The Dog Stars

Whenever Hig makes his forays into the wilderness with the loyal Jasper at his side, Heller invokes a version of the protagonist that is the truest to Hig’s previous existence, in which the man simply enjoyed the blessings in his life and appreciated the world around him. With his lyrical recitation of the names of America’s trees and animals, Hig demonstrates his deep love for the quiet havens of the wilderness, and his clear, simple appreciation for his surroundings has the dual effect of celebrating America’s landscapes and emphasizing the marked absence of people in the aftermath of the pandemic. In this way, Hig’s love for nature is blended inextricably with his sadness over the changes in the world, for even as most of the wilderness remains intact, so much of his previous life has been irrevocably lost.

In Chapter 6, the death of Jasper allows Heller to further delve into the nuances of Hig’s grief, and the narrative develops The Haunting Effect of Dreams and Memories through the protagonist’s morose contemplations of traumatic events both past and present. Yet even before his dog’s death severs him from his last few connections to the world he once knew, he is constantly reliving the trauma of the flu epidemic—particularly his role in his wife’s euthanasia—and it is clear that even after nine years, he has not yet managed to fully process or move on from this event that shattered his life. Now, newly bereft once again after Jasper’s death, Hig finds himself grieving the myriad lost threads of his life, and his thoughts about the loss of his wife and unborn child blend seamlessly with his broader contemplations of ecological changes and historical conflicts until his inner monologue becomes a philosophical commentary on the current state of humanity. 

Throughout this complex grieving process, he remains transfixed by the wilderness that has become his own personal sanctuary, basking in The Transformative Beauty of Nature. Notably, whenever he survives a new ordeal in this post-apocalyptic world, he yearns for the quiet solitude of the mountains and uses these interludes to both escape and recharge. This behavioral pattern continues to set Hig apart from Bangley, whose motivations prove to be much more basic and brutal. As Hig struggles to find a balance between his own contemplative tendencies and Bangley’s brutal survival tactics, the protagonist chafes beneath the triple pressures of the world’s external threats and his own private anguish and unexpressed grief. 

On a more pragmatic level, Hig’s violent encounter with the trio of intruders at the soda trailer has the effect of advancing the external plot and providing a strong impetus for new dramatic tension between Hig and Bangley, whose approaches to the realities of their shared world often differ. Heller bakes this contrast into the very structure of the novel by juxtaposing Hig’s own account of the deadly encounter with Bangley’s harsh criticism after the fact, making it clear that every scenario tests the effectiveness of the two men’s tension-ridden alliance. In this context, Heller introduces a more specific external conflict with the intruders’ fear of another dangerous group of invaders that is rumored to be heading their way. The man’s overtly racist reference to “the A-rabs” also creates a sense of “othering,” highlighting the pervasive tribalism that now dominates the tattered remnants of humanity, for in Heller’s vision of a post-apocalyptic world, the last vestiges of people’s cultural differences are still keeping disparate groups from banding together. Separated by their mutual fears, they tear at each other and kill one another, failing miserably at the all-important process of Finding New Purpose After Societal Collapse.

Yet despite the implications of these widespread divisions, which threaten to finish off the few human survivors that remain, Hig and Bangley’s underlying camaraderie emerges in wry flashes, even amidst their disagreements. The two men’s mutual dependence also allows them to overcome philosophical differences that would have kept them apart under less dire circumstances, and although Bangley reacts with derision and sharp criticism in the aftermath of Hig’s misadventure at the soda trailer, it is clear that the two men do care about one another. Even their most workaday routines reflect this fact, for before Hig leaves to indulge in his restorative fishing trip, he makes it a point to go on patrol one more time in order to ensure that no intruders are approaching and that Bangley will be safe during his absence. Hig’s own dependence on Bangley’s ruthless but steadfast help can also be seen in the protagonist’s private worries that Bangley may someday decide to put an end to their alliance.