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The Red Pony Death Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Part.Paragraph)

Quote #1

He felt an uncertainty in the air, a feeling of change and of loss and of the gain of new and unfamiliar things. Over the hillside two big black buzzards sailed low to the ground and their shadows slipped smoothly and quickly ahead of them. Some animal had died in the vicinity. Jody knew it. It might be a cow or it might be the remains of a rabbit. The buzzards overlooked nothing. Jody hated them as all decent things hate them, but they could not be hurt because they made away with carrion. (1.14)

Oooh, a little foreshadowing. Excellent. From the get-go, we know Jody's not a fan of buzzards, and apparently that's a totally normal way for a decent person to feel. After all, buzzards are the harbingers of death. So is the fact that he wales on the buzzard that eats his pony's eyeball just an indication of his decency? Probably not.

Quote #2

They marched past the cypress, where a singletree hung from a limb to butcher the pigs on… (1.35)

Jody probably hasn't experienced death before his beloved red pony bites it. Sure, he's seen pigs be slaughtered and the like, but that's unemotional. He's not friends with the pigs, and hey, they make for delicious eats. And that's the key here. Life on a ranch is full of death, but it doesn't hit home until Jody loses something he loves.

Quote #3

He saw a hawk flying so high that it caught the sun on its breast and shone like a spark. Two blackbirds were driving him down the sky, glittering as they attacked their enemy. In the west, the clouds were moving in to rain again. (1.140)

Jody's red pony Gabilan is named after the Eastern Mountains but the name Gabilan also means "hawk." In this scene, Jody witnesses a deathcapade in the sky as two blackbirds attack and, most likely kill a lone hawk. You don't have to be a brain wizard to put this foreshadowing together. The poor pony is gonna die. And of course, as the quote states, the rain is coming.

Quote #4

The pony's tracks were plain enough, dragging through the frostlike dew on the young grass, tired tracks with little lines between them where the hoofs had dragged. … At the top of the ridge, Jody was winded. He paused, puffing noisily. The blood pounded in his ears. Then he saw what he was looking for. Below, in one of the little clearings in the brush lay the red pony. (1.182-1.183)

This happens a lot with animals. When they know they are close to death, they tend to wander away and die on their own. It's awfully sad and lonely to think about, but that's just the way it goes sometimes. Jody probably would have given anything to be with Gabilan during his final moments but the horse had different plans. Oh woe is Jody.

Quote #5

Then the beak opened and vomited a stream of putrefied fluid. Jody brought up his knee and fell on the great bird. He held the neck to the ground with one hand while his other found a piece of sharp white quartz. (1.184)

To be fair, it's not the buzzard's fault that Gabilan has died. But in this passionate moment, Jody just doesn't give a hoot. He's mad (and sad), and he has to take it out on someone—anyone. The poor buzzard's just unlucky enough to step into the line of fire.

Quote #6

Carl Tiflin wiped the blood from the boy's face with a red bandana. Jody was limp and quiet now. His father moved the buzzard with his toe. "Jody," he explained, "the buzzard didn't kill the pony, don't you know that?"

"I know it," Jody said wearily. (1.185-1.186)

Of course he knows it, Carl, ya nincompoop. In fact, that's exactly what Billy screams at him next. Carl seems a little desensitized to death here, probably because he's seen his fair share of it, running the ranch for so many years. But this is Jody's first experience with it, so Carl will have to indulge a freak out or two.

Quote #7

The bird looked much smaller dead than it had alive. Jody felt a little mean pain in his stomach, so he took out his pocketknife and cut off the bird's head. (2.5)

Whoa. This isn't the same buzzard that Jody killed in a heat of fiery passion after Gabilan's death. This is an entirely new bird that was just minding its own business when it had the misfortune of crossing paths with a disturbed young Jody Tiflin. Is Jody becoming a bad boy?

Quote #8

Jody walked up through the vegetable patch, toward the brush line. He looked searchingly at the towering mountains—ridge after ridge until at last there was the ocean. For a moment he thought he could see a black speck crawling up the farthest ridge. (3.173)

Here's what we're dying to know: do you think Gitano is riding off to meet his death? Or does he have another, sunnier destination in mind?

Quote #9

Billy jumped to the swollen stomach; his pocketknife was in his hand. He lifted the skin and drove the knife in. He sawed and ripped through the tough belly. The air filled with the sick odor of warm living entrails. (3.170)

Ah, horse death number two. Steel yourselves, Shmoopers. The death here is a gruesome one, but it's also a nice sacrifice. The mare's death ensures the colt's survival.

Quote #10

"Would you like to come on a mouse hunt tomorrow, sir?"

"Mouse hunt, Jody?" Grandfather chuckled. "Have the people of this generation come down to hunting mice?" …

Jody explained, "The dogs eat them, sir. It wouldn't be much like hunting Indians, I guess."

"No, not much—but then later, when the troops were hunting Indians and shooting children and burning teepees, it wasn't much different from your mouse hunt." (4.60-4.61, 4.64-4.65)

Here, Grandfather has just arrived and Jody is immediately trying to impress him by saying he is going on a mouse hunt. But then, as soon as he says this, the boy is embarrassed with his childish game when he remembers that his Grandfather once hunted and killed many Indians. That's quite different, right? Wrong. The alarming part here is that both boy and old man are pretty cavalier about death. C'est la morte.