On a small Kansas farm, during the 1860’s, a stray dog shows up to change the life of a boy. In the novel Old Yeller by Fred Gipson, Travis, a fourteen year old, has to take control of his house while his father is gone. During this time, Old Yeller comes along and eats the family’s food. Travis already has a big responsibility of taking care of the family and now he is forced to deal with this stray dog. Travis comes to realize that Old Yeller is a big help to his family and he begins to love him. Through Travis’s actions of responsibility, maturity, and love; the reader can see how it is important to trust and have faith in others.
In the beginning, Travis’s dad heads to Texas to earn money for his family. Travis has to take on a big responsibility
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and replace his dad’s place in the household. Travis’s dad tells him what work needs to be done and what his expectations are. Travis’s dad says in a sturdy voice “you’re getting to be a big boy; and while I’m gone, you’ll be the man of the family. I want you to act like one” (4). He makes it clear that Travis needs to take care of the house while he is gone. His father has faith in him that he will be able to uphold the house. The reader sees Travis live up to this responsibility by sleeping out in the cornfield with Old Yeller. Raccoons are eating their corn and Travis won’t have enough food during the winter if they continue. Travis says, “Old Yeller and I took to sleeping in the corn patch every night. We slept on the cowhide that Old Yeller never would sleep on at the house” (80). Travis and Old Yeller sleep in the cornfield to scare the raccoons away and prevent them from eating their corn. Even though Travis doesn’t like sleeping outside, he knows there is no other way to solve the problem. This was Travis’s first time being asked to be the man of the house and he thinks he can do it. Travis doesn’t want to disappoint his family and makes sure that does all the work around the house with no help from his family. Halfway through the novel, Travis shows maturity when Burn Sanderson, the owner of Old Yeller, warns him about hydrophobia. Sanderson scares Travis about hydrophobia because he wants Old Yeller to stay safe and not get the disease. After Sanderson has a talk with Travis, he replies, “I’m not scared. The sternness left Burn Sanderson’s face… Good boy, he said. That’s the way a man talks” (99). Travis is showing that he can deal with hydrophobia like a man. Even though Travis is scared, he doesn’t show it. Travis shows his growing maturity again when Lisbeth, one of his friends, shows him a new puppy. Travis doesn't want the puppy because he has Old Yeller and he doesn't need any more help. When Lisbeth showed him the new puppy, he replied back to her, “I guess Little Arliss will like it, then I knew I’d said the wrong thing. I could tell by the look in her eyes that I’d hurt her feelings after all” (145). He realizes that Lisbeth is just trying to be nice and the reader sees that he is becoming aware of the feelings of the people who care for him. Travis is becoming more mature by recognizing and trying to correct his mistakes. Towards the end of the novel, Travis and Old Yeller both get hurt by wild hogs.
Travis climbs a tree to rope one of the hogs, but the branch snaps right in the middle of the pack. Travis is hurt, but Old Yeller is in worse condition. Travis has to leave him to get help and promises Old Yeller that he will come back to help him. Travis went home with a gash on his leg and his mom refused to let him go back. Travis replied, “Mama, I’m going back after Old Yeller. I promised him I’d come back, and that’s what I aim to do” (128). Mama wouldn’t let Travis go alone and wanted to join him. Travis trusted his mom and let her come with him to try to save Old Yeller. Later in the book Old Yeller saves his family, but Mama can’t fix this problem. Old Yeller gets bitten by a mad wolf with hydrophobia. Mama doesn’t want to take chances with Old Yeller getting sick and knows that something needs to be done. At first Travis doesn’t realize this, but he puts the pieces together and realizes that someone must kill Old Yeller. Travis’s mom offers to kill him, but Travis knows that he has to be the one to kill Old Yeller. Travis said “it was going to kill something inside me to do it, but I knew then that I had to shoot my big yeller dog… I stuck the muzzle of the gun against his head and pulled the trigger” (175). Travis trusted that his mom was right and that Old Yeller will get hydrophobia from the mad wolf. Travis kills Old Yeller because he wants to protect his family and keep them safe. Travis loves Old Yeller and doesn’t want him to suffer from the disease. Travis, as the man of the house, had to be the one to take Old Yeller’s
life. The reader sees Travis grow throughout the book and change into a young man. Travis starts off as a typical teenage boy and thinks he can do everything. Travis wants to prove to his mother and father that he can be the man of the house. In the end, Travis realizes that he needs help from his family and Old Yeller who both love him. With love and help from his family, Travis grows into the man his father expects him to be.
