Where the Red Fern Grows – Book Summary and Review American Literature Essay (100 Level Course)
The book Where the Red Fern Grows is about a boy, named Billy, who during the Depression. The year in which this story takes place is the 1930’s. Billy really wanted dogs. He especially wanted coon dogs. He always wanted to hunt. His grandfather told something that made him think about earning his own money to save for coon dogs.
No one knew, not even his family knew, that he was saving money, and doing so many jobs for coon dogs.
Finally, when he saved enough money, he went to his grandfather and told him to order two coon dogs. Altogether the price was 40 dollars, he had enough money for both of them. He was really excited. He waited so long for his coon dogs to arrive.
They finally came to a city, not far away from where he lived. He snuck out of his house, and went to the city to pick him up. He had to walk all the way to a railroad station. That was where the coon dogs were. He got them. They were only puppies. He then walked to a store to get his father and mother some things that they desperately needed, with the change that he had from buying the coons.
On the way back home, he gave his puppies a bath in a waterfall. While he was drying them, he saw a tree that said Dan & Ann. He then decided to name is puppies Old Dan and Little Ann. After he let them take a bath, he settled somewhere close by his house, and then his dogs and him went to sleep.
He finally came home surprising all of his family. His family was worried sick about him. He showed all of them the puppies and they forgot about worrying about him. He showed the presents he got for his family and they were really happy. They loved him a lot.
When he finally got his coon dogs he trained them too hunt coons. He started to train them ever since they were puppies with the help of his sisters. They became really good hunters and could track any coon that was in the woods. The story about his puppies spread around the town. Whenever he caught a coon he skinned and gave to his grandfather. His grandfather sold them at his store and Billy began to earn money again.
In the story, Billy faces many challenges. He started to bet with people and he even competed in competition. He won the competition and got a pool of money. He loved his dogs very much. He thought he could have keep on doing bets and hunt coons for a long while. That was what he thought though.
One night, Billy and his dogs were on a hunt. The dogs thought they smelled a coon. What they really smelled was a mountain lion. Old Dan and Little Ann started to fight the lion fiercely. They were becoming really beaten up. Billy finally killed the mountain lion. Then he found out that Old Dan was dead. The next day they buried Old Dan. Then Little Ann started to feel lonely. She didn’t eat was all worn out.
One day, in the morning, she walked all the way where Old Dan was buried, and she died. Billy was really sad and his father buried Little Ann. Billy didn’t even want to hunt again.
Since the great depression was happening, Billy and his family had to move because they weren’t doing so well through the dust bowl. Billy wanted to say good-bye to his dogs. When he finally got to where his dogs were, there was a red fern. The red fern indicated that the dogs were in heaven, and they were deeply in love with each other. He was really happy that the fern was there. He then had to move.