SF0191 Non Human Narrators

SF0191 Non Human Narrators

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“Meet the Hunter family: Adam, Kate, and their children Hal and Charlotte. And Prince, their Labrador. Prince is an earnest young dog, striving hard to live up to the tenets of the Labrador Pact (Remain Loyal to Your Human Masters, Serve and Protect Your Family at Any Cost). Other dogs, led by the Springer Spaniels, have revolted. 

As things in the Hunter family begin to go badly awry – marital breakdown, rowdy teenage parties, attempted suicide – Prince’s responsibilities threaten to overwhelm him and he is forced to break the Labrador Pact and take desperate action to save his Family.”

Matt Haig, The Last Family in England

That’s the blurb for the novel The Last Family In England by Matt Haig. I bring it up here because it’s written from the pov of the family labrador, Prince. It’s a hard trick to pull off but the author achieves his goal remarkably well.

It’s not the most famous novel written from an animal perspective. That would be Animal Farm. Which is a good read, but I’m always reminded of my son’s comment when he was about ten, and I tried to explain how symbolism worked in art. He became frustrated and asked why something had to stand for something else. Why go through that rigmarole? Why can’t a thing be a thing? It’s a good question, and the answer’s not obvious. I do feel a bit that way about Animal Farm: why the animals?

I worked in advertising for many years with a man called John Webster whose greatest skill was creating animals as brand advocates. The Hofmeister Bear, the Cresta Bear, the John Smiths penguins, the Kia-Ora crow, the Smash Martians and so on. It was a clever way of charming the viewer when people still cared about such things. 

It can be done in songs as well, as this episode shows. It does lend itself to humour ….

Heya, Tom, it’s Bob, from the office down the hall
It’s good to see you, buddy, how’ve you been?
Things have been okay for me, except that I’m a zombie now
I really wish you’d let us in
I think I speak for all of us when I say I understand
Why you folks might hesitate to submit to our demand
But here’s an FYI
You’re all gonna die screaming 

Jonathan Coulton, Re: Your Brains

…but also great seriousness too …

The sun above me and a concrete floor below
Scratch at the chain links, maybe bare my teeth for show
Fed twice a day, I don’t go hungry anymore
Feel in my bones just what the future has in store
I pace in circles so the camera will see
Look hard at my stripes, there’ll be no more after me

The Mountain Goats, Deuteronomy 2:10

So we’ve got Tasmanian tigers, dogs, cats, foxes, flies, moths, zombies and birds. But also other inanimate spokesfolk such as computers, guitars, aeroplanes, a lasagne, a carnival and lightning rods. 

And one of the charming byways is that not only Alistair Campbell features in the lyrics, but Adam Lallana is half-rhymed with ‘I’m a lasagne’.