Week 4

[Lisa]

Our Bushveld adventure is almost over. As has already been alluded to in a previous thread, it's a difficult ending.
I struggle to read animal stories as a rule. I'm going to cry, no matter what.
How did everyone else find this ending?

[Adele]

I felt similar after watching the movie Hachiko(cant remember correct spelling sorry) with Richard Gere. Both these dogs will haunt me for the rest if my life. Some animals were created to be more than human.

[Lisa]

That's the most upsetting movie I've ever seen. I cried from start to finish!
Stay away from Old Yeller...

[Buck]

I finished the book a couple of weeks ago. It is back at the library, so I don't remember the chapters as crisply as I could.

I noticed that there were quite a few chapters in which Jock appeared little or even none at all.

When Percy ended his days as a waggoner and took up residence in a town, the why of it wasn't really made clear. The last trek ended financially unsuccessfully. Is that why he changed his vocation?

How many of us could part with a loyal and trustworthy companion as he did with Jock? He thought it would be only for a while, but sadly, they were not reunited.

[Buck]

Lisa wrote: "That's the most upsetting movie I've ever seen. I cried from start to finish!
Stay away from Old Yeller..."

I saw Old Yeller, the Disney film, as a child. It surely has a sad and terrible end, but it is because we so love the dog. I expect to read the novella soon.

[Lisa]

I think Fitzpatrick was a journeyman who became a prospector and settled to look for gold. I stand to correction. I can't understand why he couldn't keep Jock.
I read old Yeller as a serial comic. So it's pictures. I was 7 and heart broken.
But sometimes I think we find it easier to empathize with animals, is it merely because they are defenseless?

[John]

I think it is because they are everything most humans are naturally not:without guile, loyal and quick to forgive.

[Adele]

I cant think it could have been easy for him to give Jock over to other people. I genuinely think that he did it because he believed it was in Jock's best interest.

[Lisa]

It comes across as- he's done his job, it's over

[Irene]

I felt that Jock had served his usefulness and was now a 'disposable commodity'. Was not impressed with Fitzpatrick!

[Lisa]

I concur

[John]

Monkeys can only count to two - one, and more than one. Nice bit of local insight. If we did descend from the apes, then they have got a long way to go!

[Lisa]

And yet monkeys can break into houses, open the fridge and eat eggs.
They've evolved!

[Lisa]

This happened when we lived in Limpopo. They also used to get into wards. The ones that Fitzpatrick describes haven't been around humans long enough!

[John]

I think this story should have been left as FitzPatrick first created it: a series of bedtime short stories for his children. It's strength lies in the descriptive detail of each episode, and not in its combined effect as a novel. The ending is abrupt and unsatisfactory, demonstrating that the author possessed neither the skill nor the inclination to weave the truth into a satisfying work of fiction, allowing it to totter somewhere between the two. What a pity, as a hero with the potential for great fiction like Jock doesn't come around that often!

[Lisa]

I think that's why there have been several attempts at other versions, both book and film. Both films end differently.
I'm glad I've read this, but agree that each chapter serves better as a short bedtime tale. One day, if I read it to my kids, I will probably give Jock a better ending.
Interestingly though, he buried Jock and cared a memorial into a tree. This implies some affection.

[Lisa]

Adele wrote: "I felt similar after watching the movie Hachiko(cant remember correct spelling sorry) with Richard Gere. Both these dogs will haunt me for the rest if my life. Some animals were created to be more ..."

I'm sure you know that Hachiko was a real dog, there is a statue to him at his station.
Other canine memorials that I know of are to Greyfriars Bobby (in Edinburgh, I dragged Russell to see it); Just Nuisance (Simon's Town), Balto (New York) plus there are doggy graveyards attached to war and police memorials.

So are dogs by their very nature heroic, do they become that way because of us, or do we create this perception in our heads?

[Lisa]

Anyone know of other dog memorials?

[Lisa]

Fala in Washington DC
Laiki in Moscow
The Collie in NZ
Islay in Sydney
Canum in Spain

[John]

Lisa wrote:
So are dogs by their very nature heroic, do they become that way because of us, or do we create this perception in our heads?
Dogs are by their nature loyal to their pack leader. When they are given a strong leader to follow, they do it with all the accumulated loyalty of centuries of evolutionary learning. They thrive on being led.