A Dark Brown Dog

Crying functions as a motif that develops in particular the themes of The Inescapability of Institutional Violence and Hierarchical Power Structures as Inherently Abusive. The two characters repeatedly described as crying—the child and the dog—are those with the least power. Their wails are an emotional response to their powerlessness and victimization, though in the child’s case, crying sometimes serves as a way to exercise limited agency: “It came to be recognized that if the dog was molested, the child would burst into sobs, and as the child, when started, was very riotous and practically unquenchable, the dog had therein a safeguard” (20). By contrast, the dog’s nighttime howling, which Crane describes as a “wild, wailful cry” (21), results in more abuse, highlighting the difference in status between the child and the dog.

As a form of protest, crying is notable because it is nonverbal. This type of response is what one would expect of an animal or a very young child, but the inarticulate nature of the child and dog’s resistance is nevertheless significant, suggesting that they lack the resources to vocalize the situation’s injustice. This failing reflects the story’s allegorical depiction of Black Americans as reduced to an almost subhuman state by enslavement and its aftermath. In a heavily ironic passage, Crane describes the dog’s nightmares: “[I]n his sleep, he would utter little yells, as from pain, but that occurred, no doubt, when in his dreams he encountered huge flaming dogs who threatened him direfully” (24). The implication is that the dog’s cries stem from his ongoing abuse by the family, including the child himself. However, because the dog has no means of communicating his anxieties—and perhaps does not consciously understand their source—the narrator is free to posit their own incorrect interpretation.