|
Du bist hier: Referate Datenbank | Englisch
| Steinbeck, John: The Red Pony
Steinbeck, John: The Red Pony
The Red
Pony
The Plot:
The novel “The Red Pony” by John Steinbeck is
set near Salinas, California. It deals with the life of the ten-year-old Jody
Tiflin and his growing into manhood. The other main persons are his parents,
Carl and Ruth Tiflin, and the cow-hand Billy Buck. “The Red Pony”
deals with the theme of life and death and how to cope with them. The novel
consists of four short stories (“The Gift”, “The Great
Mountains”, “The Promise” and “The Leader of the
People”), each of them tells an adventure of Jody.
The Gift:
The first story deals with a red pony, which is given to
Jody by his father Carl. Early in the morning Billy Buck, the cow-hand, gets up
and makes himself ready for the day. He goes to the dining-room to have
breakfast and here we notice the strong discipline in the family for the first
time. Billy isn’t allowed to go first into the dining-room, he has to wait
to wait until one member of the family sits down at the table. After the
breakfast Carl and Billy Buck ride to the butcher to sell him some cows. When
his father and Billy Buck disappear over the hill, Jody goes back into the house
to get his books and then he leaves to school. On the way to school he fills his
pockets with little white rocks so that he can shoot a bird or a rabbit with
them. In the afternoon Jody returns home from school and when he meets his
mother in the kitchen, she reminds him to do his chores correctly. She tells him
again how to pile the wood in the wood-box and how to find out where the
chickens are hiding their eggs. After he has done his chores correctly he takes
his twenty-two rifle up to the brush line. He enjoys to aim at all sorts of
things, but he knows that he isn’t able to really shoot with the gun,
because his father refuses to give him cartridges until he is twelve years old.
When Carl and Billy return home Jody is told to go to bed, because his father
will need him in the morning. After breakfast Carl takes his son to the barn to
show him a surprise. It is a red pony colt, that Jody’s father and Billy
Buck bought the day before. Jody is astonished and happy about the present and
Carl advises him with a stern voice to take care of the colt. Jody decides to
name his red pony “Gabilan”. Billy Buck tells Jody, that he will
teach him how to treat, to look after and to ride the pony. Then he shows Jody a
nice red saddle, which is just a show saddle, but not practical for farming.
Because of this gift Jody is now admired among his school friends. Proudly he
tells his friends, what Billy Buck has told him about training the horse and the
usefulness of the show-saddle. Jody loves his red pony colt and he likes to
curry it again and again. So he neglects his chores on the farm, but his mother
isn’t angry with him, because she understands her son and she is even
proud of him, because of his red pony. In the following time Billy Buck teaches
Jody a lot about horses, because he is well known as an expert on them. And in
the early fall they start the real training. First the train the halter-breaking
and then they start the training on the long-halter. After that Billy teaches
Jody, how to saddle a horse and finally he gives him a lot of riding
instructions. But the weather changes, before Jody is able to ride Gabilan.
There is a week full of rain and during this time the horse is kept in the barn.
One day it doesn’t rain in the morning and Jody lets Gabilan outdoors and
goes to school. But before he leaves he asks Billy Buck to put the horse if it
starts to rain. Billy Bucks assures Jody that he will do it, but he has to ride
away. Suddenly it starts to rain, but neither Jody nor Billy Buck is on the
ranch to put Gabilan in. So he stands in the rain for a long time and
consequently the horse gets cold and ill. Billy Buck tries to save the life of
Gabilan with the help of all his knowledge, but he doesn’t succeed and
Gabilan dies. Jody is very sad, because of this lost and he has also lost his
blind confidence in Billy Buck.
The Great Mountains:
The story takes place several month after Jody’s
horse, Gabilan, has died. It’s now midsummer and Jody is listless and
bored as the story begins. Because of his boredom, Jody gets violent and he
destroys several small swallows nests and later he builds up a rat trap to hurt
his dog Doubletree Mutt. After this he takes his slingshot and wants to kill a
bird. He has never hit a bird before, but at this time he manages to kill one.
