Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
There was this boy named Billy who lives on a farm. He wants two good hunting dogs, very badly, but his Pap cannot afford any for him. Billy decides that he has to work hard, selling fruit and bait to fishermen, so eventually he has enough money for the dogs. He gives the money to his grandfather, who orders the dogs for him. Billy sneaks off in the middle of the night to go to town and pick them up. While in town, other children pick on him, but he stands up for himself and is helped by the local sheriff. On his way home, he and his two pups decide to sleep in a cave. Outside, they hear a mountain lion, and the pups bravely howl back. He decides to name them Old Dan and Little Ann. He can see that Old Dan is very brave but not to smart, and that Little Ann is very smart but not the bravest.
Once home, he wants to begin training them. He has to have a raccoon hide to train them with. His grandfather shows him a way to set a trap that will catch any alright sized animal. Just when he is about to give up on the traps, he catches a raccoon. The next day he begins to train Old Dan and Little Ann happily. By the time raccoon season starts in the fall, they are ready. On the first night, his dogs chase a raccoon up into the biggest tree imaginable. Billy immediately sees that it will take days to cut down, but he is determined to cut it down, because he told his dogs that if they chase and corner a raccoon he would take care of the rest. His dogs are counting on him so he can’t let them down. His parents bring him food. His grandfather then shows him how to make a scarecrow; so that the raccoon in the tree will stay there and then he comes home with dinner.
Billy goes raccoon hunting almost every night after that. His father relieves him of his chores, and Billy gives him the money from the raccoon skins he sells. Sometimes, raccoons try to trick his dogs, and Old Dan gets into trouble but he is a tough dog. One night, Dan gets stuck in a muskrat hole.
“The fame of my dogs spread all over our parts of the Ozarks. They were the best in the country” (Rawls 131). This is a quote from the book Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. Where the Red Fern Grows is a book about a boy, Billy, and his two coon hunting dogs. The three of them have many adventures, and many of these adventures demonstrate the theme that change is inevitable.
The movie was adapted off the book, and that fact is obvious, due to the many commonalities they share. When Billy first saved up for the dogs, he defined his personality and impacted the emotions of the storyline, although he saved for one year
The novel, The Color of Water follows the author and narrator James McBride, and his mother Ruth’s life. It explores their childhood—when they were both embarrassed by their mothers—through the part of their lives where they began to accept themselves for who they are. Moreover, this memoir is quite distinctive as McBride cleverly parallels his story to his mother, Ruth’s story using dual narration. This technique further helps contribute to the theme of self-identity. Throughout the novel, McBride searches for identity and a sense of belonging that derives from his multiracial family. By using two different narrations, McBride gradually establishes his identity and by integrating both narratives at the end, McBride also shows that although both narrators at the beginning had different upbringings, in the end they came together, and understood each other’s perspective.
Billy is coming home from work one day when suddenly he hears some dogs up the street fighting. He goes to check it out and finds them picking on a redbone hound. He saves the dog and cares for it through the night. It reminds him of his childhood. When Billy was ten years old he lived on a farm in the Ozark Mountains of northeastern Oklahoma. He wanted two good coonhounds very badly, he called it “puppy love”, but his papa could not afford to buy him the dogs. For many months, Billy tries to content himself with some rodent traps his papa gives him, but he still wants a dog. Then one day he finds a sportsman’s catalog in an abandoned campsite. In it he sees an ad for good hounds, at $25 each. He decides he wants to save $50 and order himself two hounds. Billy works hard, selling fruit and bait to fishermen, and gathering fruit that he sells to his grandfather at his store. Finally, he saves enough money and gives it to his grandfather to order the dogs for him and asks him to keep it s secret. When a notice comes that they have arrived at the mail depot in the nearby town of Tahlequah, they decide to go into town the next week. That night Billy decides he can not wait any longer. He packs himself a little food, and heads of for town following the river through the woods. He walks all night, and finally reaches town in the morning. The people in town laugh and stare at the young hillbilly, but it does not bother Billy he is there on a mission to get his dogs. He finally collects his dogs and walks back out of town with their small heads sticking out of his bag. Some schoolchildren mob around him and knock him down, but the town sheriff rescues him. The sheriff is impressed with Billy’s determination, and says he has grit. That, night Billy camped in a cave with his two puppies. They wake up in the middle of the night to hear the call of a mountain lion. Billy builds a fire to keep them safe, while the bigger of the two dogs, the male, barks into the night air.
In The Color of Water, author James McBride writes both his autobiography and a tribute to the life of his mother, Ruth McBride. In the memoirs of the author’s mother and of himself, they constantly face discrimination from their race in certain neighborhoods and of their religious beliefs. The trials and tribulations faced by these two characters have taught readers universally that everyone faces difficulties in life, but they can all be surmounted.
