Friday 27 November 2020

Thoughts on animal cruelty in fiction

 So, I finished reading a book last night and while I enjoyed it for the most part there was also a point where I almost walked away from it (it was only just over 200 pages so I stuck it out).

The issue I had with it was the harm done to two dogs. One was a loyal dog who was trying to protect his owner - this one was smashed in the snout with a crowbar (but had no sign of injury the next morning) and also had it's tail hacked off for no real reason other than to prove the villain of the piece was a sadistic bastard. The other was an old dog encountered again by the villain in an otherwise empty house - this one had it's throat slit and the body dumped in the front garden.

And this got me thinking, why is it that characters go through all kinds of misery, harm, pain and torturous death in fiction all the time and it doesn't bother me one little but as soon as animals start getting hurt I find a problem with it. 

Anything goes in fiction but leave the animals alone

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