IR Blogpost 1

The Prologue starts the novel. An unnamed man asks for a certain potion that will kill without leaving any trace of unnatural death. He heard music play and the lyrics were:

"I'm wild again, beguiled again,

A simpering, whimpering child again

Bewitched, bothered and bewildered I am" p.2

I just thought that it was possible that these words might be applicable to this unknown character even though so far, nothing about him is known.

Then, in the next chapter background information is given about the history of a farm and how Edgar's grandfather started the dog breeding business. The grandfather had two sons. One stayed in the business, the other left. Gar, the one who stayed, married a woman named Trudy. They had an unfortunate series of pregnancies. There were two miscarriages and a still born. In the passage during the last failed pregnancy, the weather was very obviously symbolic of Trudy's emotional state. During her depression, it was rainy and when she began to recover the weather improved as well.

When Gar went to the grave of the recent baby, he found a very young wolf pup going down a stream. He picked it up and brought it back to their house. The young thing refused all food and drink and died that night. It was surprising that the story didn't make it a happy ending. They buried the pup next to the baby. Both were unnamed.

However, after the pup died, Trudy went on to have a full term pregnancy. I saw this as a life for a life because in the book it said, "and in the dark they (Trudy and the pup) made a bargain that one would go and one would stay." p.28 A captivating beginning.