Literary Devices in The Yearling
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
The Yearling is one of those books where the setting is kind of a big deal. It's not like Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was sitting at her desk, thinking, "Hmm, where and when should this story take pla...
Narrator Point of View
The narrator in The Yearling does his expected, normal job letting us see all of Jody's thoughts and emotions throughout the story while also giving us plenty of background on the characters and ev...
Genre
Young Adult LitWhat book could be more perfect for young adults than one about a kid becoming a young adult? Um, how about a book about a kid becoming a young adult, and a little fawn becoming a ye...
Tone
What a Wonderful World Nature is a big deal for the Baxters—in fact, it pretty much determines their day-to-day life, and even their survival. So it's no wonder that the narrator spends a lot of...
Writing Style
Splittin' Firewood, Splittin' Headache, Split Personality?The narrator in The Yearling may be talking about rural folk, but she sounds like a poet, full of gorgeous descriptions, heart-rending emot...
What's Up With the Title?
The title of this book is The Yearling and the book is actually about … a yearling. Weird, huh? Okay, it's a teeny bit more complicated than that. Flag the fawn is the obvious yearling, but there...
What's Up With the Ending?
Get out the tissues, because Rawlings is going straight for the tear ducts with this ending:In the beginning of his sleep, he cried out, "Flag!"It was not his own voice that called. It was a boy's...
Tough-o-Meter
The actual plot of The Yearling is pretty simple. What nudges this book up into the tree line is that digging through the layers of country dialogue and detailed descriptions can get just a little...
Plot Analysis
The Hills Are Alive Jody actually spins around among some trees (but not in Lederhosen or anything), and then we meet Penny and Ora, Slewfoot, Fodder-wing and the Forresters, and Grandma Hutto and...
Trivia
The Yearling movie actually started filming in 1941 with Spencer Tracy, but a little war known as World War II got in the way.
(source)
During filming of the 1946 movie, 5 different fawns played Fl...
Allusions
Bible ("His own father had been a preacher, stern as the Old Testament God" [2.5])Bible ("Dogged if it ain't like goin' outen the Ark," he said" [18.157])