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
By late January, there’s a sheet of paper with various handwritten notes hanging on Philip’s door. Inside, Philip is bent over a broken glass table, reading the newspaper. He sees that Shvonder has written in to accuse Sharik of being Philip’s illegitimate son and criticize Philip’s seven-room apartment. Meanwhile, Sharik is playing the balalaika in the next room. Philip asks Zina to stop the music and bring Sharik over.
The second half of the novel opens with Philip facing assaults from his two main antagonists: Shvonder, who wants the state to expropriate his apartment, and Sharik, who turns his daily life into a waking nightmare by starting to claim the space for himself. Of course, both Shvonder and Sharik represent the working classes, who waged a military, economic, and cultural war on the elite during the Russian Revolution.
Themes
Sharik is short, ugly, and badly-shaven. He comes to the door wearing a tattered, brightly-colored suit and smoking a cigarette. Philip asks him not to sleep in the kitchen and inquires where he found his ugly blue tie and shoes. Sharik explains that the kitchen is more comfortable. He also says that Darya gifted him the tie, and he wanted the same glossy patent leather shoes as all the common men in Moscow. Philip tells Sharik that he looks like a fool.
Sharik is now a caricature of the Russian working class. His poor taste in clothing suggests that he’s trying too hard to attract attention, and he clearly isn’t perceptive enough to understand that others will see him as a fool. Just like Shvonder asked Philip to eat in his bedroom, Sharik uses rooms for the wrong purpose: he wants to sleep in the kitchen (just like he did when he was a dog).
Themes
Philip tells Sharik to stop throwing his cigarette butts around, swearing and spitting, messing up the toilet, and harassing Zina. When Sharik jokingly replies that his “dad” is too strict, Philip furiously insists that he’s not Sharik’s father. Sharik complains that Philip nags and tries to control him—he didn’t even ask to have an operation and become human. Philip asks if Sharik would have preferred eating garbage and freezing to death as a dog, but Sharik defends his humble beginnings. He calls Philip “comrade,” which further frustrates Philip, and concludes that Philip can’t stand the idea of being equal to common working people.
Sharik’s misbehavior again represents what Bulgakov sees as the vulgarity and poor manners of the Russian communists and working class. When he calls Philip “dad,” he’s both joking about the way Philip orders him around and pointing out that Philip was the one who made him human. He no longer recognizes Philip’s altruism—instead, by calling Philip “comrade,” he insists that they’re equals. In the novel’s allegory, this represents the working classes demanding equality after the Revolution—an equality that Bulgakov thinks they certainly don’t deserve.
Themes
Sharik makes a point of putting out his cigarette in the ashtray, then catches and kills a flea on his arm. He tells Philip that he needs papers, because people are “strictly forbidden to exist without documents” under the new government. He even threatens to call the house committee. Philip reluctantly agrees to help, but points out that Sharik doesn’t even have a name yet. Sharik has chosen one: “Polygraph Polygraphovich.” Scandalized, Philip drops a glass of water, which shatters on the ground. He calms down and sarcastically apologizes to Sharik, who explains that he chose his new name from the calendar in Philip’s examination room. Polygraph Polygraphovich says he will take the surname Sharikov.
Sharik’s comment about papers reflects the Soviet government’s absurd, upside-down bureaucracy: government papers are more important than people’s actual existence. Because the government tries to standardize everything, it loses sight of people’s individuality. English speakers might not fully understand the significance (and silliness) of Polygraph Polygraphovich Sharikov’s new name. Many Russians traditionally take on the names of saints from a religious calendar. Sharik looked at this calendar and chose the name “Polygraph,” which isn’t a saint’s name—it’s the name of a kind of printing technology, which was presumably listed somewhere on the margins of the calendar. Moreover, after the Russian Revolution, people started taking on new names, often influenced by communist political history and culture. Sharikov is just Sharik the dog’s nickname— “little ball”—turned into a surname. So effectively, his whole name is equivalent to something like “Carbon Copy Fluffball” in English. Like the government’s absurd attempt to forbid the existence of undocumented people, Sharikov’s name is Bulgakov’s way of satirizing Soviet culture. He thinks that, by blindly and unnecessarily rejecting the imperial, aristocratic culture that preceded them, the Bolsheviks made fools of themselves.
