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Dogs at the Perimeter
73
HOW
WHY
WHEn
Dogs at the
Perimeter
Ashley Scicluna
Introduction
In the novel Dogs at the Perimeter by Madeline Thien, the topic of memory is a reoccurring theme. The main protagonist Janie falls victim to the burden of traumatic memories. Living in Cambodia during the civil war, Janie is introduced to the haunting memories that leaves an imprint on her mind. These memories of war are repressed by Janie hence her memory loss, which then causes her problems further on in her life when her friend goes missing. Through Thien’s writing, the pain of memories from the war and memory loss is shown in the overall story of trying to find internal peace.
WHats the thesis?
While living in Cambodia, Janie is forced to repress her memories to survive her past, relive her memories to grow as an individual, and accept her memories and pain so she can thrive to happiness and internal peace.
Supporting information
1. Janie surrounds herself with the thought of finding Hiroji, with lack of memories of him
2. Janie changes herself to forget the memories
3. Janie’s growth in the book with dealing with memories
When Janie was younger and living in Cambodia during the civil war, she was introduced to misery and pain, so she had to repress the memories of her past to survive
topic 1
Janie changed herself completely during the war by changing her name and becoming a new person. This was when she completely repressed her memories, so she could forget her past in hopes of living a better life.
Proof
"Names were empty syllables, signifying nothing, lost as easily as a suit of clothes, a brother or a sister, an entire world” (Thien 160).
comment
Stated by Hiroji when he was talking to Janie about how meaningless names can be. It also shows how people just leave their names behind to become someone new, and have a new beginning at life, and forget the past.
To find Hiroji, Janie must relive her memories that she repressed so she can use them to track him down
topic 2
Janie surrounds herself with her missing mentor/friend Hiroji. Hiroji went missing and he was all she had so now she spends her days in his house trying to track him down instead of living her own life. But that is hard for her because of the struggles of memory loss and lack of clues, so she is forced to relive them all.
proof
Comment
“She’s been so caught up with Hiroji that she hasn’t had time to do her own thing” (Thien 7).
This quotation says how Janie spends all day trying to find Hiroji instead of trying to fix and work on her life. It is very hard for her to track Hiroji down because she repressed all her memories of her past including him. To find Hiroji, Janie must relive her memories to find clue or hints of where we would have went, and that's when she finally found something.
proof
“She’s been so caught up with Hiroji that she hasn’t had time to do her own thing” (Thien 7).
Conclusion statement
con
To find Hiroji, Janie is forced to relive her memories, and when doing so she ends up surrounding herself with him and taking time away from her life to focus on his.
She was told it was best for her so that she could be stronger and wouldn’t have to relive her past of the suffering caused by war.
topic 2
Proof
“If you want to be strong, you have to become someone else.” (Thien 92)
comment
An old banker said this to her when she was captured from the Khmer Rouge. He was implying if you want to live a happy life, you need to become someone else and throw this life away. Once you change names, it’s easier to disconnect yourself from the past and that’s what she did.
Conclusion
con
Janie was told all her life that names were meaningless, and if she wanted to be a stronger person and forget her past, she would have to do so by repressing her memories and changing her name, so it would be easier to let go
Lastly, Janie is learning how to accept her memories and pain, so she can thrive to happiness and internal peace.
topic 3
Janie has grown as a character throughout the book and learned new characteristics. She’s coped with being a survivor of the war and how she’s trying to get memories back and deal with the pain.
proof
“the only creature under your care is you: your hands, your feet, the hair on your head, your voice” (Thien 199).
comment
Means you are the only person in control of your actions, and your emotions, and how you react to things. You are the only person who can take care of yourself mentally.
Conclusion
To finally reach happiness and internal peace, Janie must accept her past and learn to cope with it instead of running away from it, and that will help her thrive to becoming a better person all together.
con
final conclusion of Dogs at the perimeter
final
con
Janie must repress her memories to survive, relive them to grow, and accept her memories to thrive. She surrounds herself with the thought of finding Hiroji, with lack of memories of him, due to her changing herself to forget the memories. Lastly, after accepting her past, you can clearly see Janie’s growth in the book with dealing with memories.To reach the end goal of finding Hiroji, Janie must put herself through hell of her own thoughts, then find her way out.