68 pages • 2 hours read
Wilson RawlsWhere the Red Fern Grows
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1961A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
Fire in the Darkness
In the very beginning, fire in the darkness ushers in the tale of Where the Red Fern Grows: “The dark, quiet atmosphere was a perfect setting for the mood I was in. I built a fire in the fireplace and pulled up my favorite rocker” (5-6). Later, fire is another comforting source, when Mama receives the prize money, realizing that her prayers have been answered: “A peaceful silence settled over the room. I could hear the clock ticking away. The fire in the fireplace crackled and popped” (219).
The warmth of the life-giving fire also symbolizes a primal connection to nature, as well as the struggle with it. This inspires and influences the story. When Billy camps out in Robber’s Cave with the hounds on his way home with them for the first time, his fire keeps the mountain lion from attacking them. A fire also warms the hounds and Grandpa when during the competition storm. Thus, fire is a source of comfort as well as a tool for human interaction with the wild.
Names
The way Billy comes up with the names for Old Dan and Little Ann is symbolic of his seemingly divine connection to the dogs. The fisherman’s camp becomes a sacred location for Billy; it’s where he finds the article that leads him to his hounds. Seeing Dan and Ann carved into the tree there symbolizes the motions of fate bringing him and the hounds into each other’s lives.
Billy’s connection to the forest appears in the names he gives different organisms. He calls some raccoons Old Ringtail when they’re particularly clever. He names the huge old tree that he ends up cutting down when the hounds tree their very first raccoon there. He goes through many names before deciding on the right one, showing his deep connection and empathy for the natural world:
It had taken me quite a while to find a name suitable for the big sycamore. For a while I had called it ‘the chicken tree.’ In some ways it had reminded me of a mother hen hovering over her young in a rainstorm. Its huge limbs spread out over the small birch, ash, box elder, and water oak as if it alone were their protector (77).
Billy lands on a simple name, calling it the “big tree.”
K.C. Baking Powder Can
The can Billy saves up his money in symbolizes his patience, grit, and determination in achieving his goals and dreams. Even his apprehension of the can shows his patience: “Then I saw it, an old K.C. Baking Powder can. It was perfect, long and slender, with a good tight lid” (19).
At the end of the story, when Old Dan and Little Ann are gone, Billy reflects on the challenges he faced to get them, the support he had along the way, and the fact that he has no regrets. In part, the can symbolizes this:
I thought of the old K.C. Baking Powder can, and the first time I saw my pups in the box at the depot. I thought of the fifty dollars, the nickels and dimes, and the fishermen and blackberry patches. I looked at his grave and, with tears in my eyes, I voiced these words: ‘You were worth it, old friend, and a thousand times over’ (235).
