The dogs represent Mervyn’s fears and anxieties which seems to stem from the presence of evil in the world. Before Ondaatje learns about his father’s life, he has a nightmare of Mervyn surrounded by terrible dogs. Later, Ondaatje hears a story—that he suspects is untrue—where Mervyn disappears drunk into the forest and emerges, naked and holding several powerful dogs by their leashes out in front of him. Mervyn seems in a trance, and holds the dogs in the air to protect himself and the world at large from them. Ondaatje states that it seems Mervyn gathered up all the evil in the places he visited, symbolized by the dogs, but is unable now to let go of it for fear of what it would do to him. Even after a friend cuts the dogs loose, Mervyn keeps his arm outstretched in front of him for hours, representing his preoccupation with his own fear of evil and inability to relax and let his guard down. This anecdote, though likely fictionalized, is a clear representation of Mervyn’s ongoing struggle with anxiety, an aspect of his mental health issues that he admits contributed to his alcoholism.
Dogs Quotes in Running in the Family
The dogs were too powerful to be in danger of being strangled. The danger was to the naked man [Mervyn] who held them at arm’s length, towards whom they swung like large dark magnets. […] He had captured all the evil in the regions he had passed through and was holding it.
Dogs Symbol Timeline in Running in the Family
