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Back to gardening with Farley.
Apr. 26th, 2014 01:36 amAs we know, Elly tends to fancy herself something of an amateur gardener. Most of the retcons in April and May have her gushing about her big plans to have the very perfect garden so she can demonstrate her creative side; the problem is that she has to coexist with Farley and his habit of barging in and wrecking things. As we see here, he has the habit of bedding down at a cozy spot right next to the wall that so happens to be where Elly likes to put her bedding plants. Now, you and I and everyone who understands how dogs see the world know for a fact that Farley isn't doing this because he's a BAD dog who wants to HURT Elly and make her SUFFER because he hates her. If the mental impulses that drive him to make his cozy little warm spot could be turned into English, we'd probably be told that for some reason that he can never understand, small plants keep appearing at that really great spot to sleep in. He doesn't know why they're there or what they're there for or why the woman keeps pointing at his perfect place to sleep and yelling at him as if he's done something wrong; all he knows is that if the plants are there, they have to be dug up.
As I said before when this came up, anyone who understands Elly well realizes that she will never accept the fact that a dog's memory is associative and not general. The same woman who can't admit that she can't plead with him in the hopes that if she's sincere enough, he'll finally understand something that his brain isn't built to can't possibly put her bedding plants somewhere he doesn't like to go. Then again, we are dealing with the creation of an idiot woman who doesn't understand that a dog isn't a man in a costume. Her need to anthropomorphize him is meant to turn him from a normal dog being screamed at by an ignorant lunatic into just another person making Elly's life worse because he's too stupid and mean-spiritied and selfish to help. The problem with this is that since people aren't generally as stupid as Lynn hopes they are, the reality of his situation shines through as clearly and horribly as the problem I have with Elly's inability to get that her inevitable stupid, ill-informed and self-centered over-reaction to every little God-damned thing and over-weening need to make every little God-damned thing about her and why everyone hates her and wants her to suffer is why her children never confided in her.
As I said before when this came up, anyone who understands Elly well realizes that she will never accept the fact that a dog's memory is associative and not general. The same woman who can't admit that she can't plead with him in the hopes that if she's sincere enough, he'll finally understand something that his brain isn't built to can't possibly put her bedding plants somewhere he doesn't like to go. Then again, we are dealing with the creation of an idiot woman who doesn't understand that a dog isn't a man in a costume. Her need to anthropomorphize him is meant to turn him from a normal dog being screamed at by an ignorant lunatic into just another person making Elly's life worse because he's too stupid and mean-spiritied and selfish to help. The problem with this is that since people aren't generally as stupid as Lynn hopes they are, the reality of his situation shines through as clearly and horribly as the problem I have with Elly's inability to get that her inevitable stupid, ill-informed and self-centered over-reaction to every little God-damned thing and over-weening need to make every little God-damned thing about her and why everyone hates her and wants her to suffer is why her children never confided in her.
