Fifteen Dogs

“Just listen to these people. You’d swear they understood each other, though not one of them has any idea what their words actually mean to another. How can you resist such farce?”

Hermes responds to Apollo’s claim that humans are vague by naming the consequences of that vagueness: They believe their symbolic language communicates meaning but fail to realize that meaning is subjective. Hermes calls it a “farce,” as if he is an observer of rather than participant in the struggle to communicate. Yet he and Apollo repeatedly spar over the meaning of happiness. Their conflict shows the potential for misunderstanding, and how conflict exists in every language.

“This was Atticus’s favourite dream, a recurring joy that always ended with him happily bringing a struggling creature back to his beloved master. His master would take the thing, strike it against a rock, then move his hand along Atticus’s back and speak his name. This night, as Atticus bit down at the neck of one of the creatures, it occurred to him that the creature must feel pain. That thought—vivid and unprecedented—woke him from sleep.”

When Atticus first receives self-consciousness, his immediate reaction is to experience empathy for his prey despite wanting to please the master he loved. The satisfaction he feels by pleasing his master becomes tainted by his realization that what brings him pleasure causes pain for other mortal creatures. Atticus rejects self-consciousness not because he does not feel but because he feels too much.

"As Bella and Athena lay beside each other on the verge of sleep, Athena said

--'These males fight for any reason.'

--'It has nothing to do with us,' said Bella."

Bella and Athena do not involve themselves in the males’ skirmishes for social position. Athena is too small to defend herself, and Bella, who is a larger dog, prefers to nurture her bond with Athena than fight with the males. Bella’s statement above is an ironic nod to women’s roles in