Plot: The book took place in the 1860’s in Texas. Jim Coates is off for the summer doing a cattle drive. He left Travis his oldest son in charge of the house. The day after his dad left, Travis went into the dog run and got some meat but a dog was in there. It was a big yellow dog and ate a bunch of the meat. Travis’s mom let his little brother Arliss keep the dog. One day Arliss and the dog were by the stream playing in the water and a she bear and her cub were there. Old Yeller saved Arliss from the she bear. From then on Travis and Old Yeller had a special bond. Old Yeller
This was one of my favorite books during my childhood days. The book is a classic, and Disney later made it into a motion picture. the story’’s climax develops quickly by telling stories and adventures of a boy named Travis and his old stray yellow dog named Yeller.At the introduction of the book Travis is plowing corn in the garden when an old yellow darts bye and causes the mule to jump. He chases the dog out of the garden and curses at him. Then a few days later the stray dog ate some of the deer meat that was very important for the family’’s survival. Travis was very angered and threatened to kill the mischievious yellow dog, but his younger brother, Arliss, would not allow this.
Henry was an extremely lonely nine-year-old boy whose greatest wish was to get a dog. His parents were busy with their work most of the time and it seemed that Henry did not have any friends, perhaps because they moved so often. A dog would have provided Henry with unconditional love - something in short supply around his house - and would have been the perfect companion. The problem was, his parents did not want dog, which would have been another obligation and something else to take care of. As emotionally detached as his parents were, something else to take care of was just not desirable.
The character I chose to analyze is Bonnie Grape from What's Eating Gilbert Grape, an American drama film directed by Lasse Hallström. Bonnie Grape is a Caucasian woman who is, approximately, in her mid 50’s and lives in a small town of Endora, Iowa with her four children, and has lost her husband seven years ago. Bonnie who is suppose to be the immediate care taker of all of her kids is shown to have abandoned all of her parental duties after her husbands passing and she hasn’t left the house for seven years. She has become completely housebound she sleeps, eats, and stays on the couch all day. Her day starts out with eating breakfast with the family, and then she watches TV all day. Even though she loves her children a lot, but she does not take any part in raising them. She also has become an object of ridicule or amusement many times children sneak on to the yard to catch a glimpse of her through the window. However, Bonnie sees no problem with her weight or her lifestyle, until one day when she has to make a trip to the town for her son. When Bonnie is leaving the town a crowd comes together around the police station to get a glimpse of Bonnie, and many also begin taking pictures of her. At this point, Bonnie realizes that she has become something that she never intended to be. In one particular scene Bonnie tells her oldest son Gilbert “I know what a burden I am. I know that you are ashamed of me. I never meant to be like this. I never wanted to be a joke” (Hallström, 1993). From Bonnie’s background information we can conclude that she is clearly facing some psychological problems, and in order to gain more information we would have to conduct more assessments.
Walter seems to be a good father to Travis, but starts to lose control by the end of the play. When with Travis, Walter relates too much to money, instead of focusing on their family fun in life. Walter tries to impress Travis with money and thinks that teaching Travis to be rich is the happiest way to go. In the play, it shows that Travis is becoming like his father and is starting to think about money at too young of an age. In scene two in Raisin in the Sun, Travis complains to his mother, Ruth, that he wants to work so he can earn some money. His father responds by giving Travis money and trying to impress him. Walter says to Travis, "In fact, here's another fifty cents... Buy yourself some fruit today or take a taxicab to school or something!"(Page 30). It is all right to be happy with money but it shouldn't be the reason to be proud of your family.
