Dogsong

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1985

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-5

Part 2, Chapters 6-7

Part 2, Chapters 8-9

Part 2, Chapters 10-14

Part 3

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Food

Paulsen uses food as a symbol of survival and contentment in the extreme Arctic environment. The hunting, preparation, and eating of meat and fat are described in detail. For example, Oogruk eats the caribou eye by popping it in his mouth and “using his gums to crush it and swallow the juice noisily” (19). Frozen caches of meat are essential to survival in the Arctic, and they are frequently referred to, often descriptively, as in “the meat under one arm like large red pages from a thick book” (24). The frozen meat is symbolic of the Inuit’s successful interaction with nature: The Arctic provides both sustenance and a way for humans to store the sustenance. Paulsen’s descriptions of the food and its consumption evoke feelings of satisfaction and satiation; food is enjoyed in silence and never taken for granted.

The preparation of food also symbolizes the cultural difference between the old Inuit and modern missionary lifestyles. The Inuit traditionally eat their meat raw, but the missionaries arrived and told the Inuit people that they needed to cook meat for food safety. The notion that you must control nature by killing any worms and bugs in the meat rather than living with nature and eating meat as provided by nature underscores the different approaches taken by the two cultures. The way that food is acquired is also used to highlight the clash of the cultures. White hunters use loud, obtrusive guns that disrupt the stillness of the environment and scare nature, whereas Oogruk teaches Russel to hunt with handmade bows, arrows, and lances in the old Inuit way and to pay respect to every kill by placing food in the dead animal’s mouth and thanking it for its life.

In his dreams, food is a symbol of the future and a guide for the future. The unusual meat and fat of the dream mammoth foreshadow the unusual dark meat and yellow fat of the polar bear. Russel also uses melted fat from the lamp to revive Nancy, just as he saw the dream woman try to do for her starving children.

The Lamp

The traditional seal-oil lamp is first described in Chapter 2, in Oogruk’s house—“a seal oil lamp with a moss wick that threw a tiny yellow glow around the room” (14)—and from this point onwards the glow, warmth, and light from the oil lamp become recurring symbols of comfort and sustenance. The lamp provides light and warmth for heating both food and the room; it provides the comforts that represent a home. The symbolism of the lamp is clear at the beginning of Russel’s first foreshadowing dream. The dream opens outside a skin tent, and “inside there was an oil lamp, much like the one Oogruk had, burning a smoky yellow that lighted the faces of the people in the tent” (91). The lamp briefly becomes the focus, bringing together both the unknown woman in his dream who is tending to it, and the unusual fuel used by the dreamlamp: “There was much honor intending the lamp and she took pride in it. The flame was even, if smokey, and in the stone lamp-bowl there was the same yellow fat that was so important for him to name” (92).

In addition to symbolizing comfort, the lamp is a symbol of what is to come; later in the book we learn that the woman is Nancy and the fuel is polar bear fat (162), used in the lamp that Russel lights to revive Nancy for a second time. When Russel first finds the ancient stone lamp, following his initial dream, he slips into an old Inuit way of talking: “‘See what a man has been given,’ he said. ‘By the dogs who brought me. By the night. See what a man has been given’” (105). This slide into old times highlights the significance of the lamp as a symbol connecting old traditional Inuit ways to Russel’s future life. The dream lamp lights the faces of the people in his dreams, connecting the dreams to Russel’s reality until they merge into a continuum. Russel “knew in his center, that it was the same lamp and that it was all that was left of what had been […] and knew that there was not a line any longer between the dream and the run” (144). The lamp is a powerful symbol from the past, lighting Russel’s way and providing sustenance on his journey into the future.

Running

Running is a motif that appears throughout the book. It is used to describe the luscious grease on Russel and Oogruk’s chins as they enjoy meat in the traditional way; it “ran down their chins and hardened” (30). Running comes up in association with traditional Inuit ways. Russel finds fulfilment when he first manages to get Oogruk’s dogs to run for him. He achieves this by dedicated practice, but the run falls into place right after he makes eye contact with the dogs and “their eyes caught his eyes and he knew they would run. He knew they would run” (38). A mystical exchange takes place, and the dogs understand his desire to run. He expresses this joy to Oogruk, referring to him in the old way as “Grandfather”: “They ran, Grandfather. They ran for me like the wind” (40). The dogs never walk or jog; the way they are described as moving is running. Running also portrays beauty: “It was a beauty he could not measure. As so much of running the dogs proved to be—so much of it had a beauty he saw and took into himself but could not explain” (63).

Initially it seems as though Russel is running away from the modernization that has infiltrated his village, but it is more accurate to say that Russel is running towards self-realization, towards finding his song. The only time “running” is used to depict an escape is when Russel leaves Oogruk on the ice to die: “He stood on the sled runners and moved to get away from what he knew, ran to get away from death sitting on the ice in Oogruk’s form” (81). When Nancy asks Russel how far north he is going, he replies, “Until I run to the end of where I am going” (148). He is running towards self-enlightenment.

Running is also used as an extension of Russel’s mind, streaming out to the dogs. It serves to illustrate the connection Russel has with his dogs, both in his dreams—“they ran to his mind, clean and simple” (95)—and in reality:

He let them run and they seem to want to head the same way he wanted to go and that, too, became part of his thinking. Did they know him? Did they know his mind and run to it the way the wolf dogs had run to the man’s mind in the dream? (102).

Eventually Russel fully melds with his dogs and runs them using his thoughts; “[H]e brought them up and ran them with his thoughts and on the ice they cut a snow machine trail and he followed it to the left because that is what his leader said to do and he was the leader and the leader was him” (170).

The importance of the motif of running, and the run, is apparent when Russel asks his dogs, “Why do we run?” (102). This is the question hanging over the entire story, the self-reflective question: Who am I?