The Yearling

Jody awakens to the sound of a ship, and he knows Oliver has returned home. He jumps out of bed and runs naked to greet Oliver, and Grandma Hutto takes her shawl and wraps it around Jody’s waist. Oliver’s ears are pierced, and Grandma Hutto removes the gold hoops from his earlobes. He tells stories from his time at sea and distributes gifts he brought for everyone—including silk for his mother, tobacco from Turkey for Penny, and a knife for Jody. Jody decides to tell Oliver that Lem Forrester claimed Twink as his love, but the latter brushes it off, saying that the Forresters often lie. Jody asks Grandma Hutto if Oliver has always been handsome, but Penny says he wasn’t when he was younger. Oliver says Jody will be handsome one day, and Penny takes the opportunity to tease Jody about Eulalie again. Jody claims he hates girls, which prompts Grandma Hutto to comment that Ora doesn’t appreciate Penny.

Oliver leaves to visit Twink, and Jody is angry that he left so soon. Later, Easy Ozell arrives in a panic, looking for Penny because Lem Forrester and two of his brothers are fighting Oliver, and Easy worries they’ll kill him. As Jody follows Penny, he feels conflicted about whom to support, being loyal to Oliver but not wanting to damage his friendship with the Forresters (especially Fodder-wing). As Twink watches the fight from the sidelines, clutching her handkerchief, Jody thinks she’s not pretty enough for men to fight over. Penny intervenes, telling Lem that it isn’t fair for three men to fight against one. Lem claims Oliver started the fight and refuses to back down, but Oliver asserts that Lem said something disparaging about him and Twink. The former punches Oliver and knocks him out, drawing Penny into the mele. His father’s courage compels Jody to jump in and bite Lem; Lem throws Jody off, and the latter hits the ground and loses consciousness.

Jody thinks he dreamed up the fight, until he moves and feels pain in his neck and shoulder. Grandma Hutto watches over him and Penny, who has a black eye and a minor wrist injury. She says Oliver will be fine, and that his pride was the most hurt in the fight. She tries to blame Twink for the fight, but Penny asserts it was Lem and Oliver’s fault. Penny is proud of Jody for jumping in to defend him, but the fight likely ruined their friendship with the Forresters; Jody feels sick, thinking he can’t see Fodder-wing anymore. Jody is angry with Oliver for loving Twink and causing the fight; however, he resolves that he was right to fight for Oliver since he was outnumbered.

Oliver asks Jody to deliver a message to Twink that he’ll meet her on Tuesday, but Jody refuses, claiming he hates Twink; ultimately, he feels guilty and decides to help. After purchasing supplies at Boyles’s on their way home, Jody asks where he can find Twink to deliver the message, but Mr. Boyles says she left on a boat to Sanford. Jody is secretly happy and leaves Oliver a note with the news. On the journey home, Jody worries about his relationship with the Forresters and Fodder-wing.

The family’s quail lays eggs and scuppernong vines are blooming, signs that the Baxter family will have decent food to eat soon. The family’s hogs are missing, and Penny fears that the Forresters have trapped them, so he and Jody track the hogs through the woods. Jody doesn’t want to fight the Forresters again, especially over food. Father and son follow a trail of horse hoof tracks and corn, signaling that someone baited the pigs. Penny sees traps and angrily quickens his pace to confront the Forresters, as a summer storm brews. Without warning, a rattlesnake strikes Penny in the arm. He shoots the snake, severs its head, and buries it in the ground, while Jody keeps the dogs safe. A doe appears, and Penny shoots it and cuts out her liver and heart to draw out the poison from his wound—but his arm begins to swell. Realizing he’s in danger, Penny tells Jody to tell the Forresters to send for Doc Wilson. Jody sees the slain doe has a fawn and begs his father to help, but Penny says there’s nothing they can do.

Terrified and still in shock, Jody approaches the Forrester property and yells for Fodder-wing. All the brothers appear on the porch and when Lem sees Jody, he curses at him. Fodder-wing is ill, and Lem refuses to help, but Mill-wheel says he’ll fetch the doctor and Buck will find Penny and take him home. Doc Wilson has alcoholism, and Buck hopes he’ll be sober enough to help. Jody remembers visiting Doc Wilson’s house once and seeing him passed out in his bed. He walks back home in a stupor as the winds pick up, and he wonders if his father is still alive. The storm intensifies, and Jody removes his soaked clothing and walks naked as the rain pelts his body and lighting cracks overhead. He hears movement and worries a panther might be stalking him; he pulls out his father’s rifle, but there are no bullets left in the gun.

At home, Buck and Mill-wheel wait by a fire, while Doc Wilson and Ora tend to Penny. Jody is relieved that his father is alive, but barely recognizes him with his swollen face. Though Penny’s fate is undecided, Jody reflects on his father surviving for as long as he has and tells Doc Wilson that “Us Baxters is all runty and tough” (164). Ora brings warm milk for Penny, but he only takes a small sip; Jody can’t eat, feeling like the snake poisoned him too. He sits by his father’s bed all night, replaying the day’s horrors in his mind and remembering the orphaned fawn. Jody sobs, lamenting the injustice of it all.

Jody has a nightmare about a giant snake, but his father survives the night. Ora is worried about how she and Jody will survive while Penny recovers. Buck offers to help with the corn crop and Doc Wilson refuses payment, so Jody gifts him his raccoon knapsack. Ora prepares breakfast for everyone, ashamed that she doesn’t have enough food. Jody asks Penny if he can go look for the fawn, and Penny says he can’t refuse his son’s request after what they went through. Mill-wheel offers to take Jody on horseback to search for it; Ora protests but everyone, including the doctor, thinks Jody should be allowed to adopt the fawn.

