namely sex and violence.The animal’s desires are being controlled and restricted and the dog only becomes content again when he comes close to the moor and its “bristly heather”, a symbol of the dog’s natural environment.This relates to my second issue about how modern lifestyles and institutions can be more damaging than is generally believed. The story has two narrative strands, one which represents the natural, uninhibited life (represented by the dog and the rural spaces) and the other which represents destructive urban life (in which the boy is arrested and becomes sexually aggressive).This dual narrative structure was inspired by Graham Greene’s ‘I Spy’, in which Charlie Stowe (representing nature in its innocent, infant state) does not understand the developing story around his father, who symbolises corruption and the dangers of politics and repression. Another technique used throughout the piece is symbolism. Common, household products are used to represent consumerism and the vast problems that it carries with it.The “Coke bottle”and the “Bose speakers” are capitalised to symbolise the importance that these products have to those who believe they will provide them with happiness. Coca-Cola’s advertising slogans over the last decade serve as testament to this; “Life Begins Here” and “Open Happiness” are designed to lure the consumer. Symbolism is used albeit for a different reason in ‘Second Best’ by D.H. Lawrence, written in 1912. Lawrence uses a mole to symbolise both the working class of England at the time and animalistic sexuality.The “little brute” which experiences ecstasy at the “hot, strange things that caressed its belly” is a sensual and sexual representation of what the protagonist Frances so fervently desires. Indeed, just as the bitch in ‘The Boy And His Dog’ is repressed by the looming gate, so is the mole by “the side of the boot”. In my story, the bottle is described as “translucent”and this alludes to the fact that once it has been consumed it is nothing but a piece of plastic with a brand plastered across the front. It can be seen as a translucent skeleton, a leftover, and indeed the Coke bottle does not possess much vigour as it lies “prostrate”.
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