A Dog's Tale

A Dog’s Tale is a rather touching yet melancholy story. As with previous short stories by Twain, we can expect to learn some moral lesson to go home with. In this story however, I get the feeling the satire here is more of a social commentary on the inhumanness of people along with their hypocrisy and disrespect towards life. The story follows a dog that has learned lessons of honor, respect, and purpose from her mother. When she is separated from her mother and joins a human family, she puts her lessons to work. When she drags the baby out of her crib, the mother of the family think she has gone crazy and beats her before she realizes that Aileen saved the baby from a fire that had ignited because of the fireplace. This goes to show how people are quick to inflict physical pain on an animal and assuming the worst- two sad traits of the human being. When Aileen gives birth to a puppy, it isn’t long before the husband of the family kills Aileen’s puppy because of a scientific experiment testing optics. The message at the end of the story is clear, like many of Twain’s stories. It gives abused animals a voice, shows how people are relentlessly cruel and hypocritical, and shows the loyalty of man’s best friend.