During the ride into the woods, Mill-wheel tells Jody that he had no idea his family was struggling to make ends meet. He promises to have the family’s pigs returned, and to have his family help out while Penny recovers. He explains that Fodder-wing is unlike the rest of the Forresters, as he’s physically weak and sees strange visions. Mill-wheel and Jody discuss the fight over Twink, and Mill-wheel says he’s courting a widow and doesn’t understand Oliver and Lem’s obsession with the girl.

Jody asks Mill-wheel to leave him to search for the fawn alone. After he finds the doe’s carcass, he follows the fawn’s delicate tracks to a nest. Jody lightly touches the fawn’s face and carries it as far as he can until his arms grow tired. He takes the fawn to Penny’s bedside, and Penny is proud of his son for rescuing it. Jody wants to choose a special name for the fawn, and Buck suggests Fodder-wing can help him. The former prepares milk and feeds the fawn by hand until it learns to drink from a bowl. For the rest of the day, Jody is extra helpful around the house to assuage his mother’s anger over his new pet. Buck finishes plowing and Ora serves the midday meal, apologizing for the meager rations. Jody takes his food out to the barn and eats near his fawn, happily nestling into its soft fur.

Buck works in the fields while Jody cares for his fawn. Penny is improving but remains weak and nauseated, and his arm is still swollen. Ora and Jody acclimate to Buck’s large presence in the house, as he often goes shirtless and eats a lot of food. Buck says his family isn’t skilled at farming, but suggests the Baxters plant sugar cane to bring a profit and offers to help plow the land. Ora tells Jody to watch and learn because he’ll have to pick up the slack when Buck leaves. Jody and Buck find a bee nest in a dead tree near the sinkhole and harvest a washtub full of honey, while making plans to hunt the foxes that are eating the corn crop.

Buck is anxious to get home and check on Fodder-wing, whom he fears isn’t doing well. He and Penny laugh about the useless hunting dog that the latter traded to Lem and share stories about other infamous dogs. Buck tells Jody about his Uncle Cotton whose red hair caught on fire. Penny hopes the Forresters hold no ill will toward him over the fight. Buck explains that only Lem is holding a grudge, but “[…] blood’s thicker’n water” (196), and this is why he joined the fight. Later, Buck and Jody kill two foxes using Penny’s new rifle. At home, Ora and Penny fend off a bear without a rifle. Buck drops the bear with one shot, and he and Penny dress the animal while Jody anxiously checks his fawn. The former asks for some of the bear fat as his share, and Ora offers the bear’s liver to help strengthen Fodder-wing. At night, Jody slips outside and brings his fawn into the house to keep it safe from predators.

Once Buck leaves, Jody takes over most of the farm work. The fawn grows, and Ora mostly ignores it until it eats a full bowl of cornbread batter and disturbs Jody when he should be working. Ora says he can’t visit Fodder-wing to show him the fawn until he finishes hoeing the sweet potatoes. Penny notices Jody’s effort, and says he’ll finish the hoeing if Jody collects their water since the journey to the sinkhole is currently too much for him. Jody happily agrees and lingers as he and the fawn lap from the water. He tells the deer that one day, he’ll build a cabin there for them. To prove his strength, Jody fills his buckets to the top, but they’re too heavy for his small frame, and he must empty some of the water to complete the journey home.

Ora cooks some of the leftover bear meat for dinner and explains that male bear meat is often inedible, especially if the bears are shot during mating season because the surge of anger and hormones taints their meat. Jody compares this behavior to Oliver and Lem fighting over Twink, but Penny says bears are worse because they’ll sometimes eat their young. The former fashions a leash for his fawn and walks to the Forresters. He sees two male bears walking upright and fighting: “[…] for all men were not privileged to see the creatures in their private moments” (211). The fawn scampers away to safety, and Jody is anxious to get to Fodder-wing and tell his bear tale.

When Jody calls out for Fodder-wing, only Buck appears and says Fodder-wing is dead. All the Forrester men are sitting silent, while Ma Forrester is in the room with Fodder-wing’s body, sobbing into her apron as she laments God’s cruelty for taking her son. Jody speaks to Fodder-wing and then buries his head in Buck’s chest to hide his grief. Pa Forrester says that even though Fodder-wing couldn’t help around the homestead like his brothers, they still grieve him. Jody checks on Fodder-wing’s pets and gives them food and water, weeping at the loss of his friend. Jody’s fawn returns, and Ma Forrester tells him that Fodder-wing had selected the name Flag for the deer. Jody plans to stay the night with Fodder-wing’s body, and brings Flag inside to sleep near him. Worried about his son, Penny rides to the Forresters’ and they ask him to stay the night so he can help bury Fodder-wing the next morning. He sits with the Forresters as they share their grief, and he shares the loss of his and Ora’s children.

The next morning, everyone helps bury Fodder-wing under an oak where he liked to play, and each family member tosses in a handful of dirt to fill the hole. Pa Forrester asks Penny to deliver the eulogy since he had a Christian upbringing. Jody offers a touching prayer, thanking God for giving them a unique person in Fodder-wing and asking that his friend be taken care of and given animals. As Penny and Jody leave, Buck gives Jody Fodder-wing’s red bird in remembrance of his friend. Later, Ora is angry that Penny and Jody were gone so long and shows little empathy for the Forresters’ loss. Penny scolds her for being callous and she responds, “Seems like bein’ hard is the only way I kin stand it” (224). He accedes but asks her to take it easy on Jody in his time of grief.