No More Dead Dogs

Wallace Wallace is the protagonist of No More Dead Dogs. Rachel describes him as “good-looking in a boy-next-door kind of way” (13), and his appearance matches his personality. The “boy-next-door” description suggests Wallace looks wholesome and innocent. Wallace’s unwillingness to tell a lie puts him in this category. His honesty, while sometimes hurtful, gives him an inherent quality of goodness because he always aims to do right by the people around him. Wallace represents how something that’s considered “good” can be a flaw. People tend to prize truth over lies, but telling the truth is Wallace’s tragic flaw. At the same time, his truth-telling draws people to him, showing how this characteristic is not one-sided.

Like the truth, Wallace himself symbolizes how people are multifaceted. At the outset of the book, Wallace identifies as a football player. When he starts attending play practice, he slowly begins to transform into a drama kid. Often, sports and the performing arts are touted as separated by an unbreachable gap, but Wallace’s easy integration into both groups shows how people don’t have to pick one. Performance and athletics both offer many options (acting/technical management/directing versus team or individual sports).