The Dog as Guardian of Thresholds in Ali Smith's Companion Piece

Abstract

Whether as the attributes of prominent Greek divinities like Hekate or as the guardian of the Underworld, Cerberus, the pervasive presence of dogs in Greek mythology is surely a result of their role as companions of humans throughout history. The features ascribed to canines through this Classical tradition emerge in literature, by means of symbolism, as a deliberate attempt to convey a message both to the characters and the readers. In most cases, this serves as a reminder of the origins of civilization – which coincides with the first interactions between humans and wolves – and a need for the recovery of some crucial features as a result of our estrangement from nature. In Companion Piece (2022), Ali Smith's revisiting of the mythical image of the dog/wolf accounts for our aim at exploring its distinct presentation both as companion and custodian of tangible and intangible doorways. The results obtained in this study denote that the narrative, through the image of the dog, entices us to see thresholds as an opportunity for the meeting of opposing realities rather than as a space where there is a confrontation between arbitrary binary conceptions. This particularly applies to the female characters by asking them to break the conventions by accepting their inner and real selves.