MARLEY & ME

 Themes of the Book

The major themes in the first half of the book were mutual loyalty between man and dog as well as having patience.  When John and Jenny first got Marley he had many crazy antics.  Had they been impatient with Marley they may have given him away and never would have got to know and love Marley. The obedience teacher did not demonstrate patience and ejected him from her class.  Marley is very loyal to John and Jenny.  When Jenny had her miscarriage Marley comforted her, when Jenny brought Patrick home Marley welcomed him with joy. These incidents attest to Marley's loyalty. As well, John and Jenny stick with Marley and love him even when he is bad or embarrassing.

There are many more themes that are shown throughout the book.  When writing his article in the paper for Marley, John says:

"A dog judges others not by their colour or creed or class but by who they are on the inside.  A dog doesn't care if you are rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull.  Give him your heart and he will give you his.  It was really quite simple, and yet we humans so much wiser and more sophisticated, have always had trouble figuring out what really counts and what does not." (280)

This quote really identifies the main theme throughout this book which is everlasting loyalty.  A excellent example of Marley's loyalty is that during his old age, he could barely walk up the stairs, yet he always followed John through the house.  Another example of Marley's loyalty is that when John was away Marley would search the whole house for him.  Even in Marley's old age where he could barely walk up the stairs, he would search the entire main floor, then search the upstairs, then search downstairs.  One more example of Marley's loyalty is when Jenny and John were gardening, Marley would sit beside Colleen, making sure she was ok.

Not only is Marley loyal to the Grogan's (especially John), but John is also loyal to Marley.  Just after Conor's birth, Jenny got so angry at Marley that she told John to find him a new home.  John re-enrolled Marley into obedience school and trained him until Jenny allowed Marley to stay.  Another example of John's loyalty is when Marley's stomach twists.  John knows that Marley will be in a lot of pain if he goes through with the surgery to repair his stomach.  He decides that Marley should be put down.

Some of the other themes in this book are courage, exuberance, and coping with loss.  Marley is courageous when he has to fly to Pennsylvania in his crate.  Another example of Marley's courage is when Jenny was extremely mad at him and she hit him, and he just let her.  Marley is always happy, for example, when Marley and John are on the toboggan they go straight into a tree, Marley seems as if he wants to do it again.  The Grogan's have to learn to deal with the loss of Marley.  Conor writes a card to Marley that says how much he loves him.  Colleen drew a picture of Marley and herself.  Finally John reflected on his life with Marley, remembering all the funny moments, and all the sad moments.  He wrote a article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about Marley and received many e-mails and phone calls from everyone who read the article.