Analysis Of Jody's Coming Of Age In 'The Red Pony'

Soh Yeon Park

2015199055

The Red Pony Essay

Jody’s Coming of Age Authors tend to write novels with specific purposes. A common purpose that many authors touch on is societal observations. In the novel The Red Pony, Steinbeck incorporates his observation on the main protagonist Jody’s transition from boyhood to manhood. The book is divided into four sub-stories: “The Gift”, “The Great Mountains”, “The Promise”, and “The Leader of the People”. Each episode focuses on Jody’s gradual maturation as he experiences a critical time of his childhood. In “The Gift”, Steinbeck depicts Jody’s maturation by inserting an event that changes the way Jody behaves. In the beginning of the story, Jody is just a typical ten-year-old farm boy. He is usually

He can be seen as a young boy who still does not know the importance of responsibility. However, Jody’s internal growth takes place when he is given his own new pony – Gabilan. Every morning, Jody takes Gabilan to the corral, after he “curries” and “brushes” the pony. His love for Gabilan intensifies every day, as he becomes more responsible of Gabilan. This teaches him a lesson that he should become a man who can take care of not only himself, but also others. Furthermore, it is important to notice Jody’s escape from the control of his parents, as he becomes more self-discipline. This is evident through a narration in the novel, “Jody never waited for the triangle to get him out of bed after the coming of the pony. It became his habit to creep out of bed even before his mother was awake, to slip into his clothes and to go quietly down to the barn to see

Although Jody continued to mature through the death of Gabilan, Old Gitano, and Nellie, Steinbeck still introduces Jody as a “little boy” in the beginning of the story. Once again, Jody acts like a young child, scuffing his shoes and killing mice. However, his maturity becomes clear when Carl’s statements hurt Jody’s grandfather. Jody feels a strong sense of loss and nameless sorrow, the same emotion he felt for Gitano. Moreover, Jody considers his grandfather’s feelings, as he carefully listens to the stories of his grandfather and anticipates himself of becoming a leader in the future. Jody says, “Maybe I could lead the people some day” (94). Unlike other episodes, Jody does not witness any physical death, yet he witnesses the death of his grandfather’s glorious past. His grandfather realizes that his moments of glory has long been gone, and recognizes his inability to communicate with the new generation. Although Jody has never experienced what his grandfather feels, he still understands his grandfather’s emotions, as he effectively consoles the emotional death with a glass of lemonade. “His mother mimicked—‘And another lemon to make a lemonade for you.’ ‘No ma’am. I don’t want one.’ ‘Jody! You’re sick!’” (95). At this point, Jody’s internal change is clearly evident. If he were still the young boy from the beginning of the novel, he