He cuts the dead bird into pieces and throws it away, but he doesn’t feel
better than before. When he lies in the grass afterwards he looks at the great
mountains to the west of the ranch. These mountains have always been curious and
secret to Jody. He has talked to his father about them, but to Carl they are
just mountain and nothing more. Also his mother and Billy Buck don’t show
great interest in the great mountains. Although the others don’t share his
interest, the mountains remain something special for Jody. He has some fantasies
about ancient cities, which should be hidden there and he wants to know very
badly what’s really inside the mountains. Suddenly an old man arrives. He
introduces himself as Gitano and he says, that will stay on the ranch to die. He
explains, that he was born here and he wants to die on the same place. At first
Carl is very stubborn and wants the old man to leave, because he isn’t
able to support another man. But the old man is “pig-headed”, too,
and so Carl allows him to stay for one night. One the next day he should leave
for Monterey, where his relatives live. Jody is advised to show Gitano the room
in the old bunkhouse, where he can stay overnight. When they are in the room,
Jody start to question the old man about the great mountains. Gitano
doesn’t like to talk much and so he tells Jody shortly, that he was there
once when he was a child. Jody wants to know more, but Gitano means, that he
can’t remember very well, but it is nice and quite there. After supper,
Jody visits the old man again. He surprises Gitano before he can hide the lean,
thin, gold handled rapier lying in his lap. Jody has never seen something like
this before and is very curious about this rapier and Gitano is very resentful
and angry, because Jody has interferes him. The old man is silent and very
reluctant to speak about the rapier, but then he decides to show it to Jody.
Gitano tells the young man briefly about the rapier and afterwards he wants Jody
to leave. On the next morning Gitano has disappeared. Jess Taylor, the owner of
the adjacent farm, tells, that he saw an old man riding on an old horse to the
great mountains. Gitano has left all his things on the Tiflin’s ranch
except his rapier and he rides to the mountains to die there.
The Promise:
The third story starts on a mid-afternoon in spring. Jody is
on his way home from school and collects various insects, which he puts in his
tin lunch pail. When he comes into the kitchen, his mother informs him, that
Carl wants to see him. At first he thinks that he has done something bad and so
he awaits punishment when he meets his father and Billy Buck at the pasture
fence. But his father has a happy surprise for him. Because Billy Buck told
Carl, that his son took good care of Gabilan, he decided that Jody can have
another one, if he cares for it. But now he has to raise a colt to get practise.
Jody agrees to this suggestion and his father orders him, to take Nellie, a
mare, to the ranch of Jess Taylor, because he has a stallion for breeding.
Moreover Jody is taught by his father, that he has to take care of the mare
until she throws the colt. So Jody takes Nellie to the ranch of Jess Taylor and
After a quick ceremony, the mating is over. Now Jody has to wait for a long
time. Billy Buck tells him, that it will take about eight month until Nellie
throws the colt. Billy remembers the mistake he made with Gabilan, when Jody
asks him again and again that he won’t let anything happen to the colt and
therefore he promises him, that he’ll get a healthy and good colt. In the
following month Nellie’s abdomen gets very big, but there has been no
birth. Jody starts to feel uneasy and to look for Nellie now even in the night.
One night Billy Buck wakes him up and tells him, that Nellie begins to give
birth to a colt. They rush into the barn, but after a short time Billy notices
that the colt comes way wrong and he isn’t able to turn it. Suddenly he
tells Jody to turn his head and then he takes a hammer and smashes
Nellie’s head. Then he opens the swollen stomach with his big pocket-knife
and then he takes out the unborn colt. Totally full of blood Billy Buck gives
the colt to Jody and says: “There’s your colt. I promised”. So
Jody makes Billy Buck killing the colt to keep his promise.
The Leader of the People:
Like in the opening of “The Great Mountains”
Jody Tiflin is again bored at the beginning. At this time he declares some mice
to his victims. To satisfy his urge for violence he makes plans how to kill the
“sleek and arrogant” mice. But Jody has to postpone his mice hunt,
because Billy Buck advises him to ask his father for the permission. Later Carl
comes home and Jody notice a letter in his hand. Afterwards he gets to know that
his grandfather, the father of his mother, will arrive soon. Jody is happy about
the visit of his grandfather, in contrast to his father, who knows that
grandfather tells the same stories again and again. All the stories have the
same topic: The “westering”. And Jody’s grandfather led a vast
group of pioneers across the prairie through Indian country. Grandfather is
proud of this westering, it has been the sense of his life. But Carl
doesn’t understand grandfather’s view of life and he is bored and
angered with hearing the same stories again and again. But Carl isn’t
deliberately offensive, for him the west is conquered and the great crossing
completed. He isn’t interested in the past and therefore not interested in
the stories of grandfather. Because Carl is so stubborn, it’s Jody who
goes to meet his grandfather. When they return to the ranch, Carl, his wife and
Billy Buck stand in front of the house to welcome grandfather. During and after
the supper Jody’s grandfather tell his stories to the others. Jody listens
carefully, also Carl’s wife and Billy Buck are polite and pretend to
listen, but Carl is offensive again. In the next morning at breakfast Carl
complains again about grandfather’s stories, because he thinks, that
grandfather doesn’t hear what he says. But he stands outside of the
kitchen and therefore he hears every word. When he enters the kitchen Carl is
really petrified, because he know that grandfather has heard everything. At
first Carl tries to make excuses, but when he sees that it is useless, because
he hurt grandfather’s feelings he goes out. Confronted with Carl’s
complains, grandfather begins to think about his life and he tries to sort out
the place that westering had in his life. He realises, that this time is over
and that the crossing is finished. Furthermore he decides to tell his stories
only, if people wants to hear them. Jody means, that he is interested in
grandfather’s stories and when the sit on the porch, Jody listens
carefully to grandfather’s adventures.
