Buenos Aires port

In “The Test,” the narrator is given the challenge of killing a dog in the Buenos Aires port. Upon arriving, he sees a large pack of dogs and wakes them up, approaching them and choosing which one to kill. While here, the narrator has a chilling moment of foreshadowing when a drunk peers out from the trees, telling him that the “dogs will remember you, and later they’ll take their revenge” (77). The setting becomes extremely important to the plot, as the narrator is dropped off in the plaza at the end of the novel, forced to reckon with his actions and answer to an angry pack of dogs. In this way, the setting comes full circle, as the narrator performs the action and faces the consequences in the Buenos Aires plaza.

The Toy Store

The toy store in “The Size of Things” turns into the...