Oddly, considering that it is among the most influential of Dahl’s stories, ‘‘Beware of the Dog’’ has received little critical attention. It was originally published in the October 1944 issue of Harper’s magazine and reprinted in Dahl’s 1945 critically appraised short story collection Over to , an anthology of seven previously published and three new…
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Beware of the Dog by Roald Dahl – Setting
Battle of Britain Once Adolf Hitler came to power as the elected chancellor (and later the dictator) of Germany in 1933, he acted to overturn the military limitations placed on Germany by the Versailles treaty that ended World War I and to expand Germany’s borders by every means short of war. In 1938, the Western…
Beware of the Dog by Roald Dahl – Literary Devices
Partially Omniscient Narrator ‘‘Beware of the Dog’’ is told by a partially omniscient narrator. The narrative voice clearly knows facts of which Williamson is unaware, and it can tell the audience Williamson’s inner thoughts and experiences, but it is nevertheless generally limited to telling the story from Williamson’s viewpoint. This device provides the greatest interest…
Beware of the Dog by Roald Dahl – Themes
Adventure Fiction In adventure stories, the characters are usually broadly drawn and suggestive rather than well developed and realistic. The plots are generally a simple recitation of interesting and exciting events: adventures. A popular subset of adventure fiction is aviation stories. Frequently, such stories are aimed at teenage boys and have characters who are hypermasculine,…
Beware of the Dog by Roald Dahl – Characters
Bluey Bluey is Williamson’s girlfriend, fiance´ e, or (less probably) wife. He visits her whenever he can get away from his military duties. As he is blacking out at the beginning of ‘‘Beware of the Dog,’’ Williamson imagines again going to visit her with a bottle of whisky (difficult to obtain during the war). He…
Beware of the Dog by Roald Dahl – Summary
‘‘Beware of the Dog’’ begins with the description of the view from the cockpit of a plane in flight: ‘‘Down below there was only a vast white undulating sea of cloud. Above there was the sun, and the sun was white like the clouds, because it is never yellow when one looks at it from…
The Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie – Analysis – Play
At first glance, there is little in ‘‘The Witness for the Prosecution’’ that cries out for a stage adaptation. The story is largely about plot, strategy, and perception. It has very little in the way of dramatic action, save for one scene—and even that is severely abridged, lessening its impact. When comparing the original to…
The Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie – Setting
Great Britain Between the World Wars Christie published her first works in the years shortly after World War I. This period was one of relative peace and prosperity in Great Britain, since the country was not directly affected by warfare in the same way as many other European countries. However, the horrors of war most…
The Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie – Literary Devices
Mystery Fiction and the Whodunit Like most of Christie’s stories, ‘‘The Witness for the Prosecution’’ is best described as a mystery. Mystery fiction usually centers on a crime or transgression that has been committed, with the bulk of the plot devoted to determining who is responsible for the crime. This type of story is also…
The Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie – Themes
Deception Deception is the key element in the interactions between nearly every major character in the story. From the start, Vole lies to Mayherne about being guilty of the crime; he only acknowledges pieces of the truth when confronted by witnesses or hard evidence to the contrary. For his part, Mayherne tells Vole that he…