Lauren Sustar Microtheme: Dont Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight In her book, Dont Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight,

Alexandra Fuller shares with her readers the experience she had as a child growing up in Africa. Shares is actually putting it rather mildly compared to the bluntness and crudity of the words she has written and the stories her words tell. Life in Africa according to Alexandra Fuller was a life full of danger and excitement. She and her family faced countless hardships and tragedies, and yet they persevered and moved on, although not quite like Americans would move on. They took life as it came and did not expect any pity or empathy. They fought through the tough times and even laughed through them, a concept quite unique to their way of life. The harshness of Fullers previous lifestyle is definitely an underlying theme throughout the whole book. Her blunt illustrations magnify this. Very little emotion was ever shown throughout her childhood. Her mother lost three children and never went to counseling or received treatment for depression like what would most certainly be the case in the United States. She was not hospitalized until it was inevitable, when it seemed like she was truly out of her mind. Bobo as she was called, received little affection as a child as well. Her sister Vanessa was rather mean to her and her parents did not seem to care. When she cried she had to dry her own tears because no one was going to do it for her. As children they were exposed to such a stark reality. The adults around them drank all the time and they themselves were offered alcoholic beverages and smokes. Not only was all of this going on inside the home, but outside there was basically a war going on that was unpredictable and unsafe. The girls were taught to hold and shoot guns; and not just tiny handguns, large automatics. Most people in modernized countries would be shocked at such behavior and treatment of children.

Fuller definitely got her point across by writing this book. She tells a story that for most is unrelatable, yet it is severely true. She keeps her readers enthralled in her adventures and crazy childhood stories. She built up much endurance and independence as a young girl living in Africa. She developed behavioral skills that many people do not have, but would probably benefit from in this greatly modernized world. However, at the same time their lifestyle was far from ideal and would border corruption in the eyes of some. Either way, Dont Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight tells the harsh but true story of a family that endured and stuck together through all of the struggles and trials that could be thrown at them.