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The Baddest Dog In Harlem Analysis

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The baddest dog in Harlem Throughout history, humans have treated each other detestably, discriminating each other solely on basis of disparities in terms of gender, sexual orientation, religion and race, all states that you, as a simple human being, have no control over. The obscure face of discrimination is constantly pushing fellow human beings down into a dark pit of inferiority and inadequacy, holding them down, making it impossible for them to rise up and dust off. The short-story “The Baddest dog in Harlem” written by Walter Dean Myers and published in 2001, explores the phenomenon of racial discrimination, rooting in violence and police brutality in coloured neighbourhoods, as well as digging into subjects such as social tensions in the poverty-stricken areas of America. The short story takes place in Harlem, New York, a city known for poverty, crime and unemployment, during a police hunt for an unknown enemy. The search ends up in an exchange of fire into a block of flats. The main character is forced to enter the block, but there is no gunman. The only result of the shooting is the loss of a little boy and a dog. The story is told by an explicit first person narrator who functions as the main character, and whose name is not told: “… I knew it was going to get worse…” The narrator is a limited narrator because he has a restricted view of the events, thus making the main character develop with the reader. The narrator is the protagonist, making him a part of
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