Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Heart of a Dog, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Revolution and Regression
Social Class and Hierarchy
Science, Nature, and Morality
Dignity, Loyalty, and Respect
Summary
Analysis
Moscow’s dogs inevitably learn to read the word “sausage” on shop windows. As a puppy, Sharik learned to distinguish the butcher shops by their blue-green signs. But after a fateful encounter with an electric goods store that had a similar sign, he learned to distinguish the butchers—and many other shops—by their signs’ letters and other distinctive features. So at Philip’s front door, Sharik makes out “Pro” on the nameplate. This confuses him: “Pro” can’t possibly mean “proletarian.”
This extended commentary on Sharik’s reading abilities—which go exactly as far as they need to for him to find food—shows that he is less intelligent than humans but still much more intelligent than human readers might expect. In Bulgakov’s allegory, this solidifies the link between Sharik and the uneducated or illiterate masses. In addition to poking fun at Soviet-era politics, the joke about Philip’s nameplate (which really says “Professor”) also explains the other half of the allegory. Namely, Philip represents the wealthy aristocratic class that Marxists call the bourgeoisie.
Themes
A beautiful young woman (Zina) opens the door, which leads into an extravagantly-decorated entryway. Sharik glimpses himself in the mirror, and the woman calls him “mangy.” Philip disagrees, but then notices the huge burn on Sharik’s side. Sharik yelps out that it’s the cook’s fault.
Philip’s palatial apartment and beautiful servant further prove that he’s a traditional Russian aristocrat. But the “mangy” Sharik clearly doesn’t belong there—it’s still unclear why Philip has taken him in.
Themes
Philip has Zina lead Sharik down a hallway to a medical examination room. Sharik realizes they’re going to cut him up and tries desperately to escape, shattering a glass door in the process. Another man (Bormenthal) rushes in the room, releases a noxious-smelling liquid, and holds Sharik down. Sharik bites him and starts to lose consciousness. Convinced he’s dying, he says goodbye to the world.
In this scene Bulgakov plays a joke on the reader, who—like Sharik—probably expects Philip to perform his radical experiment immediately. Actually, he’s just trying to heal Sharik’s wounds. But Sharik and the reader can’t tell: they only know that Philip has power over life and death in his operating room, but not whether he’s using this power for good or evil. Sharik’s escape attempt and attack on Bormenthal are the first of his many futile efforts to escape fate.
Themes
Sharik wakes up, covered in bandages but surprisingly free of pain. Philip hums a song, “From Seville and to Granada…,” and criticizes Sharik for biting Bormenthal and breaking the glass door. Philip explains that he lured the dog in with kindness, which is a better way to persuade than with terror. He comments that he still has sausage, and Zina says the sausage is too expensive to give to dogs—she’d rather eat it. Philip Philippovich replies that it’s not safe for humans, and Zina leaves to answer the phone.
Philip’s comments about terror are a play on the Red Terror, the Bolshevik government’s political repression campaign. Evidently, his belief in kindness and persuasion is at odds with the government’s belief in violence and coercion. Dignity and consent are the essence of this difference: where Philip believes it’s wrong to make other people do things they don’t agree to, the Bolsheviks think they know how the world ought to be, and they try to impose this order on everyone else by any means necessary. Of course, Philip goes on to operate on Sharik without his consent, so it's unclear how sincere his values really are.
Themes
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Philip leads Sharik into his extravagant office, which Sharik realizes isn’t just any hospital or clinic. There’s even a stuffed owl inside. A man with bizarre features walks in and takes off his pants, at Philip Philippovich’s request. Although his hair is green and one of his legs doesn’t bend at the knee, the man triumphantly comments that women are fawning over him. Philip Philippovich examines the man and says everything is working. Delighted, the man pays Philip Philippovich a huge sum of money and leaves the office giggling.
The unnaturally green-haired, giggling patient offers the first indication of what Philip does for a living. Sharik doesn’t get it, but the reader will see that Philip is offering some kind of dubious sexual rejuvenation treatments. Early 20th century readers would have likely connected Philip’s treatments to the famous surgeons who promised rejuvenation by transplanting monkey genitals into people’s. Many professionals took this practice seriously for a generation, but by the time he wrote this book, Bulgakov (who was a doctor) already saw that it was a useless fad .
