Dogs are Man’s Best Friend

I’m just going to flat out say it: I don’t get old Salamano. Or at least, I don’t get his relationship with his dog. Early on, the only scenes we get of him are when he’s beating his dog (of which Meursault and Raymond seem to be fine with), so I’ve never really liked him to begin with. “[Salamano and his dog] look as if they belong to the same species, and yet they hate each other...the dog [pulls Solomano] along until [he] stumbles. Then he beats the dog and swears at it. The dog cowers and trails behind. Then it’s the old man who pulls the dog. Once the dog had forgotten, it starts dragging its master along again, and again gets beaten and sworn at” (27). From this scene, and many others like it, and old Salamano’s favorite name for his dog, “filthy, stinking bastard” (27), I immediately got the impression that Salamano was a troubled man with a terrible relationship with his pet. I honestly thought he hated the dog and was just waiting for the thing to just die. It’s not until chapter five that I became completely confused with, and yet accepting of, this rocky relationship.

In chapter five, Salamano loses his dog and becomes very worried and distressed. I would have assumed that he would have felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off his chest, but on the contrary, it seems as if more weight has been added. “We’d have a run-in every now and then. But he was a good dog just the same” (45). Salamano has felt this strong connection to his dog ever since the death of his wife. He filled his empty void of companionship with this dog, and although they fight a lot, once the dog disappears, Salamano begins to feel alone and abandoned. Though it may be a funny way of showing it, Salamano loved his dog, and so the thought of losing it seems daunting and unbearable.

Solomano and his dog are like an old married couple. Although they fight a lot, in the end, they love and can’t live without each other. I just hope that this relationship isn’t one sided and that he finds his dog soon. It makes me wonder why the dog ran away. Was the loving/ abusive relationship too much for it? Or maybe it’s been trying to find its way home all along, but is lost, wandering the streets of Algiers, looking for its owner. Either way, I hope Solomano is able to find his lost dog because, ever since his wife died, that dog has been the only strong relationship he has in his life and it would be a shame to have that taken away from him as well. (Except maybe Solomano and Meursault will grow closer, since Meursault already seems to be one of a select group that Solomano chooses to confide in. But, judging from his character, I don’t think Meursault is the best person to rely on because he can be, at times, very brutally honest).