the first pup story short summary
Answers
Saunders' "Puppy" illustrates family dynamics in a satiric manner. Within this text, Saunders also seems to show a mother ponders her own life, as well as her children's lives and personalities and struggles, as she reflects, "Maybe they didn't even have any mythical vignettes in their heads. Or maybe the mythical vignettes they had in their heads were totally different from the ones she had in her head. Which was the beauty of it, because, after all, they were their own little people!"
Like the title and caring for pets, she also explicates the role of parenthood, as she comments: "You were just a caretaker. They didn't have to feel what you felt; they just had to be supported in feeling what they felt." Themes of child raising reiterate in parts such "as I guess I did, but it's sure not easy raising kids the right way."
The "puppy" seems to signify her yearning to keep the children young and carefree, just as a puppy is. The "puppy" may also represent her special needs son, Bo, as both puppies and Bo need extra care and nurturing as evident from the lines, "When Bo got older, it would be different.