The Baddest Dog in Harlem - Nanna Wagner

1. Describe the environment in the short story with special focus on the relationship between the community and the police in Harlem. Use specific examples.

You get the impression that guns, violence and police in the streets are a very common part of the everyday environment. People are just hanging out in the street in the middle of the day, when the cops suddenly show up. The cop’s presence does not seem like a surprising thing to the group. “I did just like everybody else leaning on that rail did, said a quick prayer and put on my innocent face”(p. 17, l. 1). from this quote you can tell that the people know exactly how to act towards the police.

2. Comment on the language in the short story. How is it told and by whom? What characterizes the tone of voice and word usage of the narrator? Use specific examples.

The story is told by a young, black man. You can tell that he is young, because he describes the 30-years old as old people. The whole story is told from his own point of view and therefore the language is not very formal. “Now, I figured if there was a crazy dude up there shooting at people he was liable to shoot at us instead of whoever he was mad at” (p. 17, l. 25).

3. Select three quotes from the text that you believe are central to the story in terms of plot and/or themes. Explain the quotes – what do they mean? Is there any hidden meaning to them?

One thing about 145th Street. Half the guys on the block don’t have jobs and so they’re always on the stoops or just standing around with nothing to do. (p. 18, l. 14)

It tells us a lot about the environment, what kind of people and the relationship between them, which is very important to understand the text.

“I wanted them to say how bad they felt about it and what shame it was the way life could slip away so easily in Harlem, in our community, on our street.” (p. 24, l. 31)

This tells us a lot about the relationship between the citizen and the police. The police is not a respected occupation, and people would rather make the police feel guilty than appreciate all the good things they do to the community.

“She snatchen it away from him and said she wasn’t going anywhere with them unless she had a black man with her”. (p.21, l. 27)

This is very interesting because it tells us a lot about the circumstances when it comes to the white/black relationship.