43 pages • 1 hour read
John GroganMarley and Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2005A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 27-29Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 27 Summary: “The Big Meadow”
The Grogans plan for a Christmas holiday in Florida, their first winter away from the snow since moving to Pennsylvania. They make plans to board Marley at a kennel during their trip. The family enjoys a movie night together before taking Marley to the kennel, and John narrates that he would later recognize that night as his family’s farewell party for Marley (267).
The kennel calls to inform John that Marley is acting lethargic and his hips are dropping more than usual. Jenny picks up Marley the next day, and he looks “out of sorts but not visibly ill” (268). Hopes for another comeback are dashed when Marley doesn’t react to John’s greeting: “He did not try to gum my wrist, did not want to play, did not even lift his head. His eyes were far away, and his tail lay limp on the floor” (268). Marley’s stomach is bloated and hard to the touch, and John and Jenny silently agree that “the moment had arrived” (269).
John takes Marley to the vet’s office, where another attempt is made to treat Marley’s stomach without surgery. The process doesn’t work this time, leaving John to decide between surgery and putting Marley to sleep. John calls Jenny before spending a few minutes alone with Marley. John strokes Marley’s fur, runs his hand down Marley’s back, fondles Marley’s floppy ears, cups Marley’s paws in his hands, and tells him, “You are a great dog” (271). He then gives the vet permission to put Marley down. John brings Marley’s body home to bury in the backyard himself rather than have Marley cremated.
Chapter 28 Summary: “Beneath the Cherry Trees”
John attempts to dig a grave for Marley in the pines where Marley used to enjoy relieving himself, but the hole fills with water. He scouts the yard in a manner similar to the way Marley used to search for a perfect potty spot. He settles upon a spot between two big cherry trees. Jenny and the kids join John for Marley’s burial, then John goes on with his work day.
Grief overcomes the Grogan household in the days immediately following Marley’s death. Jenny cleans obsessively as she tries to remove traces of Marley’s fur from the crevices of the house; Colleen can’t bear to even hear Marley’s name; John resumes his daily work commute and confides that returning home without Marley to greet him is the most difficult part of his day. John keeps mementos of Marley, such as the choker chain stashed in his underwear drawer, and feels “embarrassed to admit how deep my grief went for this dog” (277). John turns this grief into inspiration for a column on Marley’s life and the important lessons learned from raising him. John writes about how Marley taught him to live joyously, to seize every moment, appreciate simple contentment in life, and stay optimistic and loyal. In writing the column John begins to see Marley in a new light: “Marley as mentor” (279). John submits his article and immediately feels lighter, as though a weight he wasn’t even aware of is lifted from him (280).
Chapter 29 Summary: “The Bad Dog Club”
John is shocked by the supportive and sympathetic responses evoked by his Marley column. John judges the impact of his writing by the volume of responses each piece receives; a good column usually brings in a few dozen responses, telling John he’s tapped into something and connected with his readers. The Marley column brings in nearly 800 responses. John pores over each one and tries to respond to as many as possible, connecting with strangers over their shared love for their crazy and ill-mannered dogs.
Winter melts into spring, and daffodils bloom over Marley’s grave. John still thinks of Marley constantly, random memories flashing through his mind. The Grogans install a swimming pool that summer, and John thinks about how much Marley would have loved a backyard pool. Marley might have enjoyed a pool more than any human could, but John also thinks of the damage Marley’s fur and claws would have done to the new pool. The garden is growing beautifully without a large dog constantly barreling through it, and the Grogans enjoy weekend getaways without the stress of boarding Marley or worrying about what he might destroy at home. They even enjoy lightning storms again now that the slightest rain no longer leads to household destruction. Yet John acknowledges the family feels “not quite whole” without their dog (287).
John comes downstairs for breakfast one summer morning to find Jenny with an ad from the local newspaper: She’s found a dog that looks and sounds exactly like Marley. John and Jenny recognize the doublespeak of a fellow Labrador owner this time; phrases like “full of zip!” and “learning how to control my energy level” describe a puppy exactly like Marley had been (288). They stare at the newspaper before agreeing to go look at the puppy “just out of curiosity” (289). The story ends with John posing the question, “What do we have to lose?” (289).
Chapters 27-29 Analysis
When Marley returns home from the kennel after the Grogans’ holiday trip and is not interested in playing with John, readers understand it means his time has arrived. John strives to connect with his readers, and he achieves that connection through a succession of suspenseful and relieved moments that lead to Marley’s final vet trip. When Marley’s time does come, readers are emotionally prepared because they’ve also witnessed the progression of false alarms and increasingly ominous health scares.
John tells Marley that he’s a great dog in his final goodbye, not just a good dog. In these final moments together, the destroyed possessions and extensive cost of continuously repairing the house don’t matter. Marley is a good dog, despite what the textbooks and experts say about his behavior or his breed. In the context of this novel a great dog is one who demonstrates the qualities that really matter in life: loyalty, courage, devotion, simplicity, and joy (280). Marley has an abundance of each. The responses from John’s readers in reaction to his Marley column reinforce the theme of unconditional love that people have for their canine companions because of—not despite—their perceived flaws and the shared experiences and memories that result from their antics. The novel’s final scene demonstrates that John and Jenny have embraced the lessons they learned from raising Marley and are ready for another adventure of unconditional love as they head into the next phase of their life together.
