The Red Pony

A detailed Summary of The Red Pony

The Red Pony by John Steinbeck is a book filled with archetypes and lessons. They can help readers identify hidden truths in books and sometimes even end up teaching them lessons. John Steinbeck uses archetypes skillfully to parallel the everyday lives of people. The Red Pony is filled with complex archetypes and symbolic events which are experienced by Jody, the main character of the book. He is a ten year old boy living on a ranch with his parents and a farmhand named Billy Buck. The archetypal patterns that his life goes through range from the number 2 to the life cycle to the loss of innocence. The Red Pony itself is divided into four very different books, each of which are surprisingly independent of each other. The character of Jody, in The Red Pony, experiences a separate event in each books that results in a loss of innocence, and in turn gains knowledge and matures over time.

Jody experiences two losses of innocence in the first book of the Red Pony when he learns of human imperfection and when he is personally affected by death for the first time. At the beginning, Jody receives a red pony from his father, Carl, and cares for it all summer with the help of Billy Buck. He reveres Billy because of his knowledge

In the fourth section of The Red Pony, Jody experiences his last loss of innocence that shows the dying of old ideas and Jody's increasing maturity. Jody's grandfather comes to visit the Tiflin ranch, although Carl dislikes the company of Grandfather. Though Carl refuses to come out and tell him this, he dislikes Grandfather because he lives in the past and only tells stories about his glorious adventures and the good old days. Jody, however, is fascinated by these stories and no matter how many times he hears them, he likes to hear them again, just like an excited young child. He is not yet matured enough to really understand the stories, he just likes to hear stories because they have action. The Indian fighting and the spirit of adventure spark an interest in Jody and he ponders in his bed about them and how glorious it must have been in that heroic age. "A race of giants had lived then, fearless men, men of staunchness unknown in this day. Jody thought of the wide plains and of the wagons moving across like centipedes. . ." (94) The next day, Grandfather overhears Carl talking negatively about his stories and living in the past. He concedes that it is true and decides it is time for him to stop keeping alive his old stories about the distant past. When Jody wants to hear more stories, Grandfather sighs and says to him, "I tell those old stories, but they're not what I want to tell. I only know how I want people to feel when I tell them." (99) Grandfather tells him that it wasn't the glorious Indian battles or the adventure that mattered, but the actual feeling of westering. He says that it is time to let those ideas go. Earlier, Jody was a very inexperienced child, who only wanted personal gain and knew very little. He befriended Gitano to satisfy his curiosity about the mountains. He blamed Billy for the red pony's death even though he couldn't have gotten anywhere without him. He killed a living bird for no reason and without guilt. However, all of his past losses of innocence have made him a much more capable and mature human being and he handles this final loss of innocence very well. Right away, Jody feels a sadness come over him and realizes that Grandfather's past is really finished. It is the same sadness that he felt when Gitano left to die. He also sympathizes with him, much like he did with Billy in book three after the colt died. Jody understands that old age and old ideas are a part of life and that everything must come to an end, just like with Gitano. Because of this new knowledge, "Jody felt very sad." (100) Even so, Jody offers to make lemonade for Grandfather and when asked by his mother if he would like one too, he responds with a no, also showing he is growing up. Although a child would jump at the opportunity for personal gain as well as the other person, Jody knows he is not the one who needs it and rebuffs the offer. All of this shows that his experiences in the previous three books have made him grow significantly as he handles this final loss of innocence like a mature adult. This final loss of innocence shows the Jody has matured a great deal since the beginning and that he is now starting to become a man.

Jody experiences another loss of innocence in book one when he feels death on a personal basis for the first time in his young life. In the beginning of the first book, he sees black buzzards flying about the area because of newly dead animals, and he acknowledges it with no emotion or personal reaction. "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" (4-5). But when they finally surround his red pony at the moment of its death, he becomes furious and lashes out in rage against them, even killing one in the frustration of the red pony's demise. "He struck again and again, until the buzzard lay dead, until its head was red pulp

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Approximate Word count = 2890
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels