GRGR(3) talking dog 44.20

[Doug Millison]

Thinking about keith's suggestion that Pointsman might be the narrator for
the talking dog's POV material in this episode -- would a behaviorist
recognize that sort of consciousness in a dog?  Especially in one that is
to be used as an experimental subject? Seems problematic to me, especially
given the historical period, when lots of animal researchers would have
still followed the Cartesian view that considered animals as unfeeling
machines (some still do, of course). Among other reasons (the first of
which is, that TRP is the writer after all, none of what we encounter on
the page was originated by any of the characters or narrators therein),
that's why I'd argue for a reading that sees TRP writing directly through
the dog's POV in the first couple of paragraphs in this episode, then
dipping back into the dog's POV through a third-person omniscient narrator
thereafter. And, if Pointsman is narrating the dog's POV stuff, is he also
pronouncing out loud the dog's dialogue? I don't think he does that either.
By writing dialogue for this dog, TRP spins the novel, suddenly, into a
different realm altogether. Dreams and shifting in and out of various
characters' minds is pretty standard stuff in a novel. But a talking dog?
At the very least, TRP is very in-your-face with this announcement that
he'll do whatever he wants to do in this book; by the time Pointsman pulls
himself out of the toilet, we'll be riding through another one with
Slothrop.

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