The “Dog Stars” by Peter Heller is a post-apocalyptic book with its setting in Colorado. Nine years After a flu pandemic wiped out almost every creation on earth; a deadly blood disease spreads to claim the remnants of the flu pandemic (Peter 1). Among the survivors who remain after the second calamity was the books main character Hig, who is also the narrator. He lives at an abandoned airstrip together with Bangley and his loveable old dog, Jasper after moving away from the comforts of his previous home. They struggle to survive in the new environment against all odds (Peter 1).
They spend most of their time watching over their sufficient territory from deadly intruders who roamed the land (Peter 3). Hig views the people who survived the pandemic as mean and desperate and would do all sought of despicable acts like wearing necklaces of dried vaginas, raping and slaughtering other people (Peter 3). Hig notes that most of the survivors of the flu pandemic were not nice (Peter 5). This dangerous character in people made Hig and Bangley adapt a merciless policy to strangers "shoot first and ask questions later" (Peter 6). To Bangley, everyone was out for themselves, a threat and he never cared about any human feelings, and he enjoyed killing people and feeding their remains to Jasper (Peter 6). He also stayed with Hig for convenience since Hig could fly a plane and the dog would also bark to alert him of any danger (Peter 8). During one of the terrifying scenes in the book, ruthless intruders attack but Bangley saves the day through his sharpshooting skills (Peter 9).
On the other hand, Hig does not enjoy killing people. He is a kind person and often flew to visit a group of people who had been affected by the blood disease. During his visits, he would bring them vegetables, help them with fixing things and also taught them how to fish despite contagion (Peter 6). Bangley makes fun of Hig’s sensitive side, and he gets disappointed any time he talked to him about morality; he tells him that he was living in the past (Peter 13). On one of Hig’s visits to the forest fishing, his dog, Jasper dies to leave Hig very devastated and a lonely man (Peter 13).
After mourning his dog for some days, Hig embarked on his flying adventures to have his peace of mind since he had gone through a lot, this time flying past a point of no return (Peter 13). He flew above Dominguez Canyon where he saw a box canyon for the first time. There were a house and cattle at the scene and a woman in the garden (Peter 19). The woman started yelling when she saw Hig, causing her father to come out armed ready to protect her. The girl’s father aimed at Hig and shot the window of the plane with his gun (Peter 20). The glasses got Hig on the face causing him confusion and panic. Hig felt like he would land and attack back with his AR-15 but realized he would have done the same in his territory; this time, he was the visitor and also a threat, he laughed at the thought (Peter 20).
This new encounter with normal people brought joy to Hig as he had missed some company after the death of his wife Melissa, and Jasper (Peter 20). Hig decided he would make friends with the new people because he longed for real company. He wrote on pieces of papers to inform them that he was there for peace and had no intentions of hurting them and also offered them gifts that he had carried during his trip (Peter 23). He threw a grenade away from them as he could to affirm his intentions and they agreed to meet him. Hig was excited to see the woman and he said hi to her, and she smiled back at him making him feel lost (Peter 23). From his survival point of view, he knew they had set up a clever trap for him. He retrieved back and dozed off from exhaustion. When he woke up, the old man gave him a hostile treatment; he took his weapons, tied his hands and asked him to match (Peter 25). The woman was also setting up a rifle on a tripod. Hig was also tied to a post and made to sit on a stool. This treatment was “karma” since Hig and Bungley had treated intruders at their place the same way. The old man threatened he would shoot Hig if he continued asking for Cima (Peter 25). After some intervention from Cima, the dad freed Hig. He was given back his weapons and asked them to keep the grenade (Peter 26). Hig did not believe they were genuinely setting him free, and he hauled off hitting the man and fought him. He expected them to attack him from behind as he walked away instead; Cima offered him lunch. He enjoys the meal and the whole experience with his new found friends (Peter 28). They talked about their previous lives where Cima reveals her former life as an epidemiologist (Peter 28). After Cima’s dad had trusted Hig, he requested him to leave with them because the drought season was near, Hig agreed even though there were some challenges since Hig had not carried enough fuel.They lived together waiting for summer before they left and during this time, Hig experienced love and family warmth that he had longed for many years (Peter 28).
In his old life, pre-apocalyptic, Hig could have questioned before attacking a fellow human being. Also, it was not his nature as he is described as a kind-hearted person in the novel. This character is what makes him long for a normal life that he lived before in the comforts of his home together with his wife and dog. With the earth reduced to an environment of scarcity after the pandemic, they had to adapt to new ways so as to survive and deal with threats (Peter 43). The hardship in their new environment caused people to adopt wild characters that would be considered wrong in the former earth. Adversity caused them to lose their humanity, and life is meaningless in the new reality. In a civilized world, humanity and hospitality are the norms which are a thing of the past, and Hig has to live with his new reality (Peter 46). He had to agree to follow Bungley’s ways to survive despite his kind and caring nature in the pre-apocalyptic. Their new way of life is a necessary evil and Heller portrays the wild way as reasonable (Peter 46).
Work cited
Peter, Heller. The Dog Stars Study Guide The Dog Stars By Peter Heller. 1st ed. San Francisco: BookRags, 2016. Web. 3 Apr. 2016.
