The story is set in the 1940s, on a fox farm outside of Jubilee, a rural area only twenty miles away from the county jail. The farm is a place that reflects the ingenuity of the narrator's father. The pens for the foxes are arranged in neat rows, inside a high guard fence like a "medieval town". The pens each contain a kennel, a wooden ramp, and dishes attached to the wire fence. The fox farm is the father's domain, a place of hard work and creativity, in which the narrator feels at home. The house itself is the mother's domain, but it is a place that the narrator shuns, as she shuns many elements of the feminine world. The contrast between the girl's concept of the farm and of the house demonstrates the conflict she experiences between her chosen position as her father's helper and her position in society as a girl.

The point of view of the story is first person. The narrator is a young girl in the process of

This is not an extremely symbolic story. Certain elements, however, are repeated in such a way as to give them a symbolic meaning. Two symbolic elements are horses and shooting. These are first seen in the narrator's fantasies, in which she imagines herself doing heroic things which often involve riding a magnificent horse-she had only been on a horse twice-or shooting a dangerous animal to save her friends-she was just learning to shoot. There is irony in the reality that corresponds to these fantasies: her father's practice of shooting horses for fox food. She dreamed of heroic deeds; when she became older, the first brave thing she did was to let the horse go free, and that did no permanent good, as the horse was caught and killed anyway.

In conclusion, the elements of this short story work together very well to demonstrate the theme of the story. The narrator's conflict between filling a masculine role and accepting a feminine one, the contrast between her mother and her father, and the setting that is divided between the mother's domain and father's domain all build the effect of the theme well. This story gives a fresh look at the question of women's role in society through the eyes of a young girl.

The author goes to great length in the exposition of the story, describing the marvelous fox farm, the comfortable but unexciting house, the children's dark room, the adults who inhabit the narrator's world, and the fantasies of adventure with which the narrator entertains herself every night. Subtly, the author introduces the conflict: a girl who is used to filling the role of "father's helper" finds that society has other expectations of girls. The complication that sets up this conflict is the conversation between the mother and father, which the narrator overhears. Her mother says that Laird, when he is bigger, will be a real help to the father, and then she can use the girl more in the house. The narrator is angered by her mother's intrusion, believing that her mother is plotting to keep her in the house just because she knows she hates it. She avoids the household jobs her mother gives her and intentionally defies her grandmother's rules about proper feminine behavior, believing that by so doing she will keep herself free from the restraints that her society places upon women. She continues to rebel until the time comes for two horses, Mack and Flora, to be killed for fox food. As a farm girl, she is accustomed to the killing of animals for practical purposes; Mack and Flora, however, are almost pets to her. She and Laird secretly watch the shooting of Mack out of curiosity. Seeing the calmness with w

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1773
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)