• Engelsk
  • Uddannelse: HHX
  • Karakter: 10 tal
  • Ord: 992

Indledning
The title of this story is ‘The baddest Dog in Harlem’. The story is part of the collection “145th street: Short Stories” which was published in 2001. The short story is written by Walter Dean Myers (1937- 2014). Walter was an African-American writer known for both children’s books and young adult literature. The theme in this short story is gun violence and racism.

This essay will include a full analytical essay of the short story ‘The Baddest Dog in Harlem’ and a perspectivation to ‘41 shots’ by Bruce Springsteen.

The short story is written in present time. The city, Harlem, is influenced by ghettos and is known for major African-American residential and high unemployment. The story takes place on 145th street outside of Big Joe ́s place.

The encounter with the police shows, that the people of Harlem are not afraid of the police because they walk around on the street and look out of the windows of curiosity. This indicates that they are used to violence and criminality in the city.

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Uddrag
We read about some young guys who are friends. Those friends are Willie Murphy, Tommy, Pedro, Mr. Lynch and the narrator. All the people in the neighbourhood are black.

We do not get much information about the characters, which is typical for the genre. Willie Murphy is the first person, we are introduced to. He is older than the others. He is in his thirties or even older. Because of the age difference, he meant he knew more than the boys. The encounter with the police shows that they are afraid of the police and it is not the first time meeting them.

The story is seen from a first-person narrator’s point of view. He is a young man possibly done with school. The first person speaker does not want to be a witness. Maybe because they are living in a rough neighbourhood and he could get in trouble for telling the police something secret.

Mary is the woman who lives in the apartment that got shot at. She is a bit hostile. Mary wants to sue the city because her dog was killed in the shooting and her apartment was completely destroyed.