The Yearling Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
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The Yearling Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Introduction Background Discussion Starters
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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. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Transcript of The Yearling Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
The YearlingMarjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Introduction
Background
Discussion Starters
The YearlingMarjorie Kinnan Rawlings
The Yearling: Introduction
Life is hard for the Baxter family.
The Yearling: Introduction
a five-hundred-pound prowling bear
crop-damaging floods
rowdy neighbors and stolen pigs
The family’s Florida farm endures
The Yearling: Introduction
The woods and swamps are filled with
wolves
panthers
rattlesnakes
alligators
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
And then all of the farm’s pigs disappear.
One day a giant bear kills the family’s female hog.
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.
Research for her novels took her on trips—even bear hunts—to the scrub country of inland Florida.
The Yearling: Background
Rawlings lived with a family in the remote wilderness to experience life’s daily struggle.
Rawlings worked diligently to capture the unique language of the scrub country.
The Yearling: Background
Her characters speak with a distinct vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar.
hit’s = it’s
allus = always
kin = can
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?
