33 pages • 1 hour read
Dav PilkeyDog Man: Grime and Punishment
Fiction | Graphic Novel/Book | Middle Grade | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 5-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 5 Summary: “A Buncha Stuff That Happened Next”
The Police Station is filled with water; Chief and some of the other cops have been crying since Dog Man got fired the previous day. Dog Man enters. He sees Chief holding a photo of Dog Man as he cries. Dog Man grabs the photo in his teeth and tries to wrestle it from Chief. The photo rips in half as they wrestle with it. Chief recognizes Dog Man despite his cat mask. Chief removes the mask and hugs Dog Man but cautions him that Mayor cannot see him there.
Suddenly, Mayor arrives at the station. Chief quickly puts Dog Man’s cat mask back on. Mayor sees Dog Man, disguised as a cat, and suggests that Chief should hire him. Chief excitedly agrees, and Mayor presents the badges, which he had taken from Dog Man the previous night, to the disguised Dog Man. Mayor rushes home to tell his teddy bear, Mr. Snookums, of the news.
Meanwhile, Petey asks Li’l Petey to help him to work on a robot that week, but Li’l Petey explains that he is busy with his Comic Club. Petey tells Li’l Petey that Grampa might escape from jail and that they need to work on the robot in case he does. Li’l Petey irritates Petey by continually asking “Why?” and then by dropping his ice cream on him.
Grampa retrieves the Motor Brain from Big Jim.
Chapter 6 Summary: “The Incorrigible Crud”
Grampa, wearing the Motor Brain and now calling himself Crud, smashes things in the escape room and then escapes from prison. Crud narrates his activities: “Crud exit and create havoc,” “Crud punch,” “Crud kick,” “Crud provide unnecessary narration” (95).
Meanwhile, a grumpy Petey swims in a nearby pond to rinse off the ice cream that Li’l Petey dropped on him. Petey tells Li’l Petey that he forgives him, but that some people—like Grampa—don’t deserve forgiveness. Li’l Petey says he forgave Grampa long ago. Petey is shocked, reminding Li’l Petey that Grampa kidnapped him once and left him in a bin another time. Li’l Petey is distracted by a worm.
A news reporter reports on an evil, spider-like cat (Grampa has grown extra arms as Crud) that is wrecking the city. When interviewed, Crud admits that he is just a bit lonely. Chief, watching the televised interview, decides that Dog Man needs to go undercover as a cat to find out more about the evil spider-cat called Crud (who is actually Grampa).
Chapter 7 Summary: “Catman”
Petey tells Li’l Petey that he should hate his Grampa; Petey believes that Grampa is a deadbeat and that “sometimes hate is all you’ve got left” (9). Li’l Petey asks why he has never met his Gramma. Petey will not answer.
Still being interviewed on live television, Crud sobs that he does bad things because he feels bad inside. He agrees with the news reporter’s observation that maybe he needs a friend, but he thinks it’s unlikely that a “buddy [will] just appear from nowhere” (113). Just then, Dog Man arrives. Using his ear noises, Dog Man meows and hisses. Ecstatic, Crud picks up Dog Man and embraces him, declaring, “Crud love Buddy” (114).
Crud takes Dog Man with him to commit further crimes. He decides that they should smash up a bookshop; however, Dog Man arrests Crud by attaching them to each other with handcuffs. The reporter intones that Crud got busted. At home, Mayor happily points out to Mr. Snookums that he hired Cat Man.
Crud declares that he is angry at being captured. He flings around Dog Man, who is attached to him with handcuffs, and whacks him onto the ground. Dog Man’s mask comes off. The Mayor, watching at home, angrily declares that he is going to destroy Dog Man. A panel illustration shows the Mayor running from his home. On the other hand, the reporter declares that she wants to save Dog Man.
Chapter 8 Summary: “Big Fight”
Petey tells Li’l Petey that Grampa left Petey and Petey’s mom when Petey was small and that his mom got sick. He tells Li’l Petey that sometimes you should hate rather than forgive and forget.
Crud tries to untie his tail from a fire hydrant so that he can destroy his “new buddy”—Dog Man—who he now hates. The reporter comes to help Dog Man, as does a nearby poodle; they attack Crud.
Mayor runs into Chief on their way to the incident; Mayor tells Chief that he knows that Dog Man is impersonating a cop and that they should both be imprisoned. Dog Man, Chief, and a number of other cops are arrested.
