How to Steal a Dog

Georgina’s younger brother Toby has inherited “straight, copper-colored hair” and is the more sensitive, tender-hearted sidekick to Georgina’s tough act (14). Unlike Georgina, who keeps her emotions bottled up until they explode in fits of anger or zany dog-stealing plans, Toby freely expresses his emotions through tears. As a result, he is easier to comfort and gains the lion’s share of affection from their mother.

Georgina resents giving up her childhood to look after Toby and underestimates him as a dog-stealing accomplice. She is annoyed by his slow walking, his inability to keep up with the latest twists of her mind and his habit of doubting the morality and plausibility her ideas. Toby exhibits greater maturity than Georgina in his awareness that the scheme might not go as planned. Unlike her, he does not think it is inevitable that Carmella will put up a sign and reward the person who finds a dog. He reminds Georgina of nuances she had not thought of, such as where to keep the dog and how to feed him while he is away from his owner. He also has the humility to suggest turning back on their plan and returning Willy sooner. While Georgina dismisses Toby as being of lesser importance to her, he plays the role of her conscience. At the moment when it seems like Willy has disappeared, Toby judges Georgina as a bad person and blames her for everything turning out badly. His unflattering portrait of Georgina finally gives her the impetus to go back on her plan. Believing that Toby has a superior moral fiber than her, Georgina is eager to regain his good opinion.

Despite his misgivings about Georgina’s plan, Toby’s willingness to go through with it, in addition to his out-of-character discretion, indicates that his primary loyalty is to his sister. His willingness to put his faith in Georgina above their mother, indicates that he too feels let down by the adults in his life. 

Georgina’s mother has the gargantuan task of being the sole breadwinner and raising two children after being abandoned by her husband and evicted from her home. Her attempts to bring order to the situation can be seen when she partitions the car into different zones. She is also careful to park the car in varied places to evade the attention of the cops. However, when unfair things happen, like when she loses her job or her overworked car will not start, Mama loses control of her emotions, sometimes resorting to curse words or kicking objects.

While Georgina’s mother works hard in two precarious, low-paid jobs and manages to score a new post quickly when she is fired from one of them, Georgina does not acknowledge these efforts. Instead, she mistrusts and snaps at her mother because she does not appear to have control over events. Mama cannot give Georgina a clear answer about why her father left, nor can she give an accurate estimate as to how long the car-living situation will last. Near misses at an attempt to create a better life, such as the temporary acquisition of the creepy house, also damage Georgina’s trust in her mother. Their relationship becomes fractious under the circumstances, as Georgina begins living a secret life and Mama judges Georgina to be “Miss Glum and Angry” who is “making this harder on everybody” (49).

Importantly, O’Connor shows that Georgina’s mother is the one who solves the family’s financial problems and not Georgina herself. She thus shows that matters of subsistence are the province of adults rather than children, and that Georgina needs to learn patience and the ability to tolerate uncertainty and temporary discomfort. 

The vaguely sketched figure of Georgina’s father, who has given her the “curly ole black hair that I hate,” is behind the family’s drastic change in circumstances (14). Georgina notes that her father abandons them in a casual and haphazard way, leaving behind an insufficient number amount of dollar bills in a mayonnaise jar. She is tortured by the potential reasons for his giving up on them, half-wondering if he no longer loves her. Georgina’s hint that her father “acted mean all the time and then just up and left us” indicates that her family life was difficult prior to the current circumstances (42). However, Georgina represses these memories as she commits herself to the more exciting, hare-brained narrative of stealing the dog. Still, Georgina’s wish to be a good person and to conform to Mookie’s motto of leaving a good trail behind her is arguably a subconscious determination to be nothing like her father, who selfishly left a trail of destruction behind him.

Georgina’s best friend Luanne Godfrey acts as a barometer for Georgina’s social position. Blond Luanne has all the accoutrements of white, middle-class girlhood, such as a pink and white bedroom, ballet lessons, and a Girl Scout membership. She is also nosy and daring; Georgina initially imagines that Luanne, who has previously stolen candy, would make a better accomplice than Toby in her dog-stealing quest.

Georgina is conscious that Luanne is from a different social background even before she is made homeless. Luanne lives in a house, while the Hayeses have a rented apartment. Georgina is also aware that Luanne’s snobbish mother Mrs. Godfrey disapproves of the friendship, doing her best to discourage it. Georgina’s awareness of Mrs. Godfrey’s tendency to “pluck” reasons for why Luanne cannot go to Georgina’s apartment “out of the air like a magician plucks a rabbit out of his hat,” indicates that Mrs. Godfrey’s disapproval of her has a class-based dimension (19).

