, loyal\u2014all at once.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This metaphor is a building block of a broader theme: rejecting normativity and hegemony. The narrator lives in a society which values faithful, heterosexual marriage, and the narrator adopts this obsession, questioning how one can be happy in such a system. The movement from \u201cgood sense\u201d to \u201ccommon sense\u201d to \u201cgood dog\u201d shows that the three are interconnected. Common sense, which is made up of <\/span>common <\/span><\/i>norms and beliefs, equates to <\/span>good <\/span><\/i>beliefs. Morality is tangibly attached to these practices. If the narrator adopts these beliefs and stops their affair, they will be a good dog, trained by society to be a docile household pet.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, the narrator\u2019s struggle with norms and their internal debate is influenced by how they perceive themself. The choices are 1) \u2018playing the sailor,\u2019 being honest with Jacqueline, and ‘ruining everything,\u2019 versus 2) moving through the affair and then conforming. Readers know that the narrator is honest and chooses not to play it safe. This is a decision followed by violence from both the narrator and Jacqueline, which is quite telling. Although the narrator is a contradictory character, they repeatedly grapple with their own dark side (akin to an angry dog) and whether they are worth saving (akin to a stray cat). <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI phoned a friend whose advice was to play the sailor and run a wife in every port. If I told Jacqueline I\u2019d ruin everything and for what? If I told Jacqueline I\u2019d hurt her beyond healing and did I have that right? Probably I had nothing more than dog-fever for two weeks and I … Continue reading Good Dog\/Feral Dog (Written on the Body)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5602,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[346812],"tags":[93485,75627,93494,93493],"class_list":["post-2591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2025-class-post","tag-analysis","tag-close-reading","tag-jeanette-winterson","tag-written-on-the-body"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5602"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2591\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}