Themes
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Shvonder comes to register Polygraph Polygraphovich Sharikov as a citizen “originating” from Philip’s apartment. Philip reluctantly writes a note requesting the relevant documents, which he considers pointless. But Shvonder insists that documents are essential—for instance, Sharikov can’t be drafted into the military without them. Sharikov barks out that he won’t go to war, but Shvonder accuses him of “highly lacking in social consciousness.” Sharikov agrees to register but says he’ll refuse to fight, as he’s already injured by his medical operation. Philip interrupts to ask if there are any empty rooms in the house, and Shvonder says no. The phone starts ringing and Philip throws it in a moment of fury. Shvonder and Sharikov leave the room.
In Shvonder and Sharikov’s back-and-forth, Bulgakov again satirizes the Soviet Union’s rigid party line thinking, which doesn’t even represent what the working classes want. Shvonder and the Bolsheviks’ platform is all about “social consciousness,” but ironically enough, Sharikov has none. (By analogy, neither did the working classes, whom Bulgakov thinks turned out even more selfish than the aristocracy.) Meanwhile, because Sharikov “originat[es]” in Philip’s apartment, it seems that he’ll be allowed to stay there—and keep disturbing the peaceful home life that lets Philip achieve scientific breakthroughs. (The great scientific and artistic achievements that aristocracy makes possible are no longer possible under communism, because nobody has the means to undertake them.)
Themes
Philip tells Bormenthal that he’s exhausted. Just then they hear glass breaking, a woman yelling, and something crashing outside. Bormenthal realizes it’s a cat, and Zina reports that Sharikov is in the bathroom, trying to attack it. He’s also left the water running. Philip tries to pry the door open. The tomcat smashes through the window above the door, falls out into the kitchen, and runs out of the apartment.
Even though he might seem entirely human, Sharikov’s animal instincts are clearly still with him, and he’s totally incompetent at basic human tasks like turning off the faucet and opening the door. This makes his demands for social and economic equality all the more absurd.
Themes
An old woman peeks into the kitchen and asks to see “the talking dog,” but Philip kicks her out and scolds Darya for letting her in. Darya complains that there are too many visitors, and Dr. Bormenthal notes that eleven patients are waiting outside. Meanwhile, Sharikov is still locked in the bathroom, and he starts barking. He complains that he can’t get out because he doesn’t know how to use the lock, can’t see because the cat smashed the lightbulb, and can’t turn off the faucet because it fell to the floor.
Sharikov’s antics aren’t just a nuisance: they’re also earning Philip a bad reputation and distracting him from his important (and lucrative) medical practice. The consequences of Philip’s daring experiment are starting to catch up with him. Evidently, according to Bulgakov, the working classes that Sharikov represents aren’t just vulgar and garish: they’re also stupid and incompetent.
Themes
Bormenthal, Darya, and Zina press a rug against the bottom of the flooded bathroom door to keep the water inside, while the doorman Fyodor climbs through the window with a candle to stop the faucet. He comes out and tells everyone that they have to let the water out of the bathroom. Sharikov, refusing to come out, facetiously asks Philip, “Will you hit me, dad?”
Sharikov’s values are the opposite of Philip’s. He takes no responsibility and shows no remorse for his destructive incompetence. He views the world in terms of power, not morality: he wants to know whether Philip will hit him, not whether he’s done something wrong or harmful. In fact, he seems to want power without accountability. For Bulgakov, this represents the way the Bolsheviks imposed their rules on others but didn’t actually follow those rules themselves—they claimed to want equality but chose corruption and violence instead.
Themes
Zina, Darya, Sharikov, and Fyodor clean the floors while Bormenthal sends the patients home under the pretext that Philip has fallen sick. While the apartment floods, Philip and Bormenthal complain about Sharikov, and Sharikov complains about the tomcat, who scratched him and stole food. After the floor starts drying, Fyodor reveals that the neighbor’s glass is broken: Sharikov harassed his cook, got into an argument with him, and started throwing rocks. Philip gives Fyodor some money for the damage, then locks Sharikov in the waiting room. Bormenthal asks Philip to calm down, but Fyodor tells Philip that he feels sorry for him.
The trouble with Sharikov keeps growing. Unfortunately, the new government seems to have decided that he has a right to stay in Philip’s apartment. So ironically, even though this communist government believes that society as a whole should take responsibility for its members, responsibility for Sharikov’s behavior falls squarely on Philip (since Sharikov won’t take responsibility for himself). Because they focus on giving everybody equal power—rather than the kind of power they’re prepared to wield—the Soviets end up enabling corrupt, immoral, selfish behavior like Sharikov’s. In turn, Bulgakov suggests, this behavior gets in the way of actual equality.
Themes
