Todorov's Dedication

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure why Todorov dedicates his book to the woman devoured by dogs.  I do have some theories though.  I personally believe that the dedication is for those who are marginalized, suppressed, or silenced in general.  The anonymity of the woman creates a generalization in which no one specifically is targeted.  He may be attempting to commemorate or highlight the importance of these people historically and continually within society today.  Throughout the book, various implications of marginalized populations are evident.  As I've explained in previous posts, the implications of marginalization can occur throughout society.  Even minor discursive representations have the ability to fragment society and create distinctions between people.  In my Columbus post, I talk about how the imperialist mindset devalued the importance of humans.  Todorov could potentially be writing for the people who have been devalued and treated as less than human.  I believe that this could be possible due to the method in which the woman is killed.  She is devoured by dogs, an animal.  While I do understand that there are anthropocentric justifications for humans simply being species of the world and that there isn't a hierarchy of species within the world, I do believe that animals can be considered "less than human" due to their beast-like nature and lack of a high level of sentient and comprehensive thought (this is a generalization obviously, there is a legitimate counter-argument to this claim but I don't want to deviate to far from the thesis of this post).

While people do die from animal-related deaths in the world, the way Todorov's dedication is targeted is uniquely important.  He dedicates it to a woman "devoured by dogs".  This could potentially imply that the woman was part of the animal food cycle.  She was on the level of animals, probably even below a dog, and was devoured by nature's food cycle.  This could be representative of the type of dehumanization that occurred with the West's encroachment upon the Natives of foreign lands.  While there are probably flaws in my logic, this is what came to mind when I thought about the dedication itself.  Thus, I feel that Todorov's dedication was potentially for those who have been silenced and dehumanized to a point in which they can not even be considered human.  His book sheds light upon the situation and attempts to highlight the importance and implications of such behavior.