How we cite our quotes: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"No, Fidele, you shouldn't think so," I myself saw Medji say it, "I've been bow-wow! I've been bow-wow-wow! Very sick." Ah you, pup. I confess, I was very surprised to hear her speak in human language. But later, when I'd thought it over properly, I at once ceased to be surprised. Actually, there have already been many such examples in the world. They say in England a fish surfaced who spoke a couple of words in such a strange language that scholars have already spent three years trying to define them and still haven't found anything out. I also read in the papers about two cows that came to a grocer's and asked for a pound of tea. (1.2)
So this is the first time Poprishchin is saying something obviously crazy. If you were Gogol writing this story, how would you make sure the people reading it believed the crazy guy? Well, Gogol himself makes the crazy guy say something totally sensible like "I confess, I was very surprised" and then shows him trying to make sense of it (but in a really silly way). Notice the paradox here: how rationally he's discussing a clearly crazy idea. Hey, have you heard the one about the two cows who walked into a grocer's?
Quote #2
I confess, lately I had begun sometimes to hear and see things no one had ever seen or heard before. (1.3)
Poprishchin might be hallucinating about dogs speaking, but that doesn't mean he doesn't realize he's kind of… different. The problem is that he would rather believe the hallucinations than worry about being different. And they're one of the reasons why psychiatrists think Gogol did a really good job making Poprishchin seem convincingly mad. Check out "Brain Snacks" for more on that.
Quote #3
I've long suspected dogs of being much smarter than people; I was even certain they could speak, but there was only some kind of stubbornness in them. They're extraordinary politicians: they notice every human step. (6.2)
Come on now, 'fess up: sometimes, when you look into the eyes of your uncle's dog Duke, you also wonder if he's actually smarter than all of us. If he could speak, what would he say, you wonder. We all have thoughts like this sometimes, and there's nothing unusual about that.
Poprishchin doesn't stop there, though. When he starts to hallucinate and doesn't know what to make of it, he remembers these very usual suspicions, and then starts to use them to rationalize his hallucinations.
Dogs actually do notice every human step. But Poprishchin observes this and sees a secret meaning: the dogs are psyching us out.