Susan Glaspells The Anarchist: His Dog and Ron Hansens My Kids Dog - Essay Example

Susan Glaspell’s The Anarchist: His Dog and Ron Hansen’s My Kid’s DogThe two stories by authors – Susan Glaspell’s – “The Anarchist: His Dog and Ron Hansen’s “My Kid’s Dog” are both appealing in a different kind of way. The characters in both the stories are unique and lend support to the touching stories that captures the attention of its readers.The stories are distinct in character and thought there are a few similarities they are highly contrast in their presentation.

Susan Glaspell’s “The Anarchist” centers around Stubby, a small boy belonging to a very poor family and has taken a part time job of being a newspaper boy to pitch in some money towards making ends meet in his large family. Early in the morning each day Stubby wakes up and after picking up his papers goes o his delivery rounds dropping newspapers on the doorstep of all the houses. The money which is a small pittance is given to his mother to make ends meet. His poor and rough clothes and his unkempt and spike like hair speak of the hard life he has experienced.

In sharp contrast to this life was the life led by the kids in Ron Hansen’s “My Kid’s Dog” where the kids had too much of everything and lived a life of luxury with Suze roaming with her bike and Zack the son always fond of surfing.Stubby who had long yearned for a dog to keep him company on his long trips, suddenly came across a lonesome and not so good looking dog who after befriending him never left his side. They had become inseparable and it took a lot of convincing on the part of Stubby to make his parents agree for him to keep the dog.

As for Sparky the dog in Ron Hansen’s story, always showed a great dislike for the father growling and snapping at his ankles because he was not treated very well by him either. Though the children liked Sparky, he was not an indelible part of their lives because they did not spend too much time with him.In Susan Glaspell’s story she brings out the heart rending story of how Stubby sacrificed so much and worked a lot harder just so he keep his beloved friend Hero by paying the dog tax. The sad story of how Stubby cried himself to sleep and the nightmares that came on as the time for Hero to be shot drew near is deftly handled by the author.

It really makes the reader empathize with Stubby and wish that they could be a part of his sorrow. But in sharp contrast in the story of “My Kid’s Dog” by Ron Hansen, we could feel the coldness meted out towards the dog. When the dog is found dead by the father he hits it one more time to make sure it is not alive and does not feel any remorse in doing so.The climax of the story of the Anarchist by Susan Glaspell is not an anticipated one. When Stubby decides that he is going to become an anarchist because the government cannot understand his feelings of how he tried so hard to earn and save money so he can keep Hero from being shot, there is a major twist in the story when everything seems futile.

The benevolence of the policeman and the beautiful write up of the journalist, not only allowed him to keep the dog but paved the way for a good amount of money sent by the readers for Hero’s upkeep, no forgetting the immense joy of Stubby. In sharp contrast to this beautiful ending is the sad story of Sparky the little dog who was stuffed in a small suitcase and was finally whisked away by a stranger who thought it was a family heirloom. The end of the story shows us how dispassionately the child behaves when her father tells her the news that Sparky died.

She just asked him to get another dog that looked like Sparky. This seemed to be a huge punishment to the father since he did not like Sparky in the first place and he now had to get another dog that looked like Sparky.