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
Ten days later, the police visit Philip to search his apartment. An embarrassed policeman admits that Philip, Bormenthal, Zina, and Darya are suspected of murdering Sharikov. Philip claims not to understand and asks if “Sharikov” is his dog—who is still alive. Bormenthal leads a dog into the waiting room; his fur is patchy and he has a huge scar on his forehead. The policeman is confused—how could the dog have worked for the government? Philip explains that Shvonder recommended him for the job. Philip claims that his experiment failed, and Sharikov naturally turned back into a dog. Sharikov now speaks less and less. He barks out, “No indecent language here!” One of the policemen faints. In the ensuing chaos, Bormenthal threatens Shvonder, who accompanied the policeman.
The police’s search answers the lingering question from the end of the last chapter: Philip and Bormenthal reversed their operation and turned Sharikov back into a dog. When he explains himself to the policemen, Philip merely leaves out the part about the second operation. Ironically, this was the experiment that really rejuvenated Sharik: the men recognized their mistake, reversed it, and returned Sharik to his previous, better self. In doing so, they also recognized and reversed their folly in meddling with nature. Philip’s absurd comment about the dog working for the government isn’t just a neat sort of revenge against Shvonder—and the fulfilment of his prediction that Sharikov would hurt Shvonder more than help him. It’s also a thinly-veiled critique of the government, which is so bureaucratic, absurd, and upside down that it would give a human’s job to a dog.
Themes
At night, “the superior being” Philip sits in his chair while Sharik lays on the rug, feeling calm and pleasant. He reminds himself how lucky he is to live in Philip’s beautiful apartment. He praises his beautiful ancestors and wonders why the doctors cut up his head. Meanwhile, Bormenthal packs up his tools and Philip hums, “toward the sacred banks of the Nile…,” while he cuts into brains.
At the end of the novel, the new operation has brought order to Philip’s house by restoring social hierarchy. Again an ignorant dog, Sharik recognizes Philip as his superior, appreciates Philip’s generosity, and has no need to understand the complicated medical procedures he’s been subjected to. In the novel’s allegory, of course, this stands for reversing the Russian Revolution and reimposing aristocracy—although it’s unclear whether Bulgakov thinks that would really be possible.
Themes
