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Noris Flores

Professor Batty

English 102

November 27, 2017

Duncans Wonders

Giving human characteristics to nonhuman things in stories can always give a different

type of perspective to the reader on what he or she is reading. On the graphic novel Duncan the

Wonder Dog by Adam Hines provides this type of human characteristics given towards animals.

The animals in this story show and express what they feel and what they have gone through

when they are face to face with a human. Hines provides the information about these animals and

it gives a whole other view of animals that live in either a circus or any place where they are kept

in a cage. Also throughout this essay we will analyze Ecocriticism and Animal Studies to show

how these literary devices work into the graphic novel.

In the beginning of the novel it starts off with the story of the man who invented the Muir

railway track system, the following story about a huge boxing match I believe it is in New York

and finally after the story, the animals come in. The whole graphic novel is full of different

stories revolving around the animals that are in the circus, I believe that it is the dog from the

very first story who is telling all these stories and bringing them all together. This dog I believe

is who Daniel Muir the railway track system inventor, is speaking to. This dog only appears once

and it is when he is sitting next to Muir in the very first story. In the beginning of these animals

story it starts off with a monkey and a tiger in a cage of their own. It seems like they are in a

local city zoo but it is during the night so it is hard to tell. The monkey is reading a book and the

tiger becomes curious of what he is reading. While all this talk begins about the book and what is
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it about the animals conversation becomes deeper and deeper into what they have gone through.

The animals actually start expressing themselves just how us humans express ourselves. They

start talking about how the humans hurt them, technically the novel does not say those exact

words but it gives an understanding that these animals are being harmed by the zookeepers or

whoever takes care of them in where they live at. And they get into details throughout the end of

the novel. We come to an understanding that these animals go through a lot just as humans go

through hard trials but it cannot be compared because I believe the animals go through much

harder situations, you can say that humans have it easy.

Giving the animals human type of characteristics during the novel it makes it a better

type of story because it gives it a different type of understanding. This is called

Anthropomorphism when a god, animal or object aka non-human is given a human

characteristic. And this is what is happening throughout the novel. These characters express

themselves as human beings and talk about what they go through when they are face to face with

the humans. Throughout the novel we also see how a monkey lives within the human

community. The monkey wears a suit and talks all about business with a couple of his business

friends but the men do not seem to take the monkeys words very seriously why? You may ask,

well because yet again he is an animal and the men do not seem to like the opinion of an animal.

Which truly is not fair because the monkey in this short story is part of the human community.

The story goes on and opens up to other stories with the same kind of problem only that the

problems get worse by each story that goes on.

This can relate to Animal Studies on how animals interact with the human race because

animal studies are set of tests that test how humans interact with non-humans, in this case how

humans interact with animals. I believe that this type of literary device takes a huge role in the
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graphic novel. A short story of the baboon that talks with a man that seems to be the baboons

friend and they are in a restaurant talking about some sort of work theyre doing, it seems that it

is only with a few people that the baboon actual interacts well with, because when the baboon

starts talking to another colleague of his, their conversation isnt so friendly to say. Also in this

story you see how the baboon is trying so hard to fit into the human community. When the very

first scene of baboon come up in the book the baboon is given a fruit bowl and it seems that he is

embarrassed on how it was given to him. Because literally it is a bowl and a bunch of chopped

fruit in it just as how an animal in captivation would be fed. As soon as it is given to him the

baboon looks at the bowl in a way that he has to eat the fruit calmly and not go savage when

eating it. That is what I felt that the baboon was trying to do. The baboon was trying to be more

human like than the ape that he actually is. Throughout the novel many more stories like the

baboons come up. The one about the cow not wanting to leave the farm to go to the slaughter

house and another about the goose or duck not sure which of the two it is but the bird catches

fish for a man and in the end the bird sacrifices their hunger in order to be at peace with the man

whom he works for. The thing that all these stories have in common is that all the animals work

for the humans. It does not matter what type of animal it may be whether the animal is vicious or

tame, they all work for someone and these animals are not happy about how they are living their

working situation. The way how Euclid the circus monkey does not like what he does because

he is afraid of what the humans can do to him. The way how we humans have animals dominated

has become very sad because animals cannot live their lives as free as they would wish to. The

graphic novel successfully achieves the animal study lens because of the detail it gives about

these animals lives when they are with the humans. Another definition of animal studies is

using animals to study the development and progression of diseases according to the National
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Cancer Institute. There is no testing done in the graphic novel but it shows that we make animals

do the hard work before we even try the work on our own. Throughout the novel there are no

images on what things these animals go through the only type of evidence of what these

animals go through is their stories. The way how the animals express themselves when telling

their stories is the only way to believe what they have gone through. There is a saying that says

actions speak louder than words and it is true, these animals do so much for the humans that

the humans cannot even spare to say thank you for everything they do for the human population.

