"A Drowning Incident" by C.J. McCarthy was such a sad story! I loved the fact that the story was based around a child. I babysit little boys all the time and I can see so many connections between the main character and my kids; I can see their little minds at work and it fascinated me!
As the story progresses we learn more and more about the main character; we gain insight into his character and the things in his life that have shaped his behavior. In the opening paragraph, it is revealed through a description of his actions that the boy is being disobedient and mischievous; typical little boy stuff, right? Depth is added to his background once we learn of the removal of the boy's puppies. He obviously deeply feels the loss or else he would not keep visiting the outhouse to remember them. His torture of the crickets and minnows made me wonder if he was not taking out his anger over losing his pets out on creatures who were helpless compared to himself.
To me, the description of the floating puppies was not only disgusting and graphic, but also heart-wrenching! I love both dogs and children, so it made me sad for both parties involved; I hated that the puppies were dead but I also couldn't imagine the agony that the child must have felt! If this had happened in real life, I'm sure the words of the author would not even touch the surface of the pain felt by the child. I believe that the action of him placing the dead puppy in the crib with his baby sister stemmed from a sense of responsibility and a need to make things right. The birth of the baby was probably the reason that the boy was not allowed to keep his little pups and this would explain the grudge and ill-will that he held against her. One thing that greatly stuck out to me was the manner in which the narrator described the baby's room: it was very similar to the way that the puppy's outhouse was described. Even though the death of the puppies was neither the boy's fault nor the baby's fault, the little boy associates not being able to keep the dogs with the existance of the baby and his retaliation is a feeble attempt to rectify the drowning of the innocent pups.
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I agree at least to the point that the boy was acting out for the death of the puppies. I'm not quite sure that the reasoning behind the father's murder of the dogs was because the had a new baby girl. But never the less, the author did do an excellent job in the depiction and drawing to the heart-wrenching details. It is quite a sad story...
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