The story explains that mongooses are curious, so Rikki spent his time exploring everything in the house. When exploring outside, Rikki meets a bird that explains to him that one of his babies fell out of the nest and was eaten by Nag, the cobra. That night, Rikki overhears the cobras’ plans to kill the family, so that Rikki would leave and they could take over the garden. Nag sleeps in the bathroom overnight, planning to kill Teddy’s dad in the morning; Rikki attacks him, causing the father to wake up and shoot Nag, saving the family. Rikki also helps save the family by distracting Nag’s widow, Nagaina, as she was about to attack, eventually killing her as well. The family was very thankful, as he had saved all of their lives.
Diamant has Dinah effectively tell her story from three different narrative perspectives. The bulk of the novel is related by Dinah in first person, providing a private look at growing up and personal tragedy: "It seemed that I was the last person alive in the world" (Diamant 203). Dinah tells the story that she says was mangled in the bible.
The vicious dog ran straight for the grandmother 's house and knocked on the door. "Who is it?” said the grandmother. The dog replied, "It is Little Red Riding Coat. I have your care package." "Oh that is great. Just push the door open, it is unlocked," said the grandmother. The dog ran inside and bit the grandmother enough to make her pass out and dragged her out of the house so Little Red Riding Coat would not notice. He put on the grandmothers clothes and laid in bed like how the grandmother was.
In the short story “The Chrysanthemums” John Steinbeck uses symbolism to reflect the characteristics of his main character Elisa Allen. Elisa, a married woman uncovers her deeply smothered femininity in an inconspicuous sense. Her life in the valley had become limited to housewife duties and the only sustenance that seemed to exist could merely be found in her chrysanthemum garden. Not until she becomes encountered with a remote tinker-man out and about seeking for work, does she begin to reach many of the internal emotions that had long inhibited her femininity. The tinker subtlety engages an interest in Elisa’s chrysanthemum garden that encourages Elisa to react radically. When Elisa realizes that there are other ways to live she attempts to lift the lid off of the Salinas Valley, but unfortunately the tinker’s insincere actions resort Elisa back to her old self and leaves Elisa without any optimism for her hollow breakthrough. Steinbeck’s somber details of the setting, strong description of the chrysanthemums and meaningful illustration of the red flower-pot reveal the distant, natural, ambitions Elisa Allen desired to attain.
This short story was published during the aftermath of the women’s rights movement and during WW2. John Steinbeck cared about the political and societal malpractices and portrayed his views in his writings. This short story belongs in a collection called The Long Valley.
William Cullen Bryant wrote a poem regarding the passing of people from this world into the afterlife which he called “Thanatopsis”. The word Thanatopsis is actually a Greek word meaning ‘meditation on or contemplation of death’. It is the opinion of some readers that this poem expresses a traditional religious view of afterlife in heaven where as others who read it see it as a process that only involves our rejoining with nature. Bryant made references to heaven, nature and spirits which contribute to the discussion on both sides of the argument. Poetry, just like every other form of art, is subject to interpretation. After taking a closer look at Thanatopsis it will be easier to see just why these people cannot seem to agree. Bryant made
1938-1941 His first dog was an English Shepard named Rex, who was a one man dog and his constant traveling companion. Beginning at about age three, he and his dog Rex had an insatiable desire to explore any place that was outside the house and within walking distance. Since both his mother and dad worked long hours at their respective jobs, he had a daytime black maid whose name was Sanctum. Every time Sanctum would turn her back he and his dog would “run off” and poor Sanctum would telephone his mother and in dismay advise her that “Sonny” had run off again. Since Elkhart had a population of about five hundred, most of the citizens had learned to keep a lookout for this wandering boy. When he was spotted by one of the townsfolk, they would call his mother and tell her of his doings and location. His mother would leave her work, go get him, give him a spanking, and return him to the house and Sanctum. This could happen several times a day. One particular incident that wasn’t revealed to his mother until years later was when he climbed the Elkhart water tower (75 ft.). Some of the townspeople coaxed him down with the promise of candy. His mother, who finally realized that “spanking” was not a deterrent to “running off”, put him in bed for twenty four hours after one of his ventures and would not let him get up although he begged for a spanking instead. H...
Is society too egotistical? In Hunters in the Snow, Tobias Wolfe gives an illustration of the selfishness and self-centeredness of humankind through the actions of his characters. The story opens up with three friends going on their habitual hunting routine; their names are Frank, Kenny, and Tub. In the course of the story, there are several moments of tension and arguments that, in essence, exposes the faults of each man: they are all narcissistic. Through his writing in Hunters in the Snow, Wolfe is conveying that the ultimate fault of mankind is egotism and the lack of consideration given to others.
Billy is not happy to stay behind and tells the elderly couple not to mess with him because he knows they don’t really want to keep him and he knows that he has just been dumped off. The couple
The Flowers By Alice Walker Written in the 1970's The Flowers is set in the deep south of America and is about Myop, a small 10-year old African American girl who explores the grounds in which she lives. Walker explores how Myop reacts in different situations. She writes from a third person perspective of Myop's exploration. In the first two paragraph Walker clearly emphasises Myop's purity and young innocence.