The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Edgar’s dedication to nearly 75 years of research, conducted by first his grandfather and then his father, costs him his life. His commitment to the archives of that research compels Edgar to return at great personal risk into the burning barn to retrieve as many of the family files as he can.

That heroic sacrifice to his family’s research gives his uncle the opportunity to inject him with the poison that will kill him. Even as the smoke billows around him, Edgar experiences a feeling akin to “elation” (532) as he hauls out wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of the research files. In ensuring the recovery of the family’s files, he feels that “somehow as if he traveled back to the moment his father lay on the workshop floor” (532). In reliving this memory of a crucial moment of helplessness, Edgar feels redemption.

Since the founding of the Sawtelle farm, the family has used cutting-edge genetics research to produce an entirely new dog of superior physical proportions and corresponding intellectual dimensions. It is a daunting task. Here, dog breeding does not symbolize the base business of catering to the rich and expanding through franchising. That is the mentality of Claude who takes over the business after Gar.