Fifteen Dogs - Andre Alexis

Andre Alexis’ novel Fifteen Dogs has been undoubtedly been praised and recognized since it’s publication in 2015. Most recently, the novel has been crowned the winner of Canada Reads 2017. This annual ‘battle of the books’ competition, which has been running since 2002, was held this past April. Canada Reads is organized and broadcasted by CBC, Canada’s public broadcaster. Because this is a National competition of literature, you would think that it would strive to best represent Canadians and to demonstrate Canada’s diversity. Canada Reads 2017 aimed to answer the question “What is the one book that Canada NEEDS now?” (CBC).

What does the Canada Reads competition have to do with the conversations and themes in Fifteen Dogs you may ask?

Everything.

The one conversation that was notable absent, avoided and shut down in the CBC finale video of the Canada Reads 2017 competition is the important conversation that we NEED to have about this novel; we need to discuss the inherent misogyny in the novel that Canada has chosen as it’s ‘must read of 2017’.

“I think that we need to unpack the issue of misogyny in Fifteen Dogs” Measha Brueggergosma

Misogyny is: the hatred of, contempt for or prejudice against women or girls, and can be witnessed through social exclusion, sex discrimination, hostility, male privilege, violence against women, sexual objectification and the patriarchy.

Out of the fifteen dogs, the novel focuses specifically on four ‘main’ dogs: Atticus the leader, Majnoun the martyr, Benjy the manipulator and Prince the poet. As suggested by Humble the Poet, who defended Fifteen Dogs during the competition, these male dogs are meant to represent amplified versions of humanity, so as to reveal our true nature as human beings.

Although Humble claimed that the Canada Reads winning novel should “project the voices of the voiceless, the ones the oppressors are happy to write out of history” (CBC), this comment was soured by the fact that The Break by Katherine Vermette and The Right To Be Cold by Sheila Watt-Cloutier, two books by indigenous women, had already been knocked out of the competition.

Masculine voices dominate Alexis’ novel, while the voices of women are notably missing, remaining voiceless. Out of the fifteen dogs in the novel, only six are female. Three pages after receiving their human intelligence, two of the five “bitches”, Agatha and Lydia, die. Three more of the female dogs, Athena, Bobbie and Bella, are murdered ruthlessly by their male dominated pack. The last remaining female in the pack, Rosie, speaks less than five sentences throughout the entire novel. Moreover, Rosie lacks agency; her storyline is not independent and does not progress, therefore she fails to develop as a character. Her sole purpose for remaining in the pack is to become the love interest of the pack leader Atticus, but she too is killed by unnatural causes. In regards to these few female dog characters, they barely serve as a device to move the plot forward. The misogyny apparent in Alexis’ Fifteen Dogs is seen through this unnecessary violence against the female characters as well as the continual re-enforcing of a male dominated society.

Moreover, in the novel the three gods who interfere with the dogs lives were Apollo, Hermes and Zeus; male oppressors who used their positions of power to manipulate the lives of others, who had the potential to give voices to the voiceless (ie. females) but instead protected the promotion of male voices. Alexis’ choice of only male gods affecting the story further supports the problematic nature of the novel.

It does not matter what Alexis’ original intentions were when he wrote the book, because during the competition Humble the Poet placed his ideas upon the novel. Humble argued that the dogs represent over-emphasized human nature, and that is what CBC’s audience will remember when they think of or read the novel. Since the majority of the dogs were male, in a dog-version of a patriarchal society, it equates human nature with the masculine, further separating and ‘othering' the female perspective from the ‘human experience’.

