English Oral Presentation, “The Half-Husky”
What is the main point of the story; the “global thesis”?
I would argue that the main point in to demonstrate that in some situations
death is better than suffering because both Harvey and Nanuk chose their
own for of escapism in order to avoid the suffering life presented them.
Harvey chose to go to prison instead of having to live in poverty with an
abusive aunt. And anuk chose to die instead of having to live with the
psychological damage that his physical abuse caused.
What are the themes in the story?
I believe that the main theme of the story is freedom. In the sense that the
two main characters in the story don’t have any because of the brutalization
of their enemies. Nanuk has no freedom from the anger caused by Harvey’s
continuous assaults. Nunuk doesn’t do anything to threaten Harvey, yet time
after time when Harvey delivers the news papers around the neighbourhood,
stops by the backyard where Nanuk is put to physically assault him using his
weapons. In one instance, Harvey stabs the dog across the fence with
sticks,” In his hand was a short pointed stick. He was poking it through the
bars of the gate. Harvey jabbed it in again, and this time it caught Nanuk in
the face. He yelped with the pain of it, but he was not driven away. He came
back again, trying to get hold of the stick, and once more Harvey with a
calm deliberation drove the wooden javelin at the dog”p.149. In another
situation Nanuk is pepper sprayed by Harvey,”Nanuk screamed. The sound
was so sudden and acute that my breath was forced back in upon my lungs.
I wondered how many times some kind of tormenting had taken place.
Harvey rode off. When I went to Nanuk and finally calmed him enough to
touch him, I found traces of the pepper around his still closed eyes.p.151”
Another instance where Harvey shots Nanuk with a slingshot, “Harvey
glanced at me, and his face puckered a smile. He knew he was safe on the
other side of the fence. Then with a speed which caught me off guard, he
pulled out a slingshot. The stone was fired before I co...
