Character Clues

Character Analysis

Physical Appearance

Ory is fat. Penny is puny. The Forresters are huge and strong, except for Fodder-wing, who's crippled. Grandma Hutto is girly and cute, and Eulalie…well, Eulalie is just asking for a potato to be thrown at her.

In other words, each character's appearance is a little window into their souls. The Forresters are "mountainous men" (6.5), while Grandma Hutto shakes when she laughs, "her small plump breast quiver(ing) like a quail dusting" (11.161). (Simmer down there, Rawlings.) Here's our question, though: through whose eyes are we seeing these appearances? Is this Jody's way of understanding the people in his life, or is the narrator giving us objective descriptions?

Family Life

Just like we could probably tell a lot about you by whether you steal your sister's clothes or offer to fold her laundry for her, we can tell a lot about The Yearling's characters by the way they interact with their families. Take Ma Baxter: when Jody says, "Now, Ma, […] suppose I was a varmint and didn't eat nothin' but roots and grass," she replies: "I'd not have nothin' then to rile me" (1.97-98).

Aw, motherly love. This little interaction perfectly sums up Jody and Ma's relationship: a little rough, a lot teasing, but with a deep-down desire to be loved from both of them. Now Pa, on the other hand, loves Jody and doesn't care who knows it. He's always inviting Jody to run off and go fishing and letting him slack off on his chores. When the time is right, though, Pa is ready with some wisdom, telling Jody that "life goes back on you" (33.137) and you just have to face it like a man. This combination of loving and serious tells us that Pa is a just the kind of father we all want: fun, loving, and wise.

Actions

When you live on the edge of survival all the time, where action or inaction can be the difference between starving and feasting, living or dying. If you take a look at the actions of the characters in The Yearling, you can get a pretty good idea of what they're all about.

The Forresters, for example, burn people's houses down and fight constantly. But Buck and Mill-wheel are still willing to forget a grudge and come help Penny when he's bitten by a snake. Lem, on the other hand, is mean through and through. "Die and good riddance. Biggety bantam" (14.132).

Or, think about the moment when Jody can't shoot Flag. Sure, he loves the deer—but this inaction also tells us that Jody is still a child acting selfishly instead of working for his family's survival and thinks of his family as something antagonistic rather than as the only thing that matters: "They cain't make me do it" (32.4). Fancy up the grammar a bit, and we bet that sounds pretty familiar—the kind of thing you say when you're acting really teenager-y and immature. (Don't worry; we're pretty sure you can grow up successfully without shooting a deer.)