Themes
Next, a nervous woman visits and tells Philip that her life is a “tragedy.” She lies about her age, complains about her husband, and takes off her pants. Philip sings his song. Ashamed to watch, Sharik covers his eyes and falls asleep. When he awakens, Philip Philippovich is telling the woman that he will give her a monkey ovary transplant on Monday. He sings his song again and agrees to do the transplant in his office for an extra fee. Sharik falls back asleep.
Like numerous people throughout human history, Philip’s distraught patient seems to think that youth and sexual vitality will transform her life and fix all her problems. With his operations, Philip is cashing in on this likely futile hope. This makes the connection between rejuvenation and revolution clearer: both are arrogant, misguided attempts to improve humanity by replacing what’s truly human in people with something lower or animalistic.
Themes
Sharik awakens to hear a man tell Philip about his affair with a 14-year-old girl. Sharik is scandalized by Philip’s strange appointments and wonders why he wouldn’t just adopt a finer, well-bred dog. Then he falls asleep again.
Bulgakov satirizes rejuvenation even further. He suggests that, beneath all his professed scientific principles, Philip might really be in the business of helping women surprise their husbands and turning older men back into teenagers to abuse young women. Just like the Bolsheviks do with the power of government, Philip uses the power of medicine to corrupt humanity, not improve it.
Themes
Four young men visit Philip, who angrily tells them they’ve chosen the wrong footwear for the weather. One of the visitors, Vyazemskaya, reveals that she’s really a woman. Their leader, Shvonder, explains that they have just moved into the building and been named as the new management committee. They claim that Philip Philippovich’s apartment is too big—he has seven rooms. He scathingly replies that he’d like one more—a library. Scandalized, the visitors ask him to simply be more efficient with space. For instance, he can eat in his bedroom, like everyone else in Moscow. He replies that this is unreasonable.
The committee tries to bring the revolution to Philip’s apartment: in the name of equality, they think, he has to redistribute his extra space. But Bulgakov mocks Bolshevik culture through the committee’s faux pas—like their improper shoes, Vyazemskaya’s androgyny, and their insistence that Philip use his rooms for the wrong functions. Specifically, they push their rejection of aristocratic traditions to a thoughtless, pointless extreme. They reject better things—like good boots and dining rooms—simply because they’re associated with the wealthy. When Philip insists on keeping his apartment the way it is, he’s defending this aristocratic common sense and the stable domestic life that allows him to do his scientific and medical work in peace. But the reader has already seen the absurdity in his rejuvenation work, so it’s worth asking whether there really is anything admirable in his selfishness.
Themes
The committee threatens to report Philip Philippovich to the authorities. In response, Philip calls one of his patients, Pyotr Alexandrovich, and reports that he’s leaving Russia because the committee is taking his home. The visitors are horrified, but Alexandrovich convinces Philip to stay on the condition that the four visitors never bother him again. Shvonder takes the phone, and after briefly chatting with Alexandrovich, agrees that Philip can keep his apartment. Before leaving, Vyazemskaya asks Philip to buy some magazines from her to help support German children, but he refuses. She says he would certainly be arrested if he weren’t so famous, as he clearly hates the proletariat. He responds that he does. Zina brings him dinner and the four visitors leave.
Philip’s phone call settles the conflict with the house committee, but it also shows the Soviet government’s absurd, dysfunctional corruption. Aristocracy used to protect Philip’s privilege, but now, nepotism does. Despite the government’s professed belief in equality, it doesn’t make society much more equal—it just replaces an educated, civilized aristocracy with a cynical, manipulative communist elite. Vyazemskaya’s magazines for German children reflect what Bulgakov sees as the distorted Soviet attitude towards others: Vyazemskaya wants Philip to give because of social pressure to help others and an abstract commitment to equality, not because he actually cares about the German children. When he refuses, he’s not just greedily hoarding money and property—he’s also defending the right to choose his own values, commitments, and loyalties, instead of being forced to have the same ones as everyone else. In other words, he sees the communist emphasis on equality and redistribution as an affront to individuality, which requires being able to favor some people over others.
Themes