Mark Haddon’s book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime mirrors the idea that trust is the glue that holds relationships together and how a lack of honesty and truth can create barriers between loved ones and shows how being honest can fix these problems. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime is a innovative and ground breaking novel that continues to show the understanding of the world by Christopher Boone and his
Courage is valued in many ways. It is measured by bravery, heroism, physical strength, and morally correct behavior. The world mostly defines courage as having physical strength and being brave. Atticus, Scout, and Jem show many acts of courage through the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. They all have different views and opinions on courage. The novel is told from the point of view of Scout. She, and her brother Jem, live with their widowed father in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930’s. Their father, Atticus, is also a lawyer who defends his black client, Tom Robinson, who is innocent of rape. The title To Kill A Mockingbird explains that “it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” because they “make music for us to enjoy” (Lee 119). In other words, the mockingbirds are harmless and have never done anything wrong. It would be considered a sin to kill a harmless and peaceful mockingbird. Similarly, accusing an innocent and
In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird, there is an abundance of minor characters. Three of these characters, Dill, Alexandra, and Calpurnia are especially significant because of the influence they had on Scout.
When you think of an older sibling, they tend to come across as bossy, mean, and overprotective, but they really have good intentions. Jem, a character in the story To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, is the brother of the main character Scout, and the son of Atticus Finch. Throughout the book, he plays a major role in the novel and is a very important aspect to the theme. Jem shows his imagination, bravery, and his love for his sister.
Canine tales are becoming an ever-more-popular medium for expression, says Garber: “Just as the pathos of human love and loss is most effectively retold, in modern stories, through the vehicle of the steadfastly loyal and loving dog, so the human hero has increasingly been displaced and replaced by the canine one” (44). The spotlight has been shifted from the larger-than-life human to the humble family pet and his canine brethren. Stories that feature a dog rather than a person are able to more convey a deeper sense of meaning, establishing their...
The book begins as a mystery novel with a goal of finding the killer of the neighbor's dog, Wellington. The mystery of the dog is solved mid-way through the book, and the story shifts towards the Boone family. We learn through a series of events that Christopher has been lied to the past two years of his life. Christopher's father told him that his mother had died in the hospital. In reality she moved to London to start a new life because she was unable to handle her demanding child. With this discovery, Christopher's world of absolutes is turned upside-down and his faith in his father is destroyed. Christopher, a child that has never traveled alone going any further than his school, leaves his home in order to travel across the country to find his mother who is living in London.
Firstly, the story begins at a large estate at which Buck resides, owned by a wealthy judge, Judge Miller, in the Santa-Clara Valley. The gardener at the estate, Manuel, kidnaps Buck and sells him off to become a sled dog. Buck is sold to become a part of Charles and Hal’s team, two inexperienced sled drivers who are out for the sole purpose of making a profit. Instead of caring for their animals, the two owners mistreat the dogs, beating them and malnourishing them. This depicts the unfavorable form of relationship between man and dog, but in turn teaches Buck how to survive in the wilderness by scrapping for food and taking up for himself. This contrasts to Buck’s life at Miller’s estate. This idea of the differences of morality between civilization and the wilderness recurs frequently throughout the story and is one of the principal motifs in the story.
Mays, Kelly J. ""Puppy"" The Norton Introduction to Literature. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2013. N. pag. Print.
Mark Twain’s The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn is one of the most classic American Literature Book. It consists of historical backgrounds, universality, and timelessness. But one of the most outstanding chapters of the book is chapter 27 and 28.In the two chapters, Twain’s use of the literary device – Characterization builds the character of Huckleberry Finn and show the different aspects of his character.
Morals and ethics, which are founded on views of what is right and wrong, explain how people make decisions in their lives. In one’s developmental stage, the community and those around you have a lasting impact upon the basis in which people establish what is right and wrong. So, opposing society’s ideas and values would definitely be a challenge for many. However, Huckleberry faces this task head on during his journey with Jim. In his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain was able to illuminate beliefs society held in such a way to make them laughable and ridiculous by using satire, irony, and an especially lovable and relatable character, Huckleberry Finn.