Beware Of The Dog Roald Dahl Analysis

Dahl uses the pilot’s thoughts and feelings as well as his actions to convey that heroism and courage can sometimes be expressed by facing rather than avoiding internal struggle. In the short story, Beware of the Dog, the pilot is flying back to England from what seems to be World War II, and has had one of his legs injured to the point of losing the leg and massive blood loss. Through this, he believes that he feels no pain, and doesn’t even radio call “blood wagon” for help, instead, he starts imagining scenarios of him landing on the ground, and not focusing on flying the plane. His sickness starts impacting his physical well being and starts feeling that he is about to faint. He falls out of the plane thinking he’s going to land …show more content…
Another part where Peter demonstrates great unselfishness is when he is thinking in his head about the feeling he is getting from his suspicions. “Slowly, the grain of doubt grew, and with it came fear, a light dancing fear that warned but did not frighten; the kind of fear that one gets not because one is afraid, but because one feels that there is something wrong.” The fear that Peter is feeling, is ‘dancing’ as if it is more taunting him rather than trying to scare him. As the fear ‘dances’ in his head, it ‘did not frighten’ him. The fear is that he is in enemy territory, and being a prisoner of war, his life is possibly in danger. The pilot is more concerned about knowing what is going on, rather than saving his own life. He is willing to risk his life just so that he won’t inadvertently do something that could jeopardize his country's war efforts. Dahl uses the pilot’s thoughts and feelings to convey that heroism and courage can sometimes be expressed by facing rather than avoiding internal struggle. Also, Dahl uses the pilot’s action to convey meaning. The pilot shows a great act of strength and courage when he is crawling to the window to find the truth about the location of the hospital. “It was very short and