Nobody in this whole story ever considers just... making Lady an inside dog. Like just, keeping her in the house and walking her instead of letting her roam. Also Mr. Shepherd reminds me of the man from The Witch, not a guy to be let around children
@books_ncats
8 ай бұрын
Agreed, he seems like a creep, and yeah, just keeping her inside would be the obvious solution, so the fact the neighbours go straight to violence is telling. Thanks for this, it’s got me thinking! - Rosie
@dcat1730
7 ай бұрын
I get the feeling no one really cares enough to make the effort, aside from Mrs. Walpole. It seems to be her dog, really, given how unattached the children seem. The dog ("Lady") is no longer tolerated by their society for doing something natural for a dog to do, and she realizes just how little tolerance they would give to a woman who did not perform the role of housewife correctly. And I think she associates the dog's freedom with one she doesn't have, as well. It's sad enough to tie a dog up all day, let alone torture it the way the townspeople so glibly described. Burning hot egg, eugh.
@dcat1730
7 ай бұрын
There's also the inevitably the townspeople all share, that the fate of the dog is a foregone conclusion. I think that's what gives Mrs. Walpole a doomed feeling. She can't make herself love cleaning her kitchen or making donuts anymore than the dog can change its nature. The grocer even mentions the egg-eating dog from his boyhood as only existing in its role as dog-- that it not liking him was because it "wasn't much of a dog", not from his father and his treatment of it.
@notaraven
6 ай бұрын
I think the story was poking at the idea of what happens if the community turns on you. Everyone in the town heard the dog stepped out of line and only thought "dogs got to die". The more "humane" methods they came up afterwards is just torture to a creature without restraint or mercy. The community wanted pendants and the wife wouldn't be able to wiggle out of it. I think the unspoken question is what actions does it take for a person to be treated the same. The wife seems to feel this judging at how critical and restrained she is with her work and feelings.
@FiercelyGold
5 ай бұрын
@@dcat1730 it's amazing how different the story would sound if the dog's name wasn't Lady. She feels such a bond to this "Lady" that she can physically feel what the children are describing doing to her. It's also interesting how the townsfolk (always?) misgender the dog when discussing Lady.
@jenford7078
8 ай бұрын
Shirley Jackson KNEW country folk and their crazy ways. Dark, very dark.
@user-xi5zg6sv2v
6 ай бұрын
And yet we assign that the pinnacle of peace.
@tammichenard1024
2 ай бұрын
@@user-xi5zg6sv2v i think you're confusing the countryside with country folk.
@user-xi5zg6sv2v
2 ай бұрын
@@tammichenard1024 oh, I see where you're coming from and you aren't wrong, but if you listen to country folk talk, they believe they live in peace while they're up to this. My great great grandpa was a farmer and he saw the irony.
@morningcupofcyanide
6 ай бұрын
I think the dog is very intentionally named "Lady"
@honeyLXIX
5 ай бұрын
true
@cryptidxcreature
5 ай бұрын
i was thinking the same, and that almost everyone refers to lady as "the dog" or a "chicken killing dog" no space for anything else, no sympathy, a role and the crime that goes against that roll. i believe mrs walpole knows that she, too, is just a role, "the wife", "the mother". stuck in those expectations, desperate to control herself, her darker thoughts, so that she will not also be sentenced without kindness or mercy. 🤔
@notaraven
6 ай бұрын
I find this as a fascinating take on culture and the effect it has on the family. In this area the answer to a chicken killing dog is death, or violence harsh enough to break them. There is a brutality in this area that shrugs off the death of chickens and dogs but is vengeful and petty about wrongs. The kids parroting the neighbors drives home the point that culture bleeds into and the family unit and lack of safeguards children has to adopt concepts that actively harm themselves. Also, i think the dog is more about the wife. The dog shows what happens to a creature that steps out of line in society. She is desperately trying to meet expectations and the question "would this happen to me if i fall out of line" is present.
@brandyjean7015
8 ай бұрын
Mrs. Walpole and her dog soon disappeared, never to be seen again.
@emmagrace8938
6 ай бұрын
Oh my gosh, watching Mouse look around at whatever it is that’s distracting them is adorable 😂❤
@_Plumtree_
8 ай бұрын
Shirley Jackson kills me. Which is to say disturbs, frightens, unmoors. "Enjoyed" doesn't seem like the right verb, in the context of the story, but I appreciated your chipper reading!
@books_ncats
8 ай бұрын
She unmoors me too! Thanks for your comment ☺️ - Rosie
@Kay-kg6ny
8 ай бұрын
One thing that jumps out at me is that the protagonist just has to take everybody's word for it that the dog even did anything at all. Who's to say they didn't just see the dog wandering harmlessly around in the morning and make up a story to blame her for something a wild animal did?
@NeilSonOfNorbert
4 ай бұрын
There is the blood on her legs. Not definitive but not nothing
@Story-Voracious66
8 ай бұрын
Poor Shirley, Such stories put me in a dilemma that I think that she herself endured. On the one hand we are drawn to the dark, and on the other we are appalled at the true evil in this world, the inhumanity of Humanity. The matter of fact glee at suffering that humans can feel when it's not their own suffering. It's not just country folk either. The thrashings of children in school hasn't even stopped in all countries, and worse happens. We seek, as modern people to stamp cruelty out, but we are competing with *this*. Yes, there is SO much good in the world, but the likes of Mrs Walpole are only too aware of the bad, and are suffocated by it.
@restless4400
8 ай бұрын
Wonderful reading! The desperation of an unhappy life beautifully told.
@books_ncats
8 ай бұрын
Thanks very much! ☺️ - Rosie
@lenorapentecost5156
8 ай бұрын
A wonderful reading!
