'The Baddest Dog in Harlem', analyse

(sec 17 - sec 22). In the short story "The Baddest Dog in Harlem," the police fires hundred shots (p.

20 l. 17-18) "They must have shot maybe a hundred shots, and people was running and screaming."

Also, the message of the short story "The Baddest Dog in Harlem" can most likely be compared to

the song "American Skin (41 shots)" in that nothing will ever change and nothing will change in the

future.

Another point is that the song describes the environment we are in, in the short story: (min 0:55 -

min 1:05) "Is it a gun, is it a knife, Is it a wallet, this is your life." Indirectly, we can say that this

quote describes how life is in Harlem and that people in Harlem do have guns and knives and steal

The Baddest Dog In Harlem” is written by Walter Dean Myers, the story is about how a group of black men is sitting outside when police officers surrounds the area, they’ve been given a tip, that there may be a guy with a semi-automatic rifle in an apartment nearby, as the story evolves the main character goes with the police and a women to the apartment where the shooter may be, they discover the woman’s dead dog, which has been a victim in the shooting, everybody is relieved that there was no guy with a rifle, until they go to the next door apartment where a kid is lying dead in bed, shot because he was curious and went to the window and was mistaken for a guy with a rifle, when the main character comes down, he doesn’t tell anybody about the boy who got shot.The short story is a great example of stereotypes, the life in the American lower class and police brutality. The language throughout the story is mainly influenced by slang, which can be seen by the incorrect use of grammar, and odd word composition, this can be seen in most of the sentences like: “what you young people talking about” if this sentence should be correct an auxiliary verb would have been added, but in Harlem where the short story takes place slang like this is very common.Harlem is known for its ghetto environment and its high criminal rates, Harlem is dominated by people with black ethnicities, As of 2000, Harlem had a black community comprising 77% of the population , Harlem’s education rate has also strongly declined throughout the years, poverty also dominates the area, which probably is the result of the low education rate.When the main characters and his friends is contacted by the police in the short story their reaction is upsetting, because it shows the way that police deals with crime in the area “ I did just like everybody else leaning on that rail did, said a quick prayer and put my innocent face on ” it’s obvious that they are used to getting randomly searched, and living in a ghetto; everybody is always a suspect even If you haven’t done anything of criminal nature, the color of their skin may be a disadvantage because news stories suggests that you are more likely to get searched if you are of black nature, the racism in the police force mixed with the criminal rates in the area Is a bad mix.The Recent events in Ferguson show the injustice between the police and the black community, were racism directed at a young black man resulted in the killing of him, which many call an unexplained action, which only was based on the color of the skin, many more news stories suggests the same, and in Harlem they are a victim of this as well.American Skin (41 shots) written and sung by Bruce Springsteen relates to the Harlem environment and shares a lot of parallels with “The Baddest Dog In Harlem” The song may be written especially for Harlem.“41 shots And we’ll take that ride Cross the bloody river To the other side” the bridge that is mentioned in the song may be the third avenue bridge which goes from Manhattan to Bronx which you cross to get to Harlem many other things from the text is recognizable in the song “If an officer stops you, Promise me you'll always be polite ,” this is a strongly drawn parallel to the story where the main character also put his innocent face on when the police comes around, also the repetition of the words “41 shots” and “Is it a gun, is it a knife Is it a wallet, this is your life” is a reminder of the tough environment, and is also visible in the text “Willie just stood there and I hoped he didn’t have anything on him illegal” this suggests that there is a high possibility of him having illegal stuff on him most likely drugs, because those are also common in Harlem.The language and tone in “The Baddest Dog In Harlem” is quite remarkable, the slang and words that are used in text gives a texturized verbal painting of the city of Harlem, and the situation in Harlem, there is a strong tone, which we can hear when friends talk to each other and even when the main character is thinking, The author does a great job avoiding bad language, while he still maintains the rich characters that is portrayed, makes them relatable and makes them come to life in this intriguing story.Walther Dean Myers does an excellent job interpreting the life in Harlem, it’s a very realistic story, but at the same time abstract, he brings humor and police brutality on the plate such opposites that he still manages to combine, his African-American background may help him translating the emotions of Harlem thugs to paper, as he may have experienced police violence and racism at first hand.