The Dragon by Katherine Govier

Answer 1

A psychiatrist who becomes too emotionally attached with his patient, that it causes him to not help problems, but creates problems in the end of the story.

Answer 2

"The Dragon" Identify at least two instances of foreshadowing

Answer 3

The short story “the dragon” by katherine govier centers around a character known to the reader only as “the psychiatrist” who was on his way to becoming a priest before it became known that he had "relations" with a woman forcing him to change careers into psychiatry. As a psychiatrist, this man lives a life where he constantly has to put on a persona, that being of a person who is unaffected by the stories he hears and knows exactly how to fix each problem. However, living having heard these stories of pain and suffering from his clients puts a heavy weight on his mind, causing him to have nightmares and generally feel worn out by his job.

This all changes though when he meets william kirk, a man who the psychiatrist grows increasingly more fond and invested in as kirk shares stories of his childhood and relationships. Kirks shares with the psychiatrist that he broke up with his wife due to how her aging had made her unattractive to him. He talks about how his wife got sick and the only thing remaining from their marriage was their daughter who he felt was the only one who could receive his unconditional love. He then ends his meetings with the psychiatrist the day he talks about his relationship to Pamela, his new girlfriend, who emotionally and physically abused him until he started to do the same, leading to him coming to therapy. Feeling he has heard enough, the psychiatrist says that they have made progress and that from this point on it is up to Kirk to “slay the dragon”.

A few months pass and the psychiatrist is invited to a party where he bumps into his beloved former patient. After seeing that he is still with Pamela, the psychiatrist is sent into a blind rage, punching Kirk in the jaw and pulling out some of Pamela's dark hair, effectively “slaying the dragon”