The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
Character list:
Jody Foster- This is the protagonist. He is the little boy who receives something that makes him truly happy.
Billy Buck- He is the equine doctor and also helps his father Carl Tiflin with the farm as a hired hand.
Carl Tiflin- He is Jody's father who is very strict and doesn't really have a relationship with his son.
Mrs. Tiflin- She is Jody's mother, is the stay-at-home mom, and tends scold Jody when he doesn't do his chores.
Gabilan- (Jody's horse).
Doubletree Mutt- (farm dog)
Genre: Fiction
Settings: This novel takes place in Salinas, California on a small family farm.
Time Period: This story doesn't really give the exact historical era, but I'm going to guess that it is set in the Post Word War II time. It even be later than that. I will find out more as I keep reading.
Themes:
The protagonists unconditional love for his pony- When a child is given a pet, they promise to do anything to take care of that animal. Like a young child given a special pet , Jody does everything to take care and pamper his horse. While reading, I can tell the love that Jody has for his pony Gabilan. Jody is willing to do anything for his horse. Even when the horse gets sick, he is standing by trying to help Billy Buck treat him.
The father's perseverance toward a better relationship with his son-
In the story, you can tell the father doesn't have a really good relationship with his son. He is barely home and he doesn't really talk to his son. When he gives the horse to his son, this could be a way of buying his affection. The problem is that Jody spends more time with Billy Buck and the horse than his own father.
Vocabulary:
scaled- to burn with hot liquid or steam(page 6).
vicinity- nearby surrounding or state of space; proximity (page 6).
carrion-dead and decaying flesh (page 6).
airedales- a large terrier breed having long legs and a wiry tan coated with black (page 10).
disparagingly- to speak in a slightly disrespectful way (page 11).
hackamore- a rope or rawhide covering that goes over the horse's eyes (page 11).
cayuse- a member of his people (page 15).
riata- long- noosed rope to catch animals (page 16).
lax- lacking rigor or firmness (page 16)
ague- chill or fit of shivering (page 27).
quartz- very hard mineral composed of silica (page 34).
Chapter One: The Gift Summary (p 3-36).
This is a story about a boy and his family living on a farm. The boy's life is pretty normal. Like any farm boy, he gets up early to tend the animals, goes to school, and then after school he does his chores. Then one day, his dad tells him that he needs to get some rest and be up early the next morning. The next day, Jody gets up and heads down to the barn finding a red colt standing in the stall. His father explains to him that he must take good care of the horse, otherwise he will sell it to someone else. The next few days, he spends all his time with the horse he calls Gabilan after the Gabilan Mountains. The protagonist brings his six classmates over and they wonder why he can't ride the horse yet. The next couple of days, Jody asks Billy Buck if it was going to be sunny so he can let Gabilan outside before he goes to school.
The entire day he notices the dreary sky and pouring rain, and when schools out, he runs home to put his horse inside. Jody is upset that Billy Buck's prediction about the weather was not accurate. The main character tries to keep the horse warm hoping that he will be better in the morning. The next day, he checks on Gabilan and he looks very sick with of his eyes shut and a stuffy nose. Billy Buck assures him that it is just a cold, but then it gets worse. The horse handler does everything from giving the horse steam back to operating on the horse's windpipe, and lancing a huge socket full of puss, hoping to get the horse to breathe easier.
Jody is so worried about the horse that he can't sleep. One night, he wakes up, runs to the barn, and finds the doors open and horse gone. Luckily, the horse didn't get too far. A couple days later, after Billy Buck told Jody that he has done everything he could, the horse gets loose again. The boy runs after his horse, but soon finds his horse lying on the ground surrounded by many buzzards. In total hatred, he lunges toward the birds and beats them until they could not fight back anymore. Billy Buck finds Jody and brings him back home. The main character is sad and told by his father that the birds didn't kill the horse. They don't know what happened.
Journal Friday December 2, 2011
Tiflin is jealous of the time that Jody spends with Billy Buck and Gabilan. I feel really sorry that he seems to not have a good relationship with his son. I'm hoping that things will work out between the father and son. The best way in my opinion to think of this relationship of father and son is to think of "Bye Bye Birdie". I know this is a musical, but if you look at the son and the father instead of worrying about Kim, Conrad, and Hugo, you could see that the son tries to do anything to make his father happy and yet his father just won't give. You can't impress him at all. Now in The Red Pony, the Jody doesn't really try to make his father happy unless you consider doing your chores at home, but it explains the father's inability to relate with his son or understand him.
Recommendation
I like this book so far. Even though I'm sad that the horse has died, I hope that the boy will get past this and continue living his life. He is a young boy and he should be enjoying himself.
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