“If we go back to [Monday’s debate]… when I called out … and I said that this book [Fifteen Dogs] is too misogynist, it’s too ‘from-a male-perspective… over the top of my voice so that I could barely be heard was “That’s rich! That’s rich!” and then there was a whole attack about how there were no male voices [in The Break] … Do you believe in reverse racism? Because it relates [ie. reverse sexism]” Candy Palmater

Candy Palmater, the panelist who defended The Break, made several attempts to discuss the misogyny present in the Alexis’ novel throughout the competition. Around the 15 minute mark in the finale video, Palmater questioned Humble, explaining:

“so, many people have tweeted that women are not represented [in Fifteen Dogs] … if you accept that there is an ‘issue’ in the book with the lack of female voices, why should we all still read it anyways?” (CBC).

Before Humble could answer, Ali Hassan, the host and moderator for Canada Reads 2017 cut Palmater off claiming that this discussion was “coming”. Approximately fifteen minutes later, after no further mention of the promised topic, Measha Brueggergosma attempted to steer the conversation back. Measha, who defended Company Town by Madeline Ashby, started the conversation with,

“I think that we need to unpack the issue of misogyny in Fifteen Dogs… The fact that there is a really specific perspective [ie. male] from which we hear the story of Fifteen Dogs …”

Measha was then silenced by Ali Hassan, who goaded her into only speaking about the book she was defending. Measha bravely pushed through to continue, saying,

“you can’t try to bring Nira in as a central character when she’s human, and the book is called Fifteen Dogs. You can’t expect that the female perspective is actually represented” (CBC).

There is one female voice in the novel who plays an integral role in the plot. In Fifteen Dogs, Nira is a secondary character who adopts Majnoun in his time of need. Her character is portrayed as sweet but submissive. The character of Nira is specifically meant to support the character of Majnoun, instead of having her own agency, storyline or character development. Moreover, Nira is a human character in a book called Fifteen Dogs, and therefore her status and representation as ‘not a dog’ undermines the argument of a strong ‘female voice’. Women are continually portrayed as ‘the Other’ and ‘less-than’ in Fifteen Dogs. The female characters are too often silent, silenced, absent or shown as less important or less integral to the ‘main’ plot.

Alexis’ often explores the theme of status throughout Fifteen Dogs. Alexis’s choices in his writing perpetuate the vision of a male-dominated patriarchal society both in the human and the dog world:

“As far as Majnoun was concerned, Migel was the leader of their little pack. This thought annoyed Nira. She refused to allow that she was somehow subservient to her husband. There was no convincing Majnoun otherwise, however. He saw how she deferred to Miguel. He heard the echelon in their tones of voice (hers inevitably deferential), saw it in how they walked together or ate at the table. Their unequal status was so clear that it seemed to Majnoun as if Nira were trying to improve her station by feigning ignorance” (120-1).

It is important to notice that we never actually hear the story from Nira’s perspective. Readers can only interact with Nira through Majnoun’s narration and his relationship with her, which is problematic because one of the only female voices in the novel is presented through a male gaze. When you do not challenge a system that appears natural and inevitable (ie. the patriarchy), you are then perpetuating that system of oppression. Alexis had the choice to give either Nira and/or another female dog independence, strength, status and/or agency. His conscious choice to perpetuate this silence is noticeable and worth discussing.

The exclusion of female voices and lack of female characters is misogynistic. The senseless murders of the female dogs in the novel is misogynistic. The prejudice against and stereotypical portrayals of women as weak, lesser than, and submissive is problematic and misogynistic. The continual portrayal and re-establishing of a patriarchal system is misogynistic.

Whether or not Andre Alexis meant to write a misogynistic novel, the fact remains that he wrote a male-dominated novel that has been praised and awarded for ‘exposing our human-ness’.

I ask, how can it represent all of humanity if it is only presents male perspectives?

Canada Reads 2017: finale (video)

Sonic Approved

Works Cited

Alexis, Andre. Fifteen Dogs. Coach House Books, Toronto, 2015. Print, 13-171.

Balser, E., Ma, A. “Canada Reads 2017 Finale: Watch the replay” CBC Books, CBC Radio-Canada. April 3, 2017. Web. http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/canada-reads-2017-finale-watch-the-replay-1.4038162

Canada Reads 2017: finale (video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TloTajT5it0