Characters
Here, we will characterize the more important characters in the short story “The Baddest Dog in Harlem” by Walter Dean Myers.…
...
The Narrator
The narrator is the most important character in the text because the events are conveyed through his subjective perspective. His outer characterization indicates that he is a young African-American man who lives in Harlem.
The narrator’s inner characterization is revealed through his actions and attitude.
Initially, we find out that the narrator has a conflict with one of the people in his group, Willie Murphy. The narrator does not like that Willie tries to impose his opinions on the others: “…was the kind of guy who thought that just because he was old it meant he knew more than anybody.” (p. 15, ll. 5-7); “Just when I was heated enough to go upside Willie’s head…” (p. 16, ll. 25-26)
But when the police appear on their street, the narrator is scared and follo…
...
Other characters
The story “The Baddest Dog in Harlem” by Walter Dean Myers features many characters, but most of them are only important for conveying the social setting and the atmosphere. They can be divided into several groups: the policemen, the crowd, and the narrator and his acquaintances (Willie, Tommy, Pedro, Mamie, Flood, Mr. Lynch, and Mary Brown). In this part of the study guide, we will focus on the following characters that are relevant to the plot: Willie and the policemen (as a collective character).
Willie Murphy
Willie is a secondary character in the short story, …
...
The policemen
The policemen can be analyzed as a collective character in the short story because they represent stereotypical attitudes often shown by white policemen towards poor black communities. All except one of the policemen are white, suggesting that their attitude is in part caused by racial prejudice.
When they arrive at the place where a potential gunman is hiding, they treat the narrator and his friends with superiority and suspicion: “The cop looked over at us and didn’t say nothing. I bet if he had his way he would have had us sitting out there in that police car.” (p. 18, ll. 5-7)
When the number of policemen increases, they …
