Shiloh Essay
Have you ever gone through a difficult period of time when you know that you have to make a decision now, before it gets too late? Well, in the book “Shiloh,” a boy named Marty has to decide whether he will give a dog that he really loves back to its cruel owner, or keep it for himself. It’s a matter of life or death for the young dog. The dog is named Shiloh, and his story begins when the little dog walks up to Marty’s house and soon enough, they become friends. Though Shiloh belongs to a man named Judd Travers, Marty loves him so much that he decides to keep him as a secret. Another reason why Marty keeps Shiloh is because the young boy has seen Judd cruelly treating his dogs. Marty knows that this is wrong, so in the end, Marty makes a deal with Judd. This eleven year old boy works for this cruel man. With the money he earns, he buys Shiloh from Judd Travers. If I were Marty, I would definitely not give Shiloh back to Judd for many reasons. The three reasons are because the rude man does not respect his dogs, he lies to people, and he is not trustable.
As I stated before, Judd Travers doesn’t respect his dogs. There are many excerpts in the book Shiloh of Judd disrespecting his dogs. Judd is a person who isn’t very respectful to nature. He half-starves his dogs because he thinks that half starving them will cause them to hunt better. In the book, on page 17, it says,“Keep ’em half starved, they’ll hunt better.” In another part of the book, it says, “Was going to tell him he could take me to court, and I’d tell the judge how he kicked his dogs.” This one was said by Marty and basically he wants to tell the judge that Judd Travers kicks his dogs. In my opinion, Marty is right in the perspective of not giving Shiloh back to Judd because he doesn’t respect his dogs, but he is also incorrect by lying to Judd. Marty lies to Judd by keeping Shiloh a secret. Let’s move on to see why else I think that if I were Marty, I wouldn’t return Shiloh.
Another reason I wouldn’t return Shiloh to Judd is because Judd lies to people. Personally, I think that if you are in any condition, which includes bad or good, you still shouldn’t lie. One incident that Judd has lied in, was when he kills deer out of reason and then he tells people that he doesn’t. In the book, it says, “Fourth reason I don’t like him is because he kills deer out of season. He says he don’t, but I seen him once just about dusk with a young buck strapped over the hood of his truck. He tells me the buck run in front of him on the road and he accidentally run over it, but I saw the bullet hole myself.” In this case, Marty is giving us an example of Judd lying to him. Moreover, If I were Marty I wouldn’t give Shiloh back to Judd because in my opinion, he is not trustable. Let’s continue ahead!
There are many reasons why I wouldn’t trust Judd. One of the reasons why I don’t trust Judd is because he lies. In the previous paragraph, I gave an example of Judd Travers lying. Even if he lied only once, how can I trust him the next time he tells me something. This specific incident is just like the one in the old fable called “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” In the story “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” the boy lied once by saying that a wolf had come to eat his sheep and his townspeople came. He told them that he was just joking. Then, the next day he did the same thing. The third day he said the same thing, and this time it was actually true. At this point, his townspeople had grown furious so they did not come. All of his sheep were eaten by the wolf and so he learned a lesson not to lie again. This is another example of lying. Another lesson in this story is that once you break your trust, you can’t gain it back again unless otherwise. A quick saying for this is, “trust takes years to build, seconds to break and forever to repair.”
Overall, we learned a few lessons and we also learned some reasons why I wouldn’t give Shiloh back to Judd Travers. These are some lifelong lessons that we should always keep in mind. We shouldn’t lie and we should know that we break our trust with someone once, it is very hard to gain back. That’s why we should always put ourselves in other peoples’ shoes. These are three reasons I wouldn’t give Shiloh back to Judd.