Fifteen Dogs

Fifteen of Prince’s poems appear in the text. What do they symbolize? How do they relate to other dogs? Analyze at least two poems in detail during your discussion.

To what extent do the dogs’ personal experiences with humans shape their attitudes towards humans and human intelligence? Discuss at least three of the dogs in your discussion.

Alexis includes two maps of Toronto at the beginning of the novel. Examine the significance of place in the novel through analysis of three specific place markers.

Why does Atticus fail as a leader? Draw on at least three examples of where he went wrong from the text. What were his decisions, how did he enact them, and what were the results?

At the end of his life, Benjy longs for “balance, order, right and pleasure” (117). Select three examples of imbalance in the novel and analyze their consequences.

The narrator claims that “the only beings to achieve ‘perfect mutual understanding’ are the gods” (127). To what extent does the relationship between Hermes and Apollo support or refute this claim? Analyze three interactions between the gods in your discussion.

In their moments of deepest grief and vulnerability, Majnoun and Prince respectively re-bond with dog kind. Explain the significance of this in the context of dog language and hierarchy.

Each dog reacts uniquely to human consciousness. To what extent does the novel answer the implicit question posed at the beginning, whether human intelligence is “a difficult gift” or “an occasionally useful plague” (14-15)?