Is Beautiful Joe about a dog or a human in disguise? Is it justifiable to use animal as vehicle of political propaganda? What is the ideal relationship between a pet and its owner that is not condescending and obedient but…

In a Chapter 17 footnote, Mr. Wood’s animal caresses are described as having “problematic sexual overtones that link his domination to sexual conquest”. Do we agree with this? Are there any “crazy cat ladies” with partners? Is that possible? What…

Chez talked about in her intro the idea of pet keeping as training for capitalism and Feurstein & Nolte Odhiambo similarly talk about pet characters contributing to the socialization of the child character while Flegel talked about the creation of…

-“There is no explanation, no justifying of this anthropomorphism in most of the books that do it. They simply assume it will be accepted; and it is.” (LeGuin 25)Why is it so that justification is often not needed for the…

I’m interested in thinking about Black Beauty as a novel (an animal autobiography) about class and about disability. The ability to do specific kinds of work, or to look a certain way (and move, breathe, act a certain way) while…

–From the get go we see “master’s house” “plantation”  “Darkie.” That really sets the stage/tone. 1877. Author’s intent aside, who might those terms identify with more? Who might feel that they were the ones being described? “That’s me they are…

If “we give animal stories to children and encourage them to be interested in animals because we see children as inferior, mentally “ primitive,” not yet fully humanized”( LeGuin, 22 ) that human believes animals are inferior; is having pet…

My question: To what extent does animals’ speechlessness contribute to their status as our “elders?” I appreciate LeGuin’s point that animals do communicate, and yet I believe that it is humans’ words, in part, that distance us from the wilderness we long…

In reading Cosslett’s Animal Autobiographies I was interested in the idea of the audience/purpose of the stories. She talks about the majority of these books being addressed to children “as part of their education in sympathy” but also points out…

Tess Cosslett states that the authors of “animal autobiographies” are overwhelmingly female. Why do we think that is the case? Do we agree with Cosslett that it could be because women were responsible for socializing children (teaching them to be…