Shoah

Question 1

What’s black dogs about?

Answer 1

The narrator of the story is Jeremy who lost his parents when he was a child. He sustituted them with his parents-in-law June and Bernard Tremaine. Jeremy reconstructs their love story and faith and later disappointment in communism. Black Dogs is a statement about fear and violence. It’s built around the terrifying dogs they met in France during their honeymoon.

Question 2

What do Bernard and June represent’?

Answer 2

Bernard is a rationalist whereas June has mystic view of life. Jeremy is sceptical towards both

Question 3

Black Dogs’ style?

Answer 3

It has a shifting perspective and combines two different narrative levels: one referring to the present and one to the year when they met the black dogs

Question 4

What’s black dogs theme?

Answer 4

It’s about where man’s hate can lead to. It’s a meditation on the existence of evil and the redeeming power of love.

Question 5

What are the black dogs?

Answer 5

The black dogs are the dogs the gestapo brought to France to intimidate its inhabitants. Though when the nazi ran they left the dogs behind becoming a threat and attacking June.

Question 6

What’s the moral of this book?

Answer 6

The last lines of the book suggest that the black dogs are still active in Europe. The demon of nationalism is still active. We can only understand the future if we look critically at the past. This is what Jeremy tries to do in the novel and the intellectual’s task according to McEwan