An Author Behind A Great Story

“The Dog That Bit People”

On December 8th, 1894, humorist James Thurber was born in Columbus, Ohio. When he was only 7 years old, he suffered a terrible accident while playing with his brother, that without wanting shot and arrow directly at his eye. James ended up losing the sight of one eye which made him incredibly shy and awkward, he felt he was something of a misfit, since he couldn’t play sports or anything children normally do. But every bit of this insecurity disappeared when he discovered his passion for writing and being able to make everyone laugh with his comedy.

Thurber's first book, Is Sex Necessary, appeared in 1929. The book presented Thurber's drawings as well, and instantly established him as a true comedic talent. He then continued writing which he loved, and ended up creating fairy tales and short stories for kids. From this beautiful experience the story named  "The Dog That Bit People" emerged, this funny and interesting tale describes the life of James Thurber's Airedale Terrier, Muggs, the worst of the many pet dogs he had during his lifetime. Not only did Muggs bite family members, neighbors, and salesmen, he also bit a congressman and Lieutenant-Governor Malloy, while they were visiting Thurber's father.

This narrative shows in a very charismatic way, how a dog could practically manipulate and entire family, based on the fact that the mother cared with her own life the safety of this dog, she loved him, and defended him, she didn’t let anyone assume that he was the bad guy in a situation, he could do whatever he pleased and there was mom to protect him, it didn’t even matter if he hurt multiple times a person.

Thurber’s narrative and way of writing, is very descriptive,

this helped me envision every single part of his story. I specially adored the fragment of the tale, where he recounts how every time Muggs was going to eat they needed to serve his plate at the table and let him eat it there, since no one was apparently capable of putting it on the floor for fear of being hurt. I could picture in my head every single move Muggs did, this was only possible, because the author knew what words he had to choose to cause a reaction an image on his readers, as he did with me. Another extremely captivating moment in the story, was when he narrated the last month of Muggs’ life, he talked about how the dog felt, where he spent his last days, how they convinced him to come in, and he did this in chronological order, linking everything and giving the chance to the reader to imagine it as a dream in their heads, as he did to me.

The Dog That Bit People is a very amusing story, that in my opinion can be read by everyone, the ability of the author to cause an impact on readers' emotions is undeniable. Most people might think this is a story just for kids, since it talks about “a dog with rage” they may say, but actually this beautiful short tale, taught me compassion, equality, unconditional love, and understanding, values that are indispensable for life and that certainly will keep you out of conflicts in this world that is lacking a lot of peace.

Today I encourage you to read and discover for yourself the beauty in this piece, let us all be enlightened and inspired by the resilience of this author that overcame the obstacles in life with such greatness.

And always have present what Henry Ford said: “When things are going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it”.

By Isabella Duarte, Step 10.