50 pages • 1 hour read
Dave EggersA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Johannes’s character arc is shaped by the fight for freedom—a battle the protagonist has been fighting all his life. When he was a puppy, he chose to run away from humans so he wouldn’t become a pet like his siblings. He adamantly stands by this decision even though he has to struggle for survival in a way that he wouldn’t if he were a kept dog: “We were hungry but we were free. I still fend and I still scrounge and am still free, have always been free. No one feeds me. I am unkept and free” (13). As Johannes grows older, humans continue to pose a threat to his freedom. The introduction of the thief, Twisty, threatens Johannes’s freedom for the first time and gives him his only experience of captivity. Previously, Johannes “had been a dog, a free dog of limitless propulsive capacity and eyes without obstacle, and now [he] was a thing this man owned. [He] was the fulfillment of some desire he had” (55). In a key moment for the theme, Johannes fights his way to freedom and escapes back to the park with the help of his friends.
By Dave Eggers
Action & Adventure
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Animals in Literature
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Appearance Versus Reality
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Beauty
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Coming-of-Age Journeys
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Earth Day
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Friendship
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Juvenile Literature
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Newbery Medal & Honor Books
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Safety & Danger
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School Book List Titles
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Science & Nature
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The Best of "Best Book" Lists
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