Sheep

Jack is a border collie with a deeply ingrained instinct to herd. As the protagonist and point-of-view character of Sheep, he introduces himself by saying that he has had many names and “like[s] the name Jack just fine” (11). This line marks the moment in which Jack is identified as a retrospective narrator who is looking back on his earlier experiences and telling the story from a place of greater wisdom and experience. After the hardships and joys that he has lived through, Jack has accepted his name, and thus, the very first chapter foreshadows that his journey will end with his self-discovery and the completion of The Search for Identity and Purpose.

Jack’s best and worst quality is his ability to trust others implicitly. When he interacts with kind people like Luke and the Goat Man, this approach serves Jack well. The Goat Man offers Jack a home, and Luke embodies the end of Jack’s search for identity and purpose. Thus, Jack’s innate urge to trust others allows him to create bold new chapters in his life. However, with the thieves and Billy, this same willingness to trust gets Jack into trouble.