The Yearling

Grandma Hutto, Oliver, and Twink depart on a steamboat the next morning, and the Baxters see them off. Oliver thanks Jody for standing up for him, and Grandma Hutto tells him to write her a letter. Jody is emotional, thinking he may never see them again. Ora believes the Forresters are guilty of setting the fire, but Penny says there’s no clear evidence. She thinks Oliver’s troubles are Twink’s fault, and Jody agrees but says that the girl is “mighty purty” (385).

The winter is mild, so Penny takes advantage of the good weather by planting cotton, enough tobacco to sell for a profit, and extra corn so they don’t run short in the summer. Jody helps Penny dig a bed for Ora, so she can plant and grow ginger. At night, the family sits by the fire and discusses what happened at Christmas. People in town believe the Forresters set the fire, and no one’s seen them for a while. They never returned to the Baxters to get their share of bear meat, and Penny is upset thinking there’s a breach in their friendship.

There are few big animals to hunt, and those available are of inferior quality, so the Baxters eat stringy bear meat, but enjoy the grease far more. Jody spends most of his day helping gather downed trees for firewood and hunting small game with Flag. At night, he works on his lessons while Ora quilts. One night, Penny and Jody see a lone, injured wolf playing with Rip and decide not to shoot it or tell Ora. Jody clutches Flag, thankful he didn’t abandon him in the woods.

In February, Penny’s arthritis flares and he stays in bed, leaving Jody to do most of the chores. When he isn’t working, Jody takes Flag into the woods where they run and play together. One day, he spots Flag standing at the top of the sinkhole and barely recognizes him. Penny says Flag is a yearling and will have his horns by the summer. As Flag grows bigger, he becomes wilder. Jody can’t keep him tied up, and after he wakes Ora in the middle of the night, she banishes Flag from the house. He tries to cover for the deer and clean up his messes, but Penny agrees that Flag is too big and should be outside. The next day, Penny feels well enough to leave his bed and check the crops. He summons Jody and reveals that Flag has trampled most of the newly planted tobacco. Penny isn’t angry but disappointed that they won’t be able to sell any tobacco for profit. As Jody helps repair the damaged crops, he is certain Flag won’t cause trouble again.

March’s agreeable weather allows Penny to plant all the necessary crops before the rain comes. Jody helps Penny as Flag spends more time in the woods. He misses the deer, but is relieved he’s staying away from the crops. Ora is worried Penny is working too hard, but he’s glad to be out of bed and planting. Late in the day, Flag reappears, and Jody notices his father staring strangely at the deer. Penny says the deer has grown as Jody has. Jody feeds Flag from the table and begs the yearling to stay out of the crops. The next day while planting cotton, Jody notices Penny looking at Flag again and has a bad feeling. While trying to remove a stump from the field, Penny injures his groin and barely makes it back home with Jody’s help.

Penny is bedridden and speaks sternly with Jody about protecting the corn plants from Flag. Jody takes over most of the farm work and goes hunting with Flag, bringing home squirrels for dinner and garnering pride from his parents. However, the next morning, Jody awakens to find that Flag has eaten almost all the corn plants, and he mopes inside to tell his father. After Ora and Penny have a heated discussion, Penny tells Jody that he can disassemble an old fence and use it to create a barrier around the crop. Knowing this is his last chance, Jody works himself ragged for days, replanting the corn and hauling wood back to assemble the fence. As Jody and Ora finish the fence, the former spots Flag eating the corn. Ora sees the destruction and runs inside to tell Penny, who calls for Jody and tells him to take Flag into the woods and shoot him.

Armed with Penny’s gun, Jody takes Flag into the woods—but refuses to follow his father’s orders. He fights with his parents in his mind and then collapses, wailing. Feeling guilty for crying, Jody runs through possible scenarios in his mind. He wishes Oliver was still in Volusia and wonders if there’s anyone who would take Flag for him. Jody can live with being apart from Flag if he knows he’s safe and happy. He decides to go to Buck and plead for help, but when he arrives at the Forresters’ cabin, he learns the brothers are gone until April. Jody begs Ma and Pa Forrester to take Flag, but Pa agrees that if Flag is a threat to their crops, he should be shot. He resolves to walk to Jacksonville and makes a leash for Flag, but the deer fights him the entire way. Jody is exhausted and starving, and lays down for a nap. When he awakens, Flag is gone. Jody follows the deer’s trail all the way home, creeps into the yard, and hides with Flag in the smokehouse. The next morning, Flag is gone and has eaten the family’s corn and cow-peas. Ora is furious and orders Jody to tell his father. Penny is disappointed in Jody for not doing his duty, but he insists he can’t kill Flag. Ora grabs the shotgun and shoots Flag in the leg. Jody runs after the injured deer, screaming that he hates his parents and will never forgive them; Penny watches helplessly from the porch. Flag runs to the sinkhole and tumbles down a ravine. Jody shoots him dead and falls, vomiting.

Jody decides to run away to Jacksonville and then to Boston to find Oliver. After hitching a ride with a fisherman, Jody finds Nellie Ginright’s canoe and plugs the holes with sap and cloth from his shirt, paddling down the river. Sick with hunger and grief, he wrestles with the feeling that his father has betrayed him. Spring is blooming, but “The beauty of the late March day held only pain to hurt him” (428), as everything he sees reminds him of Flag. The river becomes difficult to navigate and Jody experiences delirium and exhaustion, so he stops on the riverbank and camps for the night. The next morning, he begins paddling again, but as the waterway widens, the current becomes more dangerous and the boat takes on water. He frantically paddles to shore and hikes to an abandoned cabin. Finding only flour, Jody makes a paste that only briefly satisfies his cramping belly. He sleeps fitfully, and when he begins paddling again, his vision is blurry and he loses consciousness. A mail boat rescues him; he’s given food and water, but is then deposited at Volusia and told to go home.

Jody walks past Grandma Hutto’s burned house and realizes there’s no place to go but home; he wonders if his parents even want him back. As the landscape becomes more familiar, he realizes it’s April 1 and that he’s at the same creek where he built the flutter-mill a year ago. Jody makes another one, but calls it a “play dolly” (440) and destroys it. The closer he gets to home, the more homesick he becomes, so he runs the rest of the way. Penny is by the fire, wrapped in quilts and too weak to embrace his son; Ora has gone to trade chickens with the Forresters. Jody apologizes for the things he said, and Penny forgives him. Penny is glad that Jody learned what true hunger is and can now appreciate the need to protect their food. He’s had a hard life and hoped to protect his son from injustices, but now Jody knows the truth. Jody eats dinner, washes, and goes to bed, crying for his lost fawn and the lost boy who loved him.