We humans can treat animals in some very cruel ways.

Diving straight into the meaning of Ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between

literature and the physical environment (longwood.edu). The way how the graphic novel and

nature come together is to create a meaningful story. I believe that this story has not only to do

with the animals and what they express but also in what they go through. Not only in the book

but in reality animals are being mistreated big time. There is no need for animals to talk to us in

order for us humans to see the type of harm we do to any type of animal. I bet if animals would

be able to talk to us with words humans would take the whole treating animals differently in a

whole new other way. The earth centered type of analysis this novel takes into the stories is the

way animals are treated. It seems that these animals go through so much and they go through it

so often, the animals have just become numb to the idea of being mistreated. Although there are

some animals that still have feelings to say. In which that they do not like how they are being

treated, in which they wish that they can do anything to stop this cruelty and live a good life in

where they do not have to worry about all the wrongdoings done to them. For example towards

the end of the graphic novel one of the animals friends die and it really has no effect on the

animal because they are so used to having their friends dying at any moment due to the
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circumstances that they live in. Having said that the novel does not go into great detail of what

these animals go through and I believe that it would be a very completely different story and the

reader would be in a different state of mind after reading the story.

These two literary devices give the reader an understanding on what the author is trying

to accomplish on their understanding. The Anthropomorphism gives it a great understanding

because what else would you call animals expressing themselves like humans? Giving this

literary device does help the reader big and it plays a big role in the graphic novel. There are

many types of examples that do the same thing in giving objects a human characteristic. For

example Beauty and The Beast, the servants of the king turned into daily household objects and

technically these objects are not supposed to talk because they are lifeless beings but they are

made to talk because they play a huge role in the story. The servants help Bell get through her

imprisonment to say so she can help the Beast also known as the King in the story, to fall in

love with her to save their lives. I believe that in the story Bell would have not been able to get

through the whole imprisonment if it were not for the inanimate objects. You see giving these

non-human things this ability makes any story more interesting. And all the times that this is

being done it makes the reader understand what these objects purpose is and also what the author

is trying to make the reader understand.

The graphic novel is filled with some pretty sad stories it is not all rainbows and ponies

all the way through. I believe what the author is trying to show the reader is what animals go

through in the real world. I also believe that the animals in this story are trying to be part of the

human community. We saw it first with the monkey in the circus, when he is reading a book and

trying to understand what the book is about. Second how the baboon tries not to eat the food like

crazy like the animal he is. And lastly I would say the bird who catches fish for the fisherman
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even though the fisher man can do it on his own but makes the bird do it for him which makes

the fisherman look lazy. But I think the bird does this for the man because he wants to secure his

safety so it is like a give and take situation, bird does the fishing for the man keeps some fish

and the fisherman and in return he grants him safety wherever the bird may live. I believe many

people would feel bad about what they actually go through but once they finish reading the

graphic novel they will get back to their daily lives. Yes, the novel is very captivating but yes,

not many people will take the book seriously. In its own way the book brings a lot of light into

the subject that the author is bringing to the reader.

Ecocriticism and Animal Studies both make the story more understandable. The author

does accomplish on what they are giving. The expressions and grievances the animals show

gives the feeling to the reader that they should feel bad for these animals. The stories the animals

give seem so real and they actually might be real but we do not really know because in reality

animals do not talk. But in the way that we can see the animals that go through harsh things is by

their actions when they are face to face with a human. Animals can attack or run away from a

human when a human does approach them. It is not a pretty picture to see but it shows that

animals do have feelings and do want to be treated the right way. No matter what type of animal

and animal can be it should be treated with respect because they are a living creature just like us

humans.
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Work Cited

Animal Studies. Animal Society, www.animalsandsociety.org/human-animal-studies/.

NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms. National Cancer Institute,

www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms?cdrid=454774.

BookBrowse.Why Do We Say Actions Speak Louder than Words? BookBrowse.com,

www.bookbrowse.com/expressions/detail/index.cfm/expression_number/151/actions-speak-

louder-than-words.

What Is Ecocriticism? EASLCE, www.easlce.eu/about-us/what-is-ecocriticism/.

Anthropomorphic. Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/anthropomorphic.

Ecocriticism. www.longwood.edu/staff/miskecjm/380ecocriticism.pptx.