I Am A Mad Dog Bite Myself For Sympathy Analysis “Who I am is just the habit of what I always was, and who I’ll be is the result (Erdrich 127). ” In today’s society children are being sheltered by their parents to hide them from the emotional events that they went through as a kid. In my generation kids were what all the elders say “Babied” while growing up. This | believe because now a days everyone thinks they are entitled to something they did not earn themselves.
In the short story I’m a Mad Dog Biting Myself for Sympathy written by Louise Erdrich the narrator makes one bad choice and it then starts for an eventful day for the young man. Erdrich is known for writing about the Indians in many of her short stories and novels. Erdrich is a part of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians which they are located in North Dakota. This gives us a good idea as to why the setting is in North Dakota in the short story. The narrator of the story is a confused young man who knows right from wrong just always picks the wrong thing to do.
The quote form the first sentence makes his thought process more clear throughout the story by knowing this. Everything that the narrator does is just what he always does and nothing will change because it is his habit. Throughout the short story he has a chance to make his bad decision not as bad but he keeps going in the wrong direction. Kids who are not taught right from wrong will not ever know when to stop doing what they are doing because they have no conscious about it. I believe Erdrich was trying to show that every kid, man, and women needs to feel loved in their life.
At the beginning the narrator talks about how he wants to buy his ex-girlfriend a stuffed bird for Christmas. “I think of Dawn the minute is see the bird, and wish I’d won it for her at the county fair, though we never went to the county fair (Edrich 127). ” In this quotation he shows that he knows Dawn always wanted to go out and have fun with the narrator but he was to selfish to take her. But, looking back on it he knows sees that he should have taken her out to win her that bird or another big stuffed animal.
Now as we can see he is trying to show Dawn that he loves her and cares about her but he was a little too late. He knows he has plenty of enough money to buy the bird for her but one of his bad habits comes in to play. “But then you find yourself walking out the door with a stuffed toucan, just to see if shit happens, if do-do occurs (Edrich 127). ” Having no one there that loves him and to tell him he is making the wrong the decision he wants to fill that hole in his life with something that will give him that adrenaline rush.
It may seem like he does not steal that because he has no one who truly cares for him or loved him. But, if Dawn was there with him and not in Colorado with another man then he would have just bought that with his own money. That one decision could have been the only one he made that day but he likes the thrill and does not want to stop there. As the narrator explains where he is going and how he is running with the bird he tries to decide how he is going to get out of the situation he is in.
“Thinking back now I should have ditched it, and slipped off through the alleys and disappeared (Edrich 128). Reading the story everyone knew he would not do something that smart and easy, he likes to complicate things and have more of an adventure. He sees a car pull into the parking lot and a man and wife get out and leaving it running. He thinks this is a great opportunity to get out of town and get out of the situation. He has no idea where he wants to go once he gets in the car and starts driving so he asks himself if he should go see his parents. This is the biggest clue as to where something went wrong in his childhood with him and his parents. “My parents.
It’s not like I hate them or anything. I just can’t see them. I can close my eyes and form my sister’s face behind my eyelids, but not my parents faces (Edrich 128). ” Whenever I read that I knew something went wrong in his childhood. They probably just showed more love to his sister than to him is what I got out of it. When he was younger he was probably compared to his for everything and never met up to those standards. So when he is in the car trying to go somewhere he does not want to show up in a stolen car to his parent’s house because they would not accept him there or help him out.
As he continues to drive he discovers that there is a baby in the car that he has stolen. Now in every right persons mind they would at least pull over and give someone the baby and then continue to drive. Of course he continues to drive with the baby and does not even think about stopping. But, he does something that surprised me and showed true love for another human being something he is searching for. “There is a bottle of milk in a bag beside it. I put the end in its mouth and it sucks. But it will not hold the bottle.
I keep putting the end in its hand and it won’t grasp (Edrich 130). ” Whether he wanted the baby to stop crying or not he did something out of love. He fed the baby the milk but he stopped after the baby would not hold his own bottle. The last part does not show love but he knew he had to show love so the baby would stop crying. At the end of the story he finally cannot see in the snow storm so he begins to follow the center line then that becomes no longer visual. Next thing he knows he is stuck off the road in snow.
He then starts to show love for the baby he wanted to take the baby with him but he knew it was too cold for the baby to be out in. He keeps the car running and wraps the baby in blankets and starts walking till he is caught and taken to jail. But a quote that catches my to end the story while thinking about the boy he says, “I taught him what I know about the cold. It sinks in, there to stay, doesn’t it? And people (Edrich 132). ” This shows how he thinks when people say I love you they really do not mean it, because whenever you need them the most they will leave you or won’t be there for you.
I think he is referring back to Dawn and his parents when he says this. Dawn left him for Colorado and another man and his parents never really showed their love to him and I feel as if he longed for that love. He thinks he showed that kid in one night how everyone acts. They take care of you and nurture you then all of a sudden they disappear out of your life for forever. Edrich gave the narrator interesting qualities if that is what she wants to call them. She showed his compassion, his getting in trouble nature, and his deep down love for others.
Edrich though I think wanted people not to like the narrator because he took the kid in the car and did not stop to drop the kid off. After the story was over and find out the baby is ok I realized he thought he was doing the right thing for the baby. He does not want to admit he was thinking of the baby but deep down he knew leaving the baby would keep it out of harm’s way. Reading the story the second time knowing the baby is going to be okay | noticed the little details that he did for the baby to keep it safe. From beginning to end the narrator’s heart softens a bit I think.