The Friend

Pets are an important recurring motif, serving as lenses through which the characters view their relationships with people. As her relationship with Apollo evolves, the narrator remembers cats she has owned and the ways they died, and she worries more and more about the day when Apollo will also pass away. As the narrator sinks into a deep depression, caring for Apollo keeps her active; over time, the relationship becomes a way to resolve her feelings. Though she still misses the man and still worries about Apollo, she makes peace with her grief, accepts the death of her friend, and moves on with her life.

The woman writing the book creates the story of the narrator and Apollo, inspired by the man’s relationship with his dachshund. The woman contrasts the narrator’s relationship with Apollo against the narrator’s relationship with the deceased friend. As a writer, the woman exaggerates this symbolism, increasing the size of the dog as much as possible—much as she admits to exaggerating certain elements of the truth as she writes about the dog’s symbolic meaning.

The title of the novel can be interpreted as not only referring to the friend of the narrator (the man who killed himself) but also to the dog she acquires after his death.