The Characters:
Jody Tiflin:
Jody is presented as a typical ten-year-old boy. His hair is
like “dusty yellow grass” and he has shy polite grey eyes. Like most
of the other farm boys he obeys to his parents in general, but sometimes he
forgets to do his chores. Jody can also be very violent, especially when he is
bored. So kills birds, hurts his dog and smashes swallow nests. But on the other
hand he grows up with great discipline. Jody wants to be man, he wants to be
responsible for something that is his. His parents test his responsibility by
fulfilling his dream of an own horse. And Jody does justice to this
responsibility, because it isn’t his fault that Gabilan died and Carl is
satisfied with his son, because he gives him the opportunity to raise a colt in
the third story. We can also notice, that Jody is sometimes selfish. So Jody
makes Billy Buck killing the mare Nellie, because he urged Billy before to
promise that he (Jody) will get a good colt. This given promise forced Billy
Buck to kill Nellie. He also blames Billy, that because of his fault Gabilan
died. He made of course a mistake, but the pony died, because it was too weak.
Normally some rain isn’t bad for a pony’s health. But in the last
chapter Jody has developed to an understanding and sympathetic character,
because he has a nice attitude towards his grandfather. He gives up his mice
hunt to listen to grandfather’s stories and therefore he makes the old man
happy.
Carl Tiflin:
Carl is head of the family and of the ranch he is described
as a tall and stern man. John Steinbeck describes twice in his story how Carl
turns the oil lamp off, that means that he regulate the light and therefore the
life of the family. We can conclude from this descriptions, that Carl has nearly
a god-like status on his ranch. Everything around him must be disciplined, but
he behaves not disciplined. For everything, which happens on the ranch he has to
give his permission and even Billy Buck, who isn’t only the cow-hand on
the ranch but also a friend of the family, has to obey to some very strict
rules. So he has to wait until Carl comes into the dining room before he enters.
But Carl himself is very undisciplined, because he offends grandfather, an old
man, who should be treated with great respect. Of course Carl didn’t know,
that grandfather can hear his words, but a disciplined man doesn’t express
himself on an older man, who is even a family member, in such a way. Although
Carl is Jody’s natural father there isn’t this father-son
relationship between them. He only sets up the rules for his son and gives
Gabilan to him. But it is Billy Buck, who learns Jody how to take care of
Gabilan. Jody talk with Billie about various things and discuss them, but Carl
talks seldom with his son, mostly when he reprimands and disciplines him.
Billy Buck:
He is the cow-hand, who helps Carl Tiflin to take care of
the farm and to tend the animals. He is an experienced middle-aged man, who has
been with the Tiflins for a long time. He is an expert on farming and it is well
known, that he has a good way with horses. Especially in “The Gift”
he takes the role of Jody’s father. He learns Jody how to take care of
horses and he gives him a lot of riding instructions. Normally this would be the
business of Carl Tiflin. Billy Buck has a special relationship to Jody. Although
he hasn’t Carl’s authority he can comment and criticise Jody’s
action. Jody believes him and follows his advises. He also understands
Jody’s feelings, when Gabilan dies, on the contrary to Carl. But Billy
Buck isn’t only Jody’s “teacher”, he can also joke and
laugh with him. Thus it seems, that Billy fulfils the duty’s of a father,
which are neglected by Carl.
|
PDF-Format (28,38 KB)
ZIP
Archiv (9,50 KB)
(c) 2003-2012 ontaps GmbH