Crud breaks into the City’s 3rd Largest Lunch Bag. A sign warns not to spray the bag with living spray. The sign also says that living spray is available at the guest shop. Crud says that he has an idea.
Chapter 9 Summary: “The Lunch Bag of Motor Brain”
Crud sprays the Lunch Bag with living spray. It comes alive and eats buildings in the city. It drinks liquid from a nuclear power plant and breathes fire. The Lunch Bag runs toward a pond where a group of frogs are being taught a school lesson by a fish teacher about adverbs. The frog students run to hide as their teacher—Flippy—is grabbed by the Lunch Bag.
Chapter 10 Summary: “80-HD Power”
The TV reporter reports, live from within the police truck, that Munchy (the Lunch Bag) and Crud are still on the loose and that the cops (and herself) have been arrested.
80-HD interrupts Petey and Li’l Petey (they are working on a new machine) to demonstrate—using cut-out shapes and a diorama of the city—that Crud and Munchy are attacking the city. Li’l Petey urges his father to help; Petey relents and he, Li’l Petey, and 80-HD zoom toward the city. Petey is annoyed when 80-HD bursts through the wall of his home.
They reach the pond. Petey is inspired and vindicated that his son is demonstrating hatred toward Crud and Munchy; he suggests that “only hate can defeat hate” (181). Molly, a tadpole, and Li’l Petey wonder whether Petey is right.
Chapters 5-10 Analysis
At this point in the story, Petey is driven more by hatred and anger than by love and forgiveness. Petey declares that his father, Grampa, is an “evil villain” and that he and Li’l Petey need to make immediate preparations for his likely escape from prison (85). Li’l Petey continues to irritate his father by asking “Why?” which forces Petey to elaborate: “Because he does terrible things!” and “Because he only cares about himself!” (86). Petey’s unresolved anger and fury toward his father introduces the key theme: The Corrosive Impact of Hatred and Resentment. The book shows the negative effect that hating Grampa has on Petey. On the other hand, Li’l Petey represents another key theme, The Power of Forgiveness and Love. He questions why they should be building a machine to vanquish Grampa.
Chapter 7 alludes to the obstacles that stand in the way of Petey being able to love and forgive his father. He is still angry that Grampa treated Petey and Petey’s mother disrespectfully and then abandoned them, and he is grief-stricken over the loss of Gramma, saying, “He was even meaner to my mom!” (110). The book implies that Petey’s mother died; when Li’l Petey innocently asks why he has never met his Gramma, Petey, facing away from him but visible to the reader, wears an expression of sadness. The narrative positions the reader to feel sympathetic toward Petey during this exchange and to sympathize with his hatred of Grampa.
Through Mayor’s attitude toward Dog Man, the book explores The Corrosive Impact of Hatred and Resentment. Instead of focusing his energy on stopping the rampage of Crud and then Munchy, Mayor is focused on his hatred of Dog Man and his determination to see him off the police force; Mayor insists that Dog Man and all of the police who supported him in his disguise of Cat Man should be imprisoned. This allows Crud and Munchy free range of the city.
This section shows how Pilkey creates humor through ridiculous and outlandish situations. When Dog Man returns to the police station the day after he is fired, people are depicted swimming with snorkels; the space has been flooded by Chief’s tears of grief over Dog Man’s departure. Adding further humor to the situation, Mayor arrives and happily hires Dog Man, whose disguise as a cat is extremely simplistic and unconvincing, saying, “A cat-headed man would be perfect!” (83).
Chapter 8 also creates humor through the transformation of the lunch bag. Crud stumbles across the giant bag accompanied by the sign: “WARNING: Please do not spray this giant Lunch Bag with LIVING SPRAY (now available in our gift shop)” (138). The creation of a live, enormous Lunch Bag seems inevitable given this display. Pilkey sets up another ridiculous scene when Munchy arrives at the pond, where Flippy is teaching a group about adverbs. The young frogs yell “Run!!” “Jump!!” and “Hide!!” when they see Munchy coming; Flippy, while in Munchy’s hand, yells “Adverbs!!!” causing the children to make comic adjustments to their proclamations to ensure that adverbs are included: “Run quickly!” “Jump high!” “Hide surreptitiously!” (156).
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