The Dog and the German Soldier

The Dog and the German Soldier is a seemingly minor incident that becomes a crucial turning point in Jean-Baptiste Clamence's self-understanding, exposing the vanity and desire for mastery that lay beneath his carefully constructed persona. Occurring during the German occupation of Paris, this chance encounter on a subway platform at the Châtelet station forces Clamence to recognize a patriotic impulse he had never before acknowledged, and it sets the stage for his subsequent, ambivalent engagement with the French Resistance.

The Encounter and the Revelation

Clamence was on a subway platform at the Châtelet station when he noticed a stray dog. The animal was big, wiry-haired, with one ear cocked and eyes that seemed to be laughing, and it was cavorting and sniffing the legs of passersby. Clamence, who had a very old and very faithful attachment for dogs because they always forgive, called to the animal. The dog hesitated, clearly won over, and wagged its tail enthusiastically a few yards ahead of him. At that moment, a young German soldier walked briskly past Clamence. When the soldier reached the dog, he caressed its shaggy head. Without any hesitation, the animal fell in step with the same enthusiasm and disappeared with the German. The resentment and rage Clamence felt against the German soldier made it clear to him that his reaction was patriotic. He reasoned that if the dog had followed a French civilian, he would not even have thought of it. But imagining that friendly dog as the mascot of a German regiment made him fly into a rage. The test was, for him, convincing.

The Aftermath and the Resistance

This discovery of his own patriotism led Clamence to travel to the Southern Zone with the intention of finding out about the French Resistance. However, once there and having found out, he hesitated. He found the undertaking a little mad and, in a word, romantic. He thought especially that underground action suited neither his temperament nor his preference for exposed heights. It seemed to him that he was being asked to do some weaving in a cellar, for days and nights on end, until some brutes should come to haul him from hiding, undo his weaving, and then drag him to another cellar to beat him to death. He admired those who indulged in such heroism of the depths, but could not imitate them. Instead, he crossed over to North Africa with the vague intention of getting to London, but in Africa the situation was not clear, and the opposing parties seemed to be equally right, so he stood aloof. He eventually reached Tunisia, where a friend gave him work, and he was later interned near Tripoli in a camp where he suffered from thirst and destitution more than from brutality. It was in this camp that he was elected pope by his fellow prisoners.

Thematic Significance: Vanity and the Desire for Mastery

The incident with the dog is a microcosm of Clamence's entire psychology. His reaction was not a principled stand for a cause, but a visceral, possessive rage at seeing something he considered his—the dog's affection—given to another. This mirrors his broader pattern of behavior, where his desire to dominate and be the center of attention was paramount. He had always lived free and powerful, recognizing no equals, and his good will and serenity were explained by the fact that he admitted only superiorities in himself. The dog's defection wounded his vanity, revealing that his patriotism was less about love of country than about a personal sense of ownership and a need to be the stronger. This event, like the laugh on the Pont des Arts, was a crack in the edifice of his self-regard, forcing him to see the duplicity of his own nature. It also foreshadows his later philosophy, where he argues for a kind of slavery, as he believed that without slavery there is no definitive solution, and that the essential is to cease being free and to obey a greater rogue than oneself.