Symbolism In 'Doe Season' By Michael Kaplan

Authors use literary elements throughout short stories to give an overall effect on the message they give in the story. In his short story, “Doe Season” by Michael Kaplan, illustrates a theme(s) of the hardships of not wanting to face the reality of death, losing of innocence and the initiation of growing up. Kaplans theme is contributed by symbolism, characterization, setting and foreshadowing.
Symbolism is strongly represented through Kaplan’s short story. The symbols represented are the ocean, the killing of the doe and the woods. Visiting the ocean for the first time at the Jersey Shore was new for Andy. Since then she had been awfully frightened of the ocean. She believes the ocean to be a huge, vast that constantly moved, keeps shifting

The setting takes place mostly in the woods around Andy’s house in Pennsylvania. The season is winter and snow has covered every inch of the woods and Andy’s favorite place to be in, “They had been in her dreams, and she had never lost' sight of them…woods always stayed the same.” (327). While the woods manage to continually stay the same, Andy wants to stay the same too because she is scared of growing up. The woods are where she can do manly activities such as hunting, fishing and camping with her father. According to Andy, she thinks of the woods as peaceful and relaxing, even when the snow hits the grounds making the woods sparkle and shimmer. When they got to the campsite, they immediately started heading out to hunt for a doe. Andy describes the woods as always being the same, but she claims that “If they weren't there, everything would be quieter, and the woods would be the same as before. But they are here and so it's all different.” (329) By them being in the woods, everything is different, and Andy hates different. The authors use of literary elements contributes to the effect of the theme by explaining what the setting means to Andy. The woods make Andy happy and she wants to be there all the time, but meanwhile the woods give Andy a realization that she must grow up. Even though the woods change she must change as

For instance, foreshadowing takes place when, after shooting the doe, Andy runs away and “Charlie Spoon and Mac and her father crying Andy, Andy (but that wasn't her name, she would no longer be called that);” (338) this truthfully state that she no longer wanted to be called Andy, she wanted to be called Andrea. Finally, Andy realized she is at the stage of growing up so she depicts between the woods where she can be a male or the ocean where she can be a female. She chose to stay true to herself and become Andrea because “Andy” lost her innocence when she shot the doe. Another example of foreshadowing is when Charlie was having distrust that Andy should come with them because she is a girl. The allegation Charlie made can be an example of foreshadowing because of how Andy will never go hunting ever again because she hated killing doe and it hurt her to see the doe suffering. This resulted to Andy never wanting to kill doe ever again. She changes her nickname to Andrea, her real name, because that’s who she is. Andy must face the reality of death before she can grow up. Additionally, foreshadowing contributes the themes overall effect by explaining how Andy’s loss of innocence happened and how she realized she must grow