While the girls remain friends in spite of Mrs. Godfrey’s disapproval, as soon as Georgina’s social situation takes a turn for the worse Mrs. Godfrey’s objections to her come to the forefront. Luanne echoes her mother’s behavior when she describes Georgina as “unkempt” (4). While Luanne does not say anything explicitly unkind upon learning that Georgina is living in a car, she begins to exclude Georgina, taking up with a new best friend, withdrawing invitations to her house, and even joining her classmates in laughing at Georgina’s shabby appearance. Thus, while Georgina harbors fond memories of past times with Luanne, Luanne proves to be a superficial, fair-weather friend.

Georgina is nostalgic about being in Luanne’s favor; to her, it signifies that she is still her old self and therefore socially acceptable by snobbish middle-class standards. Crucially, Luanne’s discovery of the shameful living situation is what causes Georgina to craft the dog-stealing plan that she hopes will be the express route back to her old life. Only at the end of the novel, after Georgina has undergone her full character arc, does she realize that Luanne’s standards are not worth emulating.

Georgina’s teacher Mr. White is more kind-hearted and concerned than she initially gives him credit for. While Georgina is wrapped up in trying to conceal a living situation that she considers shameful, she overlooks the support that Mr. White tries to give her, spurning his attempts to talk to her about what is behind her troublesome attitude and poor grades. While Mr. White exhibits all the signs of being a trustworthy adult, Georgina’s recent experiences with other adults are reflected in her attitude to him. This figure of authority becomes another person she must keep at bay, while she concentrates on resolving her problems on her own.

Still, Georgina appreciates that Mr. White is “the nicest teacher I’d ever had” as he implicitly understands her desperate financial circumstances. He makes no qualms about her getting chicken grease on her homework or not having a costume for a class play (84). She is grateful that unlike her classmates, Mr. White is flexible with his expectations of how she should behave and present herself, as he tries to make the best of a bad situation.

Willy is the sweet little black and white dog who Georgina steals from Carmella. He warms the heart of everyone who meets him and is affectionate with those of good character, regardless of their physical appearance or social class. He is also unusually responsive to human gestures, cocking his head and perking up his ears in response to things said. For Georgina and Toby, playing with Willy gives them some of the carefree, childish experiences they have longed for since their father left. Georgina even compares the cuddles she and others share with Willy to “the Eskimo kisses my daddy used to give me a long time ago when he loved me” (24). The analogy between the dog’s affection and her father’s indicates that it has been a long time since Georgina received real tenderness and felt loved.

Willy’s disarmingly benign character is what makes Georgina think he is the perfect candidate for her dog-stealing plan—and it also what makes her treatment of him doubly wrong. Willy’s lovable nature eats away at her conscience and is a big reason why she eventually returns him to his comfortable home.

Georgina initially judges Carmella as “a big, fat woman” who lives in a big house and owns the entire street, since her last name and the street name are the same (24). Given that Carmella appears wealthy and seems besotted with her little dog Willy, she is the perfect candidate for Georgina’s scheme, allowing Georgina to proudly check off two boxes in her notebook with regard to finding the right owner and dog. Georgina, who makes much of Carmella’s size, notes how “even her feet were fat, bulging over the sides of her yellow flip-flops”. She initially sees Carmella as a figure of ridicule—a fat, rich woman whom she must not empathize with too deeply if she is to succeed in her dog-stealing mission (91).

However, almost as soon as Georgina steals Willy, she discovers that Carmella will not play along in the way she hoped. Far from being wealthy and privileged, Carmella is struggling to make ends meet and cannot find the $500 needed for Georgina’s reward. Like Georgina, Carmella has been let down by male relatives, as her grandfather lost the farmland that her great grandfather, who the road was named after, acquired. When Carmella’s sister Gertie will not lend her the money, saying that Carmella should get over her loss, Georgina realizes that Carmella is socially isolated and that Willy was an essential companion to her.

Carmella’s kind-hearted, trusting nature reveals itself when she forgives Georgina for stealing Willy, understanding that it was circumstances rather than bad character that led to the transgression. Still, she acts the responsible adult in affirming that Georgina did a terrible thing in stealing Willy. The two continue their friendship as Carmella invites Georgina and Toby to walk Willy the next day.