Essay#1Literature

Ryan Stall Michael Gregory Interpretation of Literature 22 March 2016 Distant Interpretations In George Saunders’ “Puppy” Callie makes the decision to leave the dog in the field and walk away. In this moment Callie came to the realization that both herself and Marie express very powerful love in their lives, but have two completely different views and ideas about what love is actually all about. Love in Callie’s world seems absurd and insane to Marie all due to her past individual experiences. This situation illustrates that “love” is a word with a single definition but can vary from millions of meanings. Callie expresses her generous yet tough love by giving all she has to her family every day no matter how difficult it may be due to very limited wealth, income, and how misbehaved her child is. In spite of being given such an unfortunate situation, Callie always sees the positive side when possible. No matter how ridiculous her son Bo acts, Callie tells herself that “When Bo gets older” he will mature and behave more appropriately. Obviously that does not happen, but this still doesn’t affect Callie’s patience. As a mother she will do anything to keep her crazy child alive. She explains, “If Bo was more mature, it would all be different. Then he would need his freedom. But currently he just needed to keep from being killed.” Very drastic measures come into play when discussing Callie’s parenting. For example, chaining Bo to their tree is not something a normal good parent would do. But in the end it is more than what it looks like. Everything that she did was all out of love and care for her family. After analyzing Marie’s actions throughout the text as well as how she treats her children compared to Callie, it really displays the contrasting views they have on what is right from wrong in regards to caring for and loving a child. Marie demonstrates her love in the story very differently than Callie. Marie is very rich and to her love is about happiness and not about having to live or go without it. She will do anything just to keep the smile on her children’s faces despite of the cost. Even after being warned by her own mother that she may be “spoiling the children” too much, she goes fourth to purchase them a puppy believing that they will take care of their new pet even though they don’t tend to their current pets as is. It makes me wonder which children feel loved the most, Cali’s or Marie’s. Certainly Marie’s have an easier time but I wonder if the children see through the gifts as purchased love. In Puppy, it is extremely evident that one woman in the story has wealth and one really does not. Regardless, love is obviously present between both families. Whether it’s shown through an abundance of gifts and getting the children basically whatever they want, or just attempting to make ends meet at all costs to keep the family as a whole together and alive, love is always noticeable in some form or another.