32 pages • 1 hour read
Gary PaulsenTracker
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1978A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaSymbols & Motifs
The Farm and Chores
John’s family farm represents the world John knows and is comfortable in. John is familiar with the farm and his chores, so much so that he can do his work without thinking about the tasks. However, when viewed through the impending loss of John’s grandfather, the farm transforms into a reminder of what John once had and will lose.
The news turns John’s once-fulfilling chores into necessary distractions. Rather than doing the work because he enjoys it and it needs to be done, John throws himself into chores because they keep him from dwelling on how he’ll lose his grandfather. John first sees the doe while doing chores, and this moment foreshadows the importance the doe will come to have, as well as how tracking the doe will help John come to terms with his grandfather’s death—something chores alone could not do because they are too familiar to offer a new perspective.
Cancer
From Chapter 1, John feels threatened by his grandfather’s cancer and the changes it brings to his life. His actions, both on the farm and later during the hunt, go toward trying to stop the cancer and, by extension, death from claiming his grandfather. The cancer is a metaphor for the fragility of life and the irreversible changes death brings. For John, it threatens the world he knows, making him willing to do anything to restore things to how they were before. However, by the end of the novel, John realizes that the cancer is a natural force he must reconcile with, rather than attempt to try to control.
The Doe’s Tracks
In the latter half of Tracker, John tracks the doe through the woods, paying particular attention to the tracks she leaves in the snow. Altogether, the tracks represent John’s character arc, as well as the journey of life. John transforms during his hunt, and the tracks are like a guide toward his acceptance of his grandfather’s death and the new outlook on death and hunting he finds. John notes how the tracks begin strong but become more and more erratic as the hunt continues, showing how the journey takes a toll. At the end of the book, John discovers the tracks led him in a circle over the same section of the forest. This suggests the doe stayed in areas she knew and felt safe in, and symbolizes how the journey of life is more important than the destination.
The tracks also symbolize John’s understanding of deer and nature. Simply by observing the tracks, John can tell how the doe is traveling. Her bounding leaps show her fear; her close steps show her feeling safe. These changes literalize how the experience of fear or safety influences an individual’s actions; like John’s grandfather, the doe wants to survive. John’s ability to follow and read the tracks comes from observation and experience, which highlights the importance of education and knowledge. But the “reality” of his journey through the woods and his relationship with the doe is unclear, which suggests that the tracks John followed were from his own imagination. In this way, the tracks could symbolize how John made his own path through grief rather than followed a pre-set process.
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By Gary Paulsen
