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
Nobody knows what Philip has decided to do, and the next week is unremarkable but tense. Vyazemskaya brings Sharikov his documents. Then, Bormenthal and Philip get into an argument with Sharikov because they refuse to respectfully call him by his new name, Polygraph Polygraphovich.
Contrary to Bormenthal’s hopes, Sharikov doesn’t seem to develop or improve any further. He still insists on his absurd name, and the absurd government gives him the documents he needs to formalize it. Even though he doesn’t cause any additional crises, he appears to be stuck at what Philip called “the lowest rung of development.”
Themes
Fed up, Philip declares that he won’t stand Sharikov any longer: he’s finding him a new place to live. But Sharikov pulls out his documents, which show that he now belongs to the tenants’ association and has a right to a portion of the apartment. Philip exclaims that he would shoot Shvonder if he could, and he informs Sharikov that he will not feed him any longer if he continues to misbehave. Astonished, Sharikov calms down for awhile. However, he cuts himself badly while trying to shave.
Sharikov has made it clear that he cares about power, not respect—he doesn’t take Philip’s authority seriously, in part because he’s loath to recognize his own incompetence. Instead, he selfishly does whatever he can get away with, regardless of Philip’s needs or desires. Therefore, their relationship becomes a game of power, not consent. Unfortunately for Philip, the new government is taking away his power over his apartment. So, to subdue Sharikov, he has to threaten the one thing he still has control over: food. By showing Sharik and Philip’s breakdown, Bulgakov might be suggesting that humans (unlike dogs) are stuck with their personalities and can’t be trained. But more likely, he’s arguing that, once the Revolution convinced the masses that they’re equal to the elite, they stopped trying to improve themselves because they stopped recognizing that elites were more improved.
Themes
The next evening in Philip’s office, Philip and Bormenthal discuss Sharikov’s latest scandal: he stole money, went out all day, and came home drunk, bringing two random men he wanted to move into the apartment. Fyodor kicked these men out, but not before they stole Philip’s expensive ashtray, hat, and cane. Sharikov denied stealing the money and said that Zina must have done it. She burst into the room and broke down in tears, and Philip and Bormenthal started comforting her, until Sharikov began to retch and vomit. They carried him to bed while he slurred obscenities at them.
The government documents that establish Sharikov’s right to part of the apartment embolden his bad behavior. This takes the allegory between the novel and the Russian Revolution even further: the poor (Sharikov and his lowlife buddies) start literally stealing from the rich (Philip). Of course, the Bolshevik government wouldn’t consider it theft, since it believes Sharikov has a right to the apartment. So the novel starts to center on a new question: how can Philip re-establish order in his household, now that the law no longer recognizes it as his?
Themes
Now it’s two hours later. Dr. Bormenthal tells Philip how much he appreciates his guidance and kisses him as a gesture of gratitude. Touched by this display of kindness, Philip hums his song, admits that he’s deeply lonely, and tells Bormenthal he admires his work. Bormenthal shuts the door and declares that it’s impossible for the men to work with Sharikov around. He proposes that they try the solution that they’re both thinking about, but Philip says he doesn’t want to consider it. They would face terrible punishments, especially because their fathers were both elites. Bormenthal thinks that the government wouldn’t punish Philip, because he’s famous, but Philip proudly says that he wouldn’t abandon Bormenthal.
While Sharikov and Philip’s relationship is now a mere struggle for power, Bormenthal and Philip’s is loyal, respectful, and mutually enriching. This is exactly what Bulgakov thinks the Bolsheviks are trying to eradicate: human relationships based on respect and mutual consent, rather than power and coercion. Because of this respect, Philip refuses to put Bormenthal in danger, even if it would let them get rid of Sharikov. And this respect, trust, and goodwill also makes their scientific collaboration possible by giving them the security they need to focus on their work. In contrast, Sharikov constantly threatens their safety and autonomy.
Themes
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Philip reminds Bormenthal that he’s a world-class expert on the brain, but admits that he made a mistake with the operation. They made an interesting discovery, but now they have to put up with Sharikov. Philip wonders if his research on the hypophysis (pituitary gland) is all for nothing.
Philip asks whether science is valuable because of the knowledge it produces or because of its effects on the real world. Was his experiment worth it, if it contributed to human knowledge but is impractical (not to mention it created a monster)? (By extension, what about the social experiment of the Russian Revolution?) Philip’s answer seems to be no. If understanding the world requires upending it, Bulgakov suggests, then it’s better to leave things as they are.
Themes
Bormenthal wonders how the operation would turn out if they used a brilliant person’s brain, but Philip says that it would be pointless to create “highly advanced human[s]” through science when people already make them naturally. He decides that his discovery is worthless. All he’s done is bring Klim Chugunkin back to life. Humming his song, Philip concludes that the pituitary gland determines human behavior, like a miniature version of the brain. This experiment was part of his mission to improve humanity through eugenics, but it totally failed. Philip even considers himself a failure.
Bulgakov uses Bormenthal and Philip’s conversation to criticize both overambitious science and the Russian Revolution. Philip’s conclusion is that anything that can be done naturally doesn’t need to be done artificially. This suggests that it’s dangerous to change human nature by modifying human biology. (In the 19th and early 20th centuries, eugenics proponents tried to improve human genetics by encouraging some groups of people to reproduce and discouraging, or even forcibly preventing, others.) And it’s equally dangerous to try improving humanity by seizing power and restructuring society, when society is already evolving on its own.
Themes
Bormenthal offers to poison Sharikov with arsenic, but Philip refuses—he doesn’t want to become a criminal. Bormenthal notes that Shvonder is manipulating Sharikov to work against them, but Philip argues that Sharikov will probably turn against Shvonder, too. Bormenthal laments that Sharikov has “the heart of a dog,” but Philip argues that Sharikov’s real problem is that he now has Klim Chugunkin’s human heart. Bormenthal wants to kill Sharikov, but Philip insists that they can’t. They hear footsteps outside and start talking in German.
Bormenthal seems to have concluded that, since Sharikov wants to seize power by any means necessary, he and Philip have to be willing to do the same to get it back. But Philip is still unwilling to condone violence. He recognizes that, when people abandon dignity and a basic respect for life, they only multiply violence and destruction. This is why he won’t kill Sharikov, and this is also why he thinks Sharikov is a dangerous ally for Shvonder to have—Sharikov will turn against Shvonder as soon as it benefits him. Bormenthal and Philip’s debate about whether Sharikov’s real problem is his dog nature or his human nature illuminates the core of Bulgakov’s allegory: Sharik might be inferior and incompetent because he's a dog, but he’s unable to recognize it because he’s a human. As a dog, he was obedient and grateful; as a human, he has become demanding and insolent. Bulgakov suggests that the Revolution led the Russian people down the same dreadful path.
Themes
When they open the door, Philip and Bormenthal see Darya Petrovna in her nightgown, angrily dragging the drunk, naked Sharikov behind her. She says he assaulted her in her sleep, but she woke up and caught him. She runs off, and Bormenthal furiously grabs the whimpering Sharikov, but Philip stops him. Bormenthal says that he will “teach [Sharikov] a lesson” in the morning and drags him out to the waiting room. In distress, Philip cries out, “Well, well…”
As time goes on, Sharikov’s behavior keeps getting more destructive and intolerable. As with the Bolsheviks, the more power he has, the more he abuses it. Philip and Bormenthal are more and more powerless to stop him. By this point, they have to respond to violence with violence—there’s no other way for them to defend the dignity and safety of everyone in their household.
Themes
