Character Analysis: Puppy By George Saunders

Character Analysis of Marie from “Puppy” by George Saunders

In the short story “Puppy” by George Saunders, Marie is driving to Callie’s house to purchase a puppy for her children, Josh and Abbie. Throughout the drive to Callie’s, Marie is trying to connect with her children but they are not interested. Once Marie makes it to Callie’s home, we can see how judgmental she is when she talks about the uncleanliness and disorganization. She decides against purchasing the puppy after seeing Bo, Callie’s son, chained to a tree. When she refused to purchase the puppy, she sealed the fate of its death. Marie is a suburban wife, loving mother, and want what’s best for her children. She views her children as her friends and does not discipline them. She

Throughout the period of her childhood, her mother was abusive. Her mother “left [her] standing in the blizzard for 2 hours after a junior-high dance” (183), “locked [her] in the closet while she [entertained] a ditchdigger” (183), and told Marie, “[she wasn’t] college material” (183). Because of this Marie does not want to be like her mother as a parent and is very permissive as a mother to Josh and Abbie. When Josh “goose[s] her with his Gameboy” (182) and “swat[s] at her affectionately… knocked off her glasses” (183), she laughs it off versus disciplining him. She feels this shows that her children are “well loved” (183). She would rather treat him as a friend rather than discipline them as a parent. Even in the car she describes the car ride, to get the puppy, as a “super field trip” (185). While she does not judge her children, she has no sympathy for others situations.

Marie is judgmental of Callie, when she makes it to her home. She judges Callie by her physical appearance, cleanliness, and dysfunctional organization of her home. She describes how the home looked inside and how she had to resist the urge to wash her hands. She