I finished reading Ha Jin’s novel War Trash about a Chinese man’s experience as a POW the other day and enjoyed it very much.  There was a chapter depicting the bonding experiences between the narrator and a dog that I wasn’t expecting.  I felt compelled to share this excerpt that demonstrates Ha Jin’s way with words not just in crafting the image of this dog but also to point out the ways that people anthropomorphize animals (and that it might not be too far from the truth).

“The prisoners called him Blackie on account of his dark coat.  He was small in size and almost devoid of fur, scarred in places, but he had a fluffy tail and white-eye brows like a pair of moths...As I spent more time with him, he seemed to acknowledge a special bond between us, following me whenever I was in his view.  He’d trot beside me with an air of some importance.  I was glad to have him around.  Before Blackie, I had never really liked any animal, but now my thoughts would turn to him first thing in the morning when I woke up...He made me realize that none of us, the POWs, could ever have his kind of simple pleasure and genuine trust in a man.  This realization made me treat him more like a friend, who evoked in me a tenderness that I dared not feel toward anyone around me for fear of embarrassment and betrayal” (319).