Structure

The short story “The Baddest Dog in Harlem” by Walter Dean Myers follows a traditional plot structure. The story presents a single event in the lives of the characters, a shooting incident in Harlem which led to the death of an innocent boy.

The story is structured around the conflict between the narrator and society, which is represented in this case by the police officers and the community in Harlem. The narrator’s conflict becomes clearer at the end of the story: “I wanted them to say how bad they felt about it and what a shame it was the way life could slip away so easily in Harlem, in our community, on our street.” (pp. 24-25 ll. 31-3)

Additionally, the story begins with a conflict between the narrator and Willie, whom the narrator dislikes. However, at the end, this conflict is forgotten because of the tragic event (the death of the child).…

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Title

The title of the short story— “The Baddest Dog in Harlem”—suggests that the story might be about a dog or about someone who is nicknamed “dog”. Upon reading the story, we realize the title is a di…

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Beginning

The short story begins with the exposition in which the setting and the characters are introduced: “We were all si…

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Middle

The rising action presents the events following the arrival of the policemen. Tension increases gradually through tension points. At first, the characters are worried that the policemen are looking for one of them: “Willie just stood there and I hoped he didn’t have anything on him illegal.” (p. 17, ll. 10-11)

Tension increases as the group finds out the policemen are looking for a shooter who might be hiding in a …

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Ending

The falling action is short and it conveys the narrator’s reaction to the event and how he wants to share the experie…