In Bulldog, Greg Bottoms Deals with the Difficult Topics of Neglect and Its Effect on Children

In “Bulldog,” Greg Bottoms deals with the difficult topics of neglect and its effect on children. Bottoms shows that the neglect of a child during difficult situations, like divorce, will not only build animosity in the child toward the parents, but self-hatred and self-destructive behavior that is so palpable it is almost contagious.

First, we are presented with the horrible situation that Mark lives in. His parents are going through divorce, his mom left the situation and just blames the father, who appears to be drinking (para. 4). To reinforce the oppressive and depressive nature of the environment,

Bottoms shows us details of the physical decay of the environment that represents the emotional decay: it’s a “narrow side-yard” (para. 2); “The grass was winter-brown” (para. 2); the plane that flies overhead leaves a “thick chalk line of exhaust across the sky” (para. 2). Furthermore, the description of the hatchet at the end also shows how everything is “brown from corruption”

(para. 16). All of these facets build a world that is falling apart around Mark.

The result of this disintegrating world is shown through the parallels between Bulldog and Mark. This dog is filled with “maniacal aggression” (para. 1), panic (para. 3), “rage” (para.

7), and “truculence” and “revenge” (para. 17). This emotional extreme is a result of neglect, as seen by the mom’s complaint to the father: “Stop drinking and pay some attention to the dog”

(para. 4). This neglect has left Bulldog so furious, that he is almost willing to hang himself to express his anger (para. 17). However, what neither parent fails to notice is that they are not paying attention to their son. He also is experiencing similar rage. He states, “I hate my parents, man. I wish my mom would die sometimes.” Yet, instead of displaying that anger toward his parents, he puts himself (and Greg) in danger by hopping the fence to be inside with Bulldog.

This moment is when Greg realizes that is not just Bulldog willing to kill himself, but Mark too, “like the rest of them” who are willing “to be hanged there” by “truculence if that’s what it took to get revenge” (para. 17).

However, Greg jumped the fence with Mark. He does not seem to be neglected like

Mark, or angry like Mark. His mom is present in his life. In fact, she’s “nearby,” working at the

Air Force base (the plane flying overhead almost as reminder of her presence) (para. 2). Yet, he still jumped the fence due to peer pressure: “I jumped the fence. I was eleven. My new friend did it. I had to” (para. 10). Coupled with this peer pressure, the anger and rage felt by Bulldog and

Mark was seemingly contagious. Greg could feel the hatred: Bulldog’s “rage sent a tingle like someone’s fingers across my scalp.” More than that feeling, though, the anger was attractive. At one point Greg describes Bulldog’s anger like “a magnetic field” (para. 11), drawing Greg into his world that is “brown with corruption” (para. 16).

Consequently, while Mark is willing to put himself in danger in order to get back at his parents for their neglect, ultimately this destructive world of Mark’s family is not only directed inward toward implosion, but infects others and could destroy the world around them.