History Literature / HeartOfADog

* AdaptationDistillation: The film and stage adaptations [[DirtyCommunists tend to exaggerate the brutality and uncouth behavior]] of the 1920s Communists (and Sharikov's as well), while Bulgakov in the original text pokes fun at the good guys just as quickly as he does at the bad ones. For example, the girl typist who complains on the poor food and miserable wages in the stage version appears to be just a victim of widespread poverty, while in the original text she has to cope with poor food and an indifferent lover ''because she had spent most of her wages on cinema tickets''.

* DisproportionateRetribution: At the end of the book Preobrazhensky "downgrades" Sharikov to a dog--effectively murders him. Yes, Sharikov was a deeply unpleasant man, he drank, lied, debauched, pilfered and sexually harassed women, but none of that warrants death. And yes, he wrote a letter to the authorities about Preobrazhensky's anti-Soviet views (which the "good" doctor was always extremely vocal about), but, despite what some might believe, a single baseless report was not ''nearly'' enough to warrant any penitary actions. Two witnesses had to overhear him actually saying something for the police to even saction an investigation. In addition, Preobrazhensky and Bormental were considering murdering Sharikov long before the letter incident happened.

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Deliberately made in sepia to match the atmosphere of UsefulNotes/TheSovietTwenties.

* DisproportionateRetribution: At the end of the book Preobrazhensky "downgrades" Sharikov to a dog--effectively murders him. Yes, Sharikov was a deeply unpleasant man, he drank, lied, debauched, pilfered and sexually harassed women, but none of that warrants death. And yes, he wrote a letter to the authorities about Preobrazhensky's anti-Soviet views (which the "good" doctor was always extremely vocal about), but, despite what some might believe, a single baseless report was not ''nearly'' enough to warrant an investigation, let alone any penitary actions.
** Except Sharikov’s denouncement letter actually would cause Preobrazhensky and Bormental big trouble if not for the fact it was received by one of the professor’s patients, who halted the investigation and brought the letter to Preobrazhensky himself, proving Sharikov’s deviousness.

* AgeInsecurity: one of Preobrazhensky's patients is a woman involved with a much younger man, and she desperately claims to be younger than she is. At first, when Preobrazhensky asks her about her age, she replies "Well, forty? five", then, at his further prompting, says "Fifty-one". Preobrazhensky's assistant Bormental estimates her real age as probably fifty-four or fifty-five.

A 1925 novella by Mikhail Bulgakov, about a dog turned by Russian scientists into a human [[GoneHorriblyRight and back]]. As it was typical of blatantly anti-Soviet works, it was not published in the Soviet Union until [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp Perestroika]] in 1987.

* ParentalNeglect: Probrazhensky never shows an ounce of love or care for his own creation, but only scorn and sarcasm, which, surprisingly for nobody except him, leads to:

* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters