The relationship between Tess and Ray

The relationship between Tess and Ray in “Ray the Rottweiler” by Alice Jolly mostly reflects the woman’s emotional needs.

Ray is a person who is rejected by the community he lives in because of his strange behaviour and exaggerated care for Rottweiler dogs: “He’s on the side of the pub blokes. I mean, we all like dogs. Course. But there’s just too many of them, far too many.” (ll. 86-87)

Tess is a mother whose child has been bullied when he was first enrolled in school because of his eczema. As a result, Tess has become an over-protective mother, who keeps her son away from the environments in which he might be bullied (school or playgroups).

Initially, Tess intends to have a neighbourly relationship with Ray, because “Ray the Rottweiler, three fields away and down a track, is our only neighbour.” (ll. 16-17).

However, after Tess and her son Josh meet Ray, the woman begins to pity the man and to relate to him differently. On the one hand, Ray being rejected by his community makes Tess associate...