Marlena McCall

LBST 2102
Mr. Robert Arnold
16 November 2011
Microtheme 6
The book Don`t Let`s Us Go to the Dogs Tonight is the most gruesomely rich
autobiography I`ve ever read. The title is reIerenced in the book when the Iamily picks up
a Iemale hitchhiker and the Iather tells her that she doesn`t want to go where they are
going because they are 'going to the dogs, the bloody dogs. Take the title as a warning
because it might as well read: Save me Irom this wretched place: the conditions are worse
than you can imagine, be thankIul you`re not in the midst.
As I read Alexandra Fuller`s childhood story I considered what it must be like to
encounter the struggles her Iamily Iaced. I noticed that Ior the most part she understood
the implemented regulations, warIare, and disease. Since her parents plopped their Iamily
in the midst oI battleground, Bobo was accustomed to the civilian curIew and worse the
not so uncommon scenes oI death and uncivil actions towards other. Bobo experiences
loss when three oI her siblings die as inIants. Two siblings were born aIter she, and
Iurthermore she wished Ior their conception. Her mother is an alcoholic and sinks into
manic depression. Bobo sees bloody bodies strewn along the road where a mine exploded
beneath a bus. Also, she is scarred with the sight oI the slashed help and later their
beloved dog. She is aware oI the various diseases that are liable to plague a household,
such as Ileas and worms. Furthermore she knows their eIIects on the body. She can herd
cattle; she can dismantle, reassemble, and shoot arms beIore she`s even ten years old.
These scenes are a drastic contrast to the conditions where I live in the U.S. I can
more easily understand how civilized even the poorest conditions are here compared to
the conditions in Zimbabwe. Globalization has brought the standard up. Although
alcoholism is still a Iairly common problem, the majority oI the struggles are now
eliminated in the U.S. ThankIully we do not have to sleep with guns and bury our liIeless
children in unmarked graves. We have the luxury oI communicating on a nearly constant
basis as opposed to using code names through a radio. Also we have people to protect us:
Iireman, police, and soldiers. We have to be aware oI our surrounding but it`s more
civilized than the realization that it`s likely terrorists will attack your homeplace, driving
around in mine-prooI Landrovers because you are likely to run over an explosive mine,
and knowing that your chances oI death increase aIter dark.