A dog who is his life: Thunder Dog

Thunder Dog

By Michael Hingson

Published August 2, 2011

By Thomas Nelson

Summary:

     When Michael was born, he was blinded, he lives with his parents in California. However his parents refused to let him goes to a school for the blind, so he has to goes to a normal school. His parents let him do whatever he likes, he even ride a bike. He later meets with another blind person whom introduced to him her guide dog, and they keep in touch a lot. This led Michael into having a guide dog. His parents were very caring, they feel they should always treat him like everyone else, never stop him from doing things that only sighted people should do. When the school did not let him on the bus because of his dog, based in school rules. His parents’ fights for him, which they lose at first, but won when a letter was written to the government, which let him ride the bus again. He went to a college that did not care if he was blind, he learn about communication, and math, which made him interested in radio, later worked at a radio station. He even bought a car, which he sometimes drives! But mostly he let someone else drive for him. He later became a sale man.

     As a sale man, one day he went to New York to the Twin Tower with his guide dog, Roselle for his work. When he was setting up his work, the building starts to rumble. Everyone was scare, thinking they’ll die. Their cell phone did not work and they were all confused. Then they all head straight for the stairs walking down from floor 78^th. As they walk, David, Michael’s friend led everyone in order, telling how many floor are left. People were scare, but file orderly and Michael makes jokes to calm them down. When they got down to around 35^th floor, they finally meet up with the fireman, which Michael got a little argument about how he do not need help getting down. When they got to the 1^st floor lobby, they still try to head out, through waterfall of Jet fuels. When they got out, they were shock at how the buildings were on fire. This was caused by terrorists who stole two planes and crashed into the Twin Tower in September 11, 2001. They ran away even more as debris falls on them, later the 1^st Tower collapse, and then the second. His wife, Karen were worried, being called by family and friends, but still waits for Michael to call, which when he did, she was so relieve. When Michael got home, he cares for Roselle first, and weeks later, many reporters come to him for interviews. In the last few chapters, he talks about his way of living and do not wanted to be treated as someone who needs help. He wanted people to see that his blindness is giving him a different respective of life and help him see things differently, rather than something to feel sorry for.

Quote:

     “I trust Roselle with my life everyday. She trusts me to direct her”(Hingston, 29).

Quote Context:

     This quote happens when Michael were running down the stairs with his guide dog Roselle, his friend David, and other workers to get outside after the tumbling of the Twin Tower. This quote is a good part of what I enjoyed about this book is because it shows the relationship between the two, and how they got out safely because of it. It also show why like in every page, Michael mentions about Roselle, his guide dog.

Reaction:

          The author’s writing styles is simple and are easy to understand. For every section, he explained the topic very clearly and informative, always telling what his guide dog is doing, and how everyone reaction to the building tilting and shaking, and add in details he later found that he don’t know at the time of the incident, like how a plane crashes into the building by terrorists. He sometimes add vocabulary that are uncommon into the section and uses it a lot in many different sentences, letting you figure out the meaning of it easily. For example, he uses the word debris most of the time, like the debris is falling, or there are debris everywhere, or the debris is falling on Roselle’s nose, enabling her from smelling. I eventually know that it mean dust, fragments, rocks falling down from the plane crashing into the building. He focuses his writing on his surround, and other people more than himself.