"Didn't you know? It's been in all the papers, / to solve this problem, how they deal with beggars? / They take and throw them in the tidal rivers." (Lines 13 - 15)
Initially, I viewed this poem as completely literal. Bishop is merely describing the wanderings of a stray dog. She is also warning that dog about what could happen to her while she runs throughout the streets. Although this seems the most logical interpretation, and it will probably end up being the true interpretation, I cannot shake the thought that the dog is only a symbol for a hobo or bum who walks the streets of Rio de Janeiro. The lines I quoted above are what turned my thoughts away from the image of a dog and to the image of a human. This was mostly caused by the word "beggar." Of course, dogs can be beggars, but I envision humans as beggars first. After that initial thought that the dog was a symbol for a battered human, I began to see other words that could be symbols. The "rabies" may just be a symbol for how we react to a homeless person; we immediately assume they are dirty. The "nursing mother" is just that: a nursing mother. There is also a possibility that this "dog" has minimal clothing, which put literal meaning to the word "naked." Or, she could be naked of the necessities in life: a home, food, and safety.
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