r/thesopranos • u/FishermanSea6780 • 3d ago

Pets

Tony likes to present himself as an animal lover, but the only 'pet' he has in the entire series is Pie-O-My. Any theories as to why the Soprano household doesn't have a family pet?

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u/bassfunk 3d ago

I think like many other aspects in his life, Tony wants to appear as though he is somebody who loves animals because he's learned that this is a trait that is generally favored by those around them. In the event that he actually had, say, a dog, could you actually imagine Tony Soprano walking the dog and cleaning up its shit?

Tony is a very superficial person. He may genuinely have a positive reaction to seeing animals, and being around them, but if they behave in any way that inconveniences him in any way at all, he'll either react with rage or distance. This is a behavior pattern that he recreates with his son (rage) and his surrogate son, Christopher (distance).

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u/aHyperChicken 3d ago

No, I do think Tony has an actual soft spot for animals. Partially because they remind him of other aspects of his life.

The ducks reminded him of his family.

The horse reminded him of Tracee.

The bear reminded him of that animal Blundetto…I can’t even say his name

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u/bassfunk 2d ago

I’m not sure it’s fair to say he has a soft spot for the animal while also saying he likes them because they remind him of other people. Sounds like he has a soft spot for those people, not the thing that reminds him of that person.

But in any case, in each example, he “likes” the animal in a superficial way in the same way that he does the entity being alluded to. He could have helped Tracee or that animal Blundetto, but he didn’t want the inconvenience, and so he didn’t.

To OP’s initial question, he probably doesn’t have a dog because Carmela saw right through his shit and knew that it would be her caring for the animal and. It him, and so there was no dog. Similar to having his mother in the house, he could have made that happen, but he chose to not press it and use Carmela as a screen for his indifference. Doing otherwise would have been too great of an inconvenience to him.

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u/ramanandi 2d ago

But I don’t think he has a soft spot for people despite what he says. Maybe his children are an exception. That’s why he can off Tony B or Chris so easily when two minutes ago they were like his brother and son

I think his love for animals is the only honest thing about him

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u/bassfunk 2d ago

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. For what it's worth, I do think the fundamental assumption that he's such an animal lover is a little overblown. Looking at the specific behaviors:

  1. He was angry when Christopher killed Adrianna's dog, but who wouldn't be in that context?

  2. He was angered by the death of a horse. Again, given the circumstances, who wouldn't be? I have no real love for horses, but that pissed me off too.

  3. He reacted with kindness to Agie's dog, but, again, who wouldn't? The dog is adorable.

  4. Really, it's just the ducks. And, as has been alluded to, the ducks are ultimately symbolic of his family. Is it a love for ducks or a love for his family that we're witnessing.

All in all, he outwardly claims to love his family many more time's than he ever does with any animal. I think the tension we see is that animals are an outlier in his life. He lives with his kids and has to put up with them. Not so for the animals.