A Dark Brown Dog

The protagonist of the story is the unnamed child, referred to simply and consistently as “the child.” Very little detail about the child’s age, size, or appearance is given. The child is small, surmised by the fact that the dog is described as “little” (Paragraph 3) but still able to potentially “overturn the child” (Paragraph 4). It is also likely that he is between three and five years old, based on his “toddl[ing]” (Paragraph 34) and the mention of his mobility on steps: “[H]is size compelled him to go downstairs backward” (Paragraph 34). Throughout the text, the child becomes increasingly attached to and protective of the dog despite simultaneously abusing it. When upset, the child seeks comfort from the dog, “often crawl[ing] under the table [to] lay his small distressed head on the dog’s back” (Paragraph 23). The pair have a complicated relationship, wherein the child acts as both a guardian, or a “safeguard” (Paragraph 20), and as a bully, or a “terrible potentate” (Paragraph 26).

Allegorically, the child represents in part the white Americans who, at least in theory, were more supportive of and open to the recent emancipation of Black Americans. Accordingly, the child exhibits many dichotomies: He is loving and cruel, powerful and impotent, protective and victimizing.