@books_ncats
8 ай бұрын
Thank you! ☺️ - Rosie
@sojinnn
8 ай бұрын
I feel like so little happened, yet that was very unsettling. Thanks for another great reading 🤍
@books_ncats
8 ай бұрын
That’s so characteristic of her stories I think, quiet terror with characters who are just sort of left hanging. Thank you, glad you enjoyed it! - Rosie
@OddE.Anderson
5 ай бұрын
Adults love to tell people what to do about a bad situation because it’s not their problem and they don’t have to deal with it.
@theATSthetic
4 ай бұрын
holy shit. I stopped watching your shirley jackson video to find an audio book of this story before just finding you reading it, and man, this is so good thank you for this.
@lindadockery9013
6 ай бұрын
I've read quite a bit of Shirley and she could really do it all. She could make the most banal subjects interesting, and funny! And yet make simple things dark and intense. Hill House is downright terrifying! She was such a treasure! And gone way too soon! Thanks for the great readings! You're wonderful!
@awolpeace1781
16 сағат бұрын
Using the premise the dog somehow forgot what a live chicken would taste like since they forced a dead one on it
@wick3dwords
8 ай бұрын
Your channel and specifically these types of videos inspired me to make my own. I swear, i jump every time I see a video from you. Your flair for drama is 💖
@books_ncats
8 ай бұрын
Aww thank you so much, that’s so lovely to hear 🥰 I’ll check out your channel! - Rosie
@SebastianTinajero
8 ай бұрын
Great little short story to listen to while on my drive to work ❤️
@manoela2452
8 ай бұрын
your hair looks so good in this video
@books_ncats
8 ай бұрын
Thanks! - Rosie
@Poppihin
6 ай бұрын
Ummm why did i start hyperventilating, this was so cool im going to lie down I'm shivering!
@theresakelliher9760
5 ай бұрын
You are a hugely talented reader! Holy Cow, that was a treat. Thanks. Subscribed!
@zigzaglychee7324
2 ай бұрын
Punishing a dog for being a dog. I have chickens. I have a dog. My dog has never shown even the slightest interest in my chickens and they aren't afraid of him because he never bothers them. But I'd be stupid if I left him alone with them because he IS still a dog. They even mention that Lady is a hound which is a hunting dog, smh. But people can be this nasty about animals. I saw a horrible documentary about a man who had the local foxes shot because they kept breaking into his poorly constructed chicken coop and he hated them for being foxes doing what foxes do. If predators keep getting your chickens, YOU are the problem, you didn't protect them properly. I saw people saying truly nasty things about a hawk trying to get into an aviary too. The aviary owner had caught it and released it, but the comments... people were saying that he should have shaken the poor bird or hurt it in some way, "teach it a lesson". People are so disgustingly gleeful to torment animals for being animals.
@maureenwilliford8985
8 ай бұрын
A disturbing story but one that truly shows the difference between the more practical way country folk view animals as opposed to the more sentimental way city folk do. In the city, such problems just never arise.😊
@prixe12
6 ай бұрын
I suppose it could be a clash in culture but honestly I lot of people from the country love their animals especially dogs and if anyone even suggested some of the fucked up shit the creeps in this story did the dog wouldn't be the one getting put down.
@maureenwilliford8985
6 ай бұрын
@@prixe12 True but that’s this day and age, not the period in which this story takes place. Back then, they couldn’t afford to not put human needs first. Anyway, I still run into people now who have a dog only to stand guard over the homestead, leaving them chained up out back day and night with no company except for the three minutes it takes to feed them twice a day. They get mean and that’s the way their owners like it which is just as cruel.
@jenniferlane6720
2 ай бұрын
I don’t know if I can make it through this story so much cruelty regarding how to deal with the dog & other dogs in the story.
@ManuelLopezRamirez-ll3qv
8 ай бұрын
I liked the story. What I found most interesting, though, is how Jackson seems to have a penchant for telling rather than showing, and how often she uses the verb “say”. Obviously, it is purposeful, though I am not sure what the reasons behind it might be. It could be that the way repetition of simple verbs allows the reader to focus much more on the content than the style. Or perhaps it is to underline the seeming simplicity of the setting, so that its disturbing nature seems more disturbing? And about the telling instead of showing, I can imagine it’s a matter of shortening the piece? Or maybe she needs to state emotions matter-of-factly for the reader to focus not on specific feelings but on the greater narrative instead? Because, of course, she does not tell us what the story means, but shows us. I am unsure! But it is all very interesting. Thank you for this content! Quite inspiring and entertaining.
@books_ncats
8 ай бұрын
Thank you! Hmm, that’s an interesting observation, and I’m not sure what the answer is. Her writing is certainly “simple”, in that it’s not purple and rich, but she says so much in the words she chooses, they have weight. I’ll have to think on this more… - Rosie
@bluemooninthedaylight8073
8 ай бұрын
@@books_ncats Her writing honestly reminds me of Hemmingway, in that the sentences might seem simple and/or concise, but it's in the subtext where the deeper meaning lies.
@curiousworld7912
7 ай бұрын
Marvelous. :)
@clerk-555
6 ай бұрын
well done!
@sandramcdaniel2
4 ай бұрын
Depressing
@user-ub2jp7tg6k
8 ай бұрын
❤
@jessiemayfield6749
5 ай бұрын
Ok to be fair it’s the mom’s fault for never getting in control on those kids, she doesn’t actually let them know that saying ish like that is wrong so they just do it. When I was 8 and in grade school I saw a kid joke about killing a dog and told the teacher to call the police I was so upset. If you don’t raise children someone else will.
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