Did he HAVE to hang the dog?

I saw this movie at the cinema when it came out and haven't seen it since, so I'm relying on my memory of that scene which did catch my attention at the time.

in my opinion, once the dog had fought and killed, he was no longer "pure", so to speak. fresh recognizes this and by killing the dog he is refusing to let evil win over good. thus, the dog symbolizes the passage from innocence to corruption and it's precisely in that defining moment that he decides to put his plan into action, basically replicating the same behavior towards his own experience.

his plan is ultimately his way of coming out a winner, hence the movie's parallel with the game of chess.

he was going to a home - he couldn't take care of it, his stupid friend died, and the dog was violent. there were a million "reasons" in the plot, but in terms of just a general overview of the film, he had to kill the dog because it was a subject of its violent urban upbringing.

he didn't have the chance to kill his friend, to end his suffering. he left that kid in the streets to die. this is something he could control, so he did. it is hard to watch, it sucks, but it adds so much meaning to the film. anyone who just stopped watching at that point missed out on a great film.

i personally think he was preparing himself for the violent chain of events he planned to set off in the final act of the film. he was getting into his own killer state of mind.

if he couldnt bring himself to kill a dog then how would he be able to go through with having actual people killed.

i think the dog represents the wrong path taken by inner city youth. for fresh to shoot it says he is not phased by temptation .he does what has to be done no matter how difficult it is for him . it works if you think about it . the movie makes you think about how far a person will go in order to find a right path in life . and especially coming from a child, it really moves you . i know some might think it condones animal cruelty but i think it's more for an emotional reaction from the viewer .

This thread is another example of more middle-class white thinking.

Given his age and the atmosphere he was brought up in, added to the fact he had set up a board of chess where he was playing himself.. He was using the game of chess to help him decide what he should do in his situation. The dog was obviously a piece, and he saw the dog as the reason he lost another valuable piece. He loved the dog and after winning it's fight his friend was paid with two guns instead of money. if Chucky didn't have the guns and the money instead, Chucky would probably have ran than stood and fought. Even though he set Chucky up to be in that position by telling him they were pushing drugs for Esteban. He realized that pieces dear to him were going to be lost unless he'd made some sacrifices. The purpose of sacrificing the dog could have had to do with two things. One could be he wanted to see if he was able to live with killing something he loved. Since he'd seen one of his friends, the girl he liked, and his best friend Chucky all get murdered, he was in a very sensitive state of mind no matter how stern and smart that kid was. He strung the dog up out of pure masochism, and shot it out of spite. Ultimately he used it as a tool to desensitize himself, if he hadn't he probably wouldn't have been able to stand up to the murderer to all 3 of his friends when Corky was beating down Red and Jake. It all came down to Michael beating his own personal demons, and finally breaking down and crying about it all in front of his father who normally scolds the boy for showing any sign of weakness.

perhaps he hangs the dog up so that it is more like shooting a man, both physically (in terms of how he aims) and emotionally (as he needs to desensitize himself to murder-- he is after all about to cause Jake to get iced with a bike-chain). The shooting of the dog is more of an execution than a mercy-killing... perhaps it is symbolic to himself of the executions he wishes to perform on those who deserve it..? Who knows, dumb pooch.

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