The Dog Stars

44 pages1-hour read

Fiction

Novel

Adult

Published in 2012

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Character Analysis

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness and death.

Hig

Hig, the narrator, is a former contractor who lives in an old hangar at the former Erie Airport, outside Denver, Colorado. Hig’s narration is a hybrid of the commonplace and lyrical, and his frequent use of colloquialisms grants him the status of an everyman. Throughout the novel, he displays deep empathy, as evidenced by his frequent trips to help a nearby group of Mennonite families who have been affected by the blood disease that spread after the flu. Due to his softer, more contemplative nature, Hig lives largely in his head and often finds it difficult to react swiftly to crises in the moment. In several different instances, he owes his survival to the decisive skills of his edgy companion, Bangley, who is far more inclined to shoot first and ask questions later when faced with intruders. Hig is a pilot of a Cessna plane that he nicknames the Beast, and his patrols around the perimeter help to keep the Erie airport safe. He also has a strong love of the natural world and often seeks to escape his lingering grief over the past by going fishing or hunting. Much of his grief stems from his memories of his late wife, Melissa, and his anguish over the fact that he smothered her with a pillow at her own request in order to spare her the slow agony of dying from the flu. He also holds a deep degree of guilt over the various atrocities that he has been forced to commit in order to survive in the post-pandemic world. Yet despite these traumas, Hig’s innate sensitivity combines with his love of poetry and his appreciation for The Transformative Beauty of Nature, suffusing the book with humanity and insight.

Bruce Bangley

Bangley is a former farmer whose harshly uncompromising survivalist outlook helps to keep Hig alive even as his hard-nosed worldview irks and exasperates the protagonist. Bangley showed up abruptly one day at the Erie airport where Hig lives, well before the novel’s main events, bringing with him a trailer full of weapons and ammunition. Bangley always wears a belted sidearm, and he helps Hig to construct a berm from which the two men can scope out and defend their perimeter from intruders. As the novel progresses, Bangley’s encyclopedic tactical knowledge saves Hig numerous times, and even when Bangley is not present, Hig often invokes his voice and imagined advice to overcome new crises on his own. Bangley’s past is largely unknown, and it is only halfway through the novel when he finally reveals a few details of his past life and lost family to Hig. When he admits that Hig has become like family to him, it is clear that despite his aloofness, Bangley deeply values their friendship and relies upon Hig for companionship.

Cima

Cima is a former doctor in New York City. As a teenager, Cima earned a full scholarship to Dartmouth by writing an essay lambasting her high school counselor for telling her to write an essay that capitalized on her grief over the loss of her twin brother to a motorcycle accident. Along with her father, Pops, Cima lives in a nearly-hidden canyon between Erie and Grand Junction. Hig first encounters Cima when Pops shoots at the Cessna and forces a wounded Hig to land. As the three unlikely allies slowly learn to trust each other, Hig finds himself growing more attracted to Cima, and the sentiments are mutual. Eventually, Cima reveals that her husband succumbed to the flu while she was out of town, and her regret about this fact still haunts her dreams. In the closing chapters of the novel, Cima and Hig develop an intimate relationship.

Pops

A former Navy SEAL, Pops is Cima’s father. He resembles Bangley in many ways, and he provides a similar form of support for Hig in the second half of the novel. An intelligent survivalist with a love for the outdoors, Pops knows every inch of his territory in the canyon, and he instinctively understands where to position himself so as to eliminate any intruders. As the three characters make their way back toward Erie, he brings these skills to bear in their defense, ruthlessly killing those who would seek to harm them. He possesses a knack for blending in with the environment, and he does not often ask favors of others. In his sense of self-worth, Pops may become offended if someone offers help, for in his mind, such a gesture suggests that he cannot achieve his goals on his own. Yet despite his brutality and pragmatism, Pops shows empathy when he decides to trust Hig after the protagonist’s arrival in Pops and Cima’s territory. Along with Cima, he becomes an important member of the tiny but broadening community at the airport in Erie.