Where The Red Fern Grows Sparknotes

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls takes the reader on an adventure through the Cherokee country. The setting takes place in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri or Oklahoma during the 1920’s. Most of the story is set in the wild outdoors and in the country home of Billy Coleman. The story has an inspiring but sad tone. Wilson Rawls tells a story of a boy, his hounds, and true love.

The characters in Where the Red Fern Grows make the story come to life. Billy Coleman is the main character and faces the biggest challenge in the story. As the story begins, Billy is an adult remembering his childhood. Billy flashes back to the age of ten when he is struck with puppy love. He calls it “the real kind, the kind that has four feet and

a wiggly tail, and sharp little teeth that can gnaw on a boy’s finger; the kind a boy can romp and play with, even eat and sleep with” (7). He is a country boy who loves to hunt and is determined and devoted to his hounds and his family. When his dogs die suddenly, he is forced to learn about death at an early age. Billy’s hounds, Old Dan and Little Ann, are also important characters. Old Dan is the larger of the two dogs and is a deeper red color. Little Ann is the smaller and smarter of the two. Billy buys the hounds when they are just pups and spends all of his time training them to hunt coons. Billy has never seen such loyal dogs and points out that “everything they do, they do as one” (170). Billy and his hounds are inseparable and make a powerful team.
Through the ups and downs of life, three important events shape Billy Coleman. The first event happens as the story begins. Billy really wants hounds of his own, but his family cannot afford them. More determined than ever, Billy decides to earn the money on his own. He sells animal skins, fish, and vegetables at his grandpa’s store and does odd jobs. After two years, Billy has enough money and his dream of owning his own hounds comes true. Another important event is when Billy, Old Dan, and Little Ann enter the Championship Coon Hunt. This event is a bonding moment for Billy, his hounds, his grandpa, and his dad. Although they face terrible weather and injury, Billy and his hounds win the competition. They bring home the gold cup and a box full of money. At this point in the story, Billy does not know the money will soon change his life forever. This leads to the third and most life changing event in Where the Red Fern Grows. On what seems to be a normal night of hunting, Billy and his hounds come face to face with a mountain lion. Old Dan dies protecting Billy, and Little Ann dies of a broken heart just two days later. Billy is forced to accept that bad things happen in life. He buries his hounds together on the mountainside. He later discovers that a red fern has grown on their graves. He remembers the legend that says an angel plants the seed of red fern to mark a special spot. Billy finds comfort knowing that the memory of his hounds will live forever.
Although there are many conflicts in Where the Red Fern Grows, the main conflict is man versus nature.

Billy and his hounds face unexpected struggles each time they hunt. For example, there is always a battle to catch the coons. The first time Billy goes hunting, the hounds tree a coon in the biggest sycamore tree in the forest. For two whole days, Billy chips away at the tree until it finally falls down and the coon is caught. Billy is hot, exhausted, and aches all over. Another example of man versus nature is the weather during the Championship Coon Hunt. During this hunt, Billy and his hounds face a terrible blizzard. The winter weather is described as roaring and “the north wind seemed to be laughing at us” (202). The wind blows and the snow falls so fast that the Earth is instantly covered. Even the hounds have to stay in constant motion to keep from freezing to death. The biggest conflict occurs at the end of the story. Billy and his hounds encounter their biggest opponent, a mountain lion. All alone, they struggle with the wild creature that Billy refers to as a “devil cat” (226). The mountain lion has “yellow slitted eyes that burned with hate” (226). Billy watches as his hounds and the mountain lion tear at each other and fight till the end.

Up until the final hunt, Billy and his hounds are successful. The conflict is tragically resolved when Billy’s best friend, Old Dan dies fighting the mountain lion, and Little Ann dies two days later. Billy’s family decides to follow their dream of moving closer to town for a better life. As fate would have it, the money from the Championship Coon Hunt is just enough. Billy visits the graves of his hounds to say good bye. It is here that Billy learns an important lesson about life and

love.
The theme of Where the Red Fern Grows is love. The love between Billy and his hounds is evident in the amount of time they spend together. Billy gets his hounds when they are young pups, and the three of them spend every waking moment together. They play together, swim together, and hunt together. Billy tells his mom “ever since my dogs were puppies, we’ve always been together-just us three” (241). Another example of love is the connection Billy and his hounds have with each other. The love and loyalty they share can be seen in their actions. Billy will only hunt with his hounds, and his hounds will only hunt with him. The hounds love Billy so much that they eventually die for him. Everyone they meet can tell that their love is rare. One of the judges at the Championship Coon Hunt tells a group of hunters, “Some people call it loyalty. I don’t. I may be wrong, but I call it love - the deepest kind of love” (214). Although Billy and his hounds are only together for a few short years, Billy learns so much about love from them.
I enjoyed Where the Red Fern Grows very much. Although it has a sad ending, it is filled with excitement and adventure. My favorite part is when Billy and his hounds become the best coon hunters in the country. People from far and near were talking about this powerful team and challenging their abilities. Billy recalls that “the fame of my dogs spread all over our part of the Ozarks. They were the best in the country” (123). My least favorite part is when Old Dan and Little Ann die. Billy really struggles with the loss of his best friends. An important lesson I learned from Where the Red Fern Grows is that death is always difficult. Although Billy was young, he had to accept death. Billy’s dad comforts him by saying, “there are times in a boy’s life when he has to stand up like a man. This is one of those times. I know what you are going through and how it hurts, but there’s always an answer” (239). Just like Billy, we must remember the good times and hold onto the memories of our loved ones forever.