English Literature Assignment: Fifteen Dogs Novel Analysis

This essay analyzes Andre Alexis's novel, Fifteen Dogs, focusing on the philosophical questions it raises regarding animal cognition and human emotions. The essay explores key themes such as the development of language among dogs, the role of poetry, and the similarities and differences between canine and human behavior. It examines the character of Prince, the poet dog, and his impact on the other dogs, highlighting the themes of love, friendship, and death as portrayed through the interactions of the dogs and the involvement of the gods Apollo and Hermes. The essay also discusses the novel's use of metaphor and its commentary on human consciousness, drawing comparisons between the divine and the canine. The analysis concludes by emphasizing the novel's unique approach and its effective use of poetry in exploring the complexities of thought and emotion, offering insights into the arbitrary nature of human and animal experiences.

Running head: ENGLISH LITERATURE
English Literature
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ENGLISH LITERATURE
The character of Prince in the Fifteen Dogs Andre Alexis has to be addressed in this
paper. This novel has raised some philosophical questions that are indeed significant ones for the
understanding of human thoughts and emotions. The thoughts regarding animals’ cognitive
ability to think and speak like humans have been discussed in this novel (Alexis: 23). The
imaginative faction of this kind has put question marks in the dominance of human beings as the
most superior living creatures in the world. The use of poetry to address this issue has been very
well portrayed by the novelist. This also leaves space to discuss about this issue regarding the
cognitive abilities and its usage among human beings.
There are some crucial themes in this novel that should be discussed to understand the
novel properly. When readers go deeply into the novel, they can understand that dogs went on to
develop their new language. Still, this new language had created some confusion among them. It
has been discovered in the book that Prince became a poet. His poetry was the main reason that
changed the entire scenario (Alexis: 30). He had tremendous passion for poetry and language.
This became the ultimate source of pleasure and happiness for Prince. There were some dogs that
appreciated his efforts also. Those dogs also acclaimed the use of wit and language by Prince. On
the other hand, some dogs also found those poems and use of language to be quite strange. They
despised those poems also. This highlights the similarities between dogs and human beings as
they could not come to a unified position in terms of their likes. One of those dogs named
Majnoun learnt to speak English and he developed a great kind of bonding between him and
human beings (Alexis: 17). They also spoke with each other for a long time and knew about each
other.
The human thinking and emotion has been displayed throughout the novel because Prince
has been very much aware about understanding the thought processes of the dogs. Eventually

2ENGLISH LITERATURE
dogs are one of the most brilliant animals in the society. If they were gifted with the cognitive
abilities and power to speak, they would surely adjust with the skills of human beings also. In
this novel, several poems have been included that are written by Prince.
In this novel, the role of the Gods Apollo and Hermes has been outlined also. These two
Gods show their fascination over the relationship between death and all mortal beings in the
world (Alexis: 18). The readers are able to learn through the descriptions about the process of
dogs’ death. Other than that, the happiness or gloom of dogs during the time of their death has
been reflected through the novel also. The responses have been recorded on how dogs reacted
after the human beings died. The concept of love and friendship has also developed throughout
the novel. Friendships have also been seen between some dogs in the novel. Some of these dogs
are Athena, Bella, Benjy and Dougie.
Apart from these concepts, the death issue has highlighted through euthanasia and
murder. The experiences have been gained by dogs for their intelligence. The theme of poetry
has helped the dogs to learn the human language and think alike human beings also (Alexis: 29).
Though the new world created for dogs with their cognitive abilities were unfamiliar to them at
the beginning, they learnt to adjust with it and develop their powers of expression in the truest
manner. Their struggles over the new feelings and thoughts have also been discussed in the book
that is quite interesting for the readers. Both the pros and cons of human consciousness have
been pointed out in the discussions by Andre Alexis. Some sections are very charming whereas
others are quite strange. Thus all these factors have been juxtaposed in the novel to express the
arbitrary natures of human thoughts and emotions (Alexis: 13). Their take on the human abilities
to think and judge have also been applied on dogs.

3ENGLISH LITERATURE
The narration of the book began when Hermes and Apollo were sitting at the Wheat
Sheaf Tavern at the High Park in Toronto and discussing about the effects of the cognitive
abilities within the human beings. The topic of discussion among the Gods was about humanity.
However, they ended the discussion by talking about wager and giving dogs the power to think
and act like the human beings (Alexis: 10). This approach was one of the most intriguing ones
that the author of the book had taken. All types of human thoughts and actions are criticized
when dogs wanted to become dogs again and show their doggishness.
This was because they were not accustomed with all sorts of things that human beings
did. The metaphor of chewing has been used in the novel. The author has used such language
that the readers will chew like the dogs’ chewing of their favorite bones. The comparison has
been made between the divine and the canine. In the earlier times, the use of animals was very
common to teach people about moral values (Alexis: 31). These stories were called fables. Here
also dogs have been used to show the nature of human beings and their thought processes. It is
an inevitable fact that dogs are blessed with some powers that human beings do not have like
smelling and hearing power. The differences between the animals and human beings have been
highlighted to a great extent in this paper.
In the concluding section of the essay, it can be mentioned that the novel Fifteen Dogs is
a very attractive novel and it is very rare of its kind. The concepts of poetry have been very
effective from all perspectives since Prince was able to attain love and acclaim from some dogs
that loved his work. The contradictions of opinion have been found between the dogs just like
other human beings. The effects of wagering cognitive abilities among the human beings have
been found in this book.

4ENGLISH LITERATURE
References
Alexis, André. Fifteen dogs. Coach House Books, 2015.