This artwork appeared on 24 June 2018 in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, on Rue Victor-Cousin, close to the Sorbonne. It shows a well-dressed man holding out a bone to a three-legged dog. Behind his back, hidden from the dog, he is holding a handsaw.

The skill of the composition lies in the gap between what it seems to show and what is actually happening. The man’s gesture looks generous at first glance. But it also reveals where the dog’s missing leg came from. The bone is implied to be the dog’s own severed leg. What looks like an act of kindness turns into a metaphor for a system that causes harm first, then partly “repairs” that same harm.

French media at the time read the piece as an allegory for capitalism: a system that first creates hardship, then offers limited compensation for it. The location reinforces this reading. The Sorbonne nearby is one of the symbolic sites of the May 1968 student uprising, which adds an extra layer of historical resonance to Banksy’s critique of systemic exploitation.

The composition is a good example of a technique Banksy uses often: a seemingly well-meaning gesture that a hidden detail completely reverses. Artistically, the piece works as both a visual puzzle and a sharp comment on the claim that capitalism “fixes” the very problems it creates, with small, token solutions.