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The Yearling Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Introduction Background Discussion Starters. The Yearling Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. The Yearling: Introduction. Life is hard for the Baxter family. The Yearling: Introduction. The family’s Florida farm endures. a five-hundred-pound prowling bear.
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The YearlingMarjorie Kinnan Rawlings Introduction Background Discussion Starters
The Yearling: Introduction Life is hard for the Baxter family.
The Yearling: Introduction The family’s Florida farm endures a five-hundred-pound prowling bear crop-damaging floods rowdy neighbors and stolen pigs
The Yearling: Introduction The woods and swamps are filled with panthers alligators wolves rattlesnakes
The Yearling: Introduction But, for twelve-year-old Jody, life is easy and carefree. His father, Penny, encourages his daydreaming. He believes boys should be free to enjoy childhood.
The Yearling: Introduction But life can be lonely in the remote forest where Jody lives. The nearest neighbors are miles away. Jody thinks a pet will make him happy.
The Yearling: Introduction One day a giant bear kills the family’s female hog. And then all of the farm’s pigs disappear.
The Yearling: Introduction Jody and his father are searching for the missing pigs, when his father is bitten by a rattlesnake. Penny saves himself by killing a deer and using its organs to draw out the poison.
The Yearling: Introduction When they realize the deer has left a fawn… …Jody thinks it will be the perfect pet. But can a wild animal survive for long in the human world?
The Yearling: Background Like her characters in The Yearling, writer Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings lived an isolated life. She felt she could succeed as a writer only by submerging herself in the lives of her characters.
The Yearling: Background Research for her novels took her on trips—even bear hunts—to the scrub country of inland Florida. Rawlings lived with a family in the remote wilderness to experience life’s daily struggle.
The Yearling: Background Rawlings worked diligently to capture the unique language of the scrub country. hit’s = it’s allus = always kin = can Her characters speak with a distinct vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar.
The Yearling: Background The Yearling’s Baxter family lives on Baxter Island—a clearing of pines surrounded by a river and marshes. It is an isolated existence.
The Yearling: Background The family lives hand-to-mouth. Survival depends on hunting.
The Yearling: Background Learning to hunt successfully was a rite of passage for boys in the backwoods of 1800s America. Joining a circle of hunters often signified the transition from boy to man.
The Yearling: Background In the course of a year, we watch Jody Baxter grow from a carefree boy to a responsible young man. Like many boys in those days, he learns his family needs his help to survive life’s struggles.
The Yearling: Discussion Starters • Discuss (1) • Jody is an only child who longs for companionship. His friend Fodder-wing is surrounded by six noisy brothers. • What do you think are the benefits and disadvantages of each type of family life?
The Yearling: Discussion Starters • Discuss (2) • Jody dreams of having a pet. His preferences include a raccoon, a bear cub, and a fawn. • What kind of animal would you prefer if you lived in an area as remote and risky as the Florida scrub country of the 1870s? Why? • What kind of animal do you think would make a good pet where you live today? Why?
