her+eyes+bright+as+a+dog’s

her eyes bright as a dog's cornered in the light

I love this simile in The Weakness. Clearly the grandmother is struggling, and on several levels. First of all, she's in the perfume aisle and she can't quite get her granddaughter to walk alongside her. Is it because the grandmother is racing, and her legs are much longer? The granddaughter says she can't help that she's stumbling. Does the girl have to go to the bathroom and the grandmother would rather get her out of the store than deal with the salesladies? Remember, it's 1945, and she is a black woman, and evidently Saks doesn't have many black people in the store: patrons or employees. Derricote mentions the grandmother is light-skinned, but nevertheless, maybe she's feeling open and exposed and vulnerable. In her mind, she's cornered, but she knows she get out, so she's rushing her granddaughter. Remember that a cornered animal is in survival mode, and you add that to her feelings that she also has to protect her granddaughter: ultimately we understand that her adrenaline is up, and her eyes are bright, as if on fire.