The dog eaters
1. 1. THE DOG EATERS By: Dr. Leonicio P. Deriada -The Author- • Award-winning fictionist •
Playwright and poet • Received his Ph.D. in English from Suliman State University in
Dumaguete City in 1981. • Known for reviving writing in kinaray-a • Visayan languages and
other regional literature WORKS Fiction The Road to Mawab (1984), Night Mares (1988),
The week of the Whale (1994), DRAMA The Dog Eaters (1986) ANTHOLOGIES Ani, West
Visayas (1989), Patuba (1995) and Baul (1999) which he co-authored with Isidro M. Cruz. A
Palanca Hall of Famer AWARDS • Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas • Yuhum (Iloilo) •
Dr Deriada heads the Sentro ng Wikang Filipino at the U.P. Visayas • He is also an
associate of the U.P Institute of Creative Writing
2. 2. SUMMARY Victor who is a former body builder and club bouncer married Mariana who is
an undergraduate college student because she gets pregnant. Victor and his friend (The Dog
eaters of Artiaga Street) are always drinking tuba early in the morning at Sergio’s store with
Dog dishes as their pulutan. Mariana was very mad because it is not the life she expected to
have. She takes care of their 8 months old and now she’s bearing another one in her womb.
She can’t stand it anymore and tried to abort her child by drinking some herbal liquid which
she bought desperately from Aling Elpidia for 40 pesos. She and Victor had a quarrel. Victor
threw the bottle of herbal liquid out the window and it was broken. Mariana pounded Victor
with her fists but the man carried it. Suddenly, Mariana saw Victor’s Dog Ramir, she killed
the Dog. And for a long time living in Artiaga street, Mariana cried. THE PLOT Conflict • The
quarrel of spouse’s because of dogs, unstable jobs, and “enough way of living”. • Mariana
wants to abort their second child. Complications • Poverty and lazy husband • the quarrel
between Mariana and Victor Rising Actions • Mariana bought a potent from Aling Elpidia to
abort her child. Climax • Victor discovered that Mariana wanted to kill her child.
3. 3. Falling Actions • Victor threw the bottle of potent and they had an argument.
CHARACTERS Setting and Point of View Place: Artiaga Street, Davao City Time: The
1970’s Point of View: Third person Style, Tone and Language Style • The story is written in a
richly detailed manner. The emotions, feelings and actions of character are revealed in the
story. • The author reveals the actual condition of the characters in every scene or
circumstance. Tone • The tone of the voice of the story varies depending on the feelings and
emotions of the characters. Most of the time, the tone of the story is very intense and strong.
The feeling of anger, remorse, irritation, and frustration are very visible in the story. But there
are some instances that the story shows sarcasm and humor. Language • The language
used in the story is light and very easily understood by the readers.
4. 4. • The author used a typical language used by a common Filipino. The actions of the
characters are also viewed in the text. Themes • One’s anger must not be blamed to the
innocents around them for they can bring evil on one’s self. • The right to live is entitled to
everybody even a fetus or an animal. SYMBOLISM, ALLEGORY & IMAGE Image • The
image or the description of the house of Mariana and Victor shows how simple their life is. •
The image of Mariana and Victor quarrelling reveals the major conflict in the story which is
man vs. man. Symbolism/Allegory • Ramir, the dog may represent the relationship or life of
Mariana and Victor, noisy and very troubled. • The bottle of liquid may represent the feelings
of Mariana towards his life. Bitter. • The meat of dog may represent the poor while the meet
of beef and pork represent people in a high social status. -
