In this short story Crane uses many dictional and syntactical elements to divulge something about the characters in the story. The main characters in the story are a child, the child's family and a dark brown dog. The author uses these characters to reveal something about what is going on in the story.
Crane uses diction or choices of words to show that no matter how nice the dark brown dog is, the family continues to abuse it. The author uses the word “wounded” on page 10 to reveal that the dog was being abused and neglected by the boy. The word “wounded” has unhappy connotations of punishment and repression. The diction used reveals that the child didn't abuse the dog because he wanted to, he only was abusing the dog because he learned it
