Character Of Doris In Stray By Cynthia Rylant

In the story “Stray”, by Cynthia Rylant, I claim the protagonist Doris is a very positive character. I state this because she is hopeful, persisting, and passionate about the dog that walks on her property, and throughout the story, she hopes to convince her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lacey, to adopt the stray dog.

First and foremost, one of Doris’ traits is she is hopeful, she hopes her parents will let her keep the stray dog. I can state this because I know in the beginning of the story, Doris holds the puppy against herself after Mr. Lacey says: “I don’t know where it came from, but I sure know where it’s going.”. This indicates that Mr. Lacey is communicating to Doris that he plans to take the dog to the pound or shelter after the weather clears up. Later in the story, after Doris tries to convince Mr. and Mrs. Lacey to keep the dog, Mr. and Mrs. Lacey stayed silent after Doris tried to persuade them to keep the

This connects to being optimistic because when she argues she is arguing because she believes she may have a chance in winning an argument, like in this case, adopting the stray dog. There are many times in this story where Cynthia Rylant indicates that Doris is willing to bring the subject of the dog up to Mrs. and Mr. Lacey, like the time where she tries to talk to them and says: “ “She’s a good dog, isn’t she?” hoping one of them would agree with her. “I figure she’s real smart,” Doris said to her mother. “I could teach her things.” Mrs. Lacey just shook her head and stuffed a forkful of sweet potato in her mouth.” This text shows that Doris is persistent in asking her parents for something she wants badly. Another example of Doris being persistent is at the very beginning of the story when Doris is shoveling snow. This isn’t a big part of the story but it's a small piece of evidence that indicates Doris is persisting, at shoveling snow. Shoveling snow is not