chamrosh 's review for:

Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov

4.0

dark funny sad

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This disturbing little story is commonly read as a critique of Russian communist society, and yes, it's very obvious there's a lot of implications on that end, but my own attention caught on the textual story being told.

Philip treats Sharikov well when he's a dog because he's clearly a "lesser" being, and one that can be used and taken advantage of through a few showings of false love. After Sharikov turns human by Philip's own hand, this all changes. It was an unintended result of a disgusting experiment, yet Philip cannot deal with the fact that the result is his own fault since he took that first atrocious step. He takes it out on his victim and picks on him for every little thing, while also implying there's very little use in his existence.

None of the characters see the injustice in mistreatment of a living creature only now forced into the box of humanity. The only empathy to be found for the living is for humans affected by how horrible and unsophisticated the animal is acting. The mistreatment of Sharikov is justified to the cast of characters by the fact that in the first place, he was a dog. Something beneath them. It made for an interesting and infuriating read. Still managed to be funny, too.
Sometimes I get stuck in the mindset that only certain types of people have a capacity for real cruelty, and I'm glad for stories like these to remind me I'm wrong. People are equally capable of being outright horrible, even if each reason stems from a different view or place, and it's good to remember that in times where everyone seems to frame things in such black and white "good vs. evil" perspectives.