The Yearling

Humans have long been fascinated with stories of man’s struggle against nature. In Romantic literature, authors and poets portray nature as a place of refuge, inspiration, and a way to recapture the innocence of childhood, whereas realist writers expose nature’s deterministic indifference to man’s sorrow. For Rawlings, the setting of The Yearling becomes a character in itself, as she paints 19th-century central Florida through sensual experiences and moments of character growth. In an amalgamation of both Romanticism and realism, Rawlings exposes how nature can be both a comforting escape and a cruel force of destruction and death.

As the novel opens, protagonist Jody Baxter skips his daily chores to dawdle by a creek, soaking in the perfect spring day. He creates a flutter-mill, a small “machine” that harnesses the power of water to turn (in this case, made of natural components), which increases his fascination with the flow of water. Though Penny rears Jody with a respectful, realistic view of nature, the young boy experiences everything in the scrub with a heightened awareness of beauty. At times, the birdsong and the wind in the trees create a transcendental effect on Jody, as if he were communing with a higher power. After Fodder-wing’s death, the sinkhole becomes a place where Jody communes with his lost friend. However, Jody’s fawn Flag most embodies the romanticization of nature, as the creature appears like a fairy in the woods—an answer to the boy’s desperate prayers for a companion. The pixie-like fawn becomes a part of the Baxter family, eating from Jody’s plate and sleeping in his bed; he weaves a spell on everyone, including Ora, with his docile nature. As the Baxter family is struck with multiple natural disasters, Jody’s relationship with nature changes, and the outside world becomes less of a welcoming place and more of a frighting place full of cruelty. Furthermore, his struggle with nature intensifies as he tries to tame his growing deer.

As the Baxter family’s situation worsens, Jody becomes keenly aware of humans’ inability to completely control the weather and animals. Nature spirals into chaos outside, while inside the cabin, the growing Flag wreaks havoc on the Baxters’ precious food supplies. Jody makes a halter in a symbolic attempt to control his deer’s natural compulsion to run, but when Flag breaks away and runs home to plunder the crops, his spell is broken. Ironically, Flag dies in an unnatural way and in an instant, all the beauty and romance of the wilderness disappears for Jody: “He had been out in the world, and the world was a troubled dream, fluid and desolate, flanked by swamps and cypresses” (438). Water even becomes a nemesis, as the river fights Jody’s attempt to escape home. Finding no answers or comfort in nature, Jody flees to the safety of his manmade cabin, knowing he’ll always have this home in the scrub—albeit in a changed way. Rawlings’s story ends with a realist’s view of nature as a place where one may find bittersweet happiness.