"The baddest dog in Harlem" analysis (Nanna Lindhardt)

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.

The environment, which is described in this short story, is primarily influenced by the lack of an education, the widely distributed poverty and the high crime rate. As mentioned in the short story the most exciting thing that could possibly happen in Harlem, is when the police arrives. “… when the cops arrive like this it breaks the day up nice. Unless it’s you they’re looking for, of course.” (p. 18, ll. 17-19).

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.

We have a black narrator who remains unknown through the entire novel, and we have his friends Wille, Pedro and Mr. Lynch. We also have Mary, who is the tenant of the apartment, which the police shot at. We get to know a little part of her personality, when we read about her reaction towards drapes: “You shot up my new drapes! I don’t work all day for you fools to be up here shooting up my drapes!” (p. 21, ll. 15-16). Many people would probably agree that this is a quite aggressive behaviour, though it is understandable given the situation. The poor characterization of the persons in the story is caused by the fact that the story does not focus on individual persons, but rather on a social problem, which is seen certain places in America. These certain places often contain very poor environments, where the crime rate is high and the majority is lacking an education.

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?

1 1)  “There’s somebody up there!” a kid yelled. Now, what did he do that for? Everybody hit the ground, including me, and covered up the best they could. (p. 19, ll. 5-8).

When the boy yells everybody assumes, that it means danger. I find this interesting, because people in our society would presume it to be something more or less interesting, but not life threating.

2 2)  The kids didn’t have anything to do and they weren’t going anyplace. (p. 18, ll. 26-28).

In this quote I do not think the narrator means that the kids weren’t going anyplace in that exact moment, but in life in general due to their non-existing educations and the poverty in the community.

3 3)   I hadn’t seen anything, but then I wasn’t looking too hard. The thing I don’t want to be is a witness. (p. 19, ll. 9-10).

I think this quote says a lot about the community’s relationship towards the police in Harlem; that they do not trust the system and will do almost anything to avoid getting involved in an investigation.