Analysis of: The Red Pony
The next story is The Red Pony, which is not as famous, but is still an enjoyable book to all readers. It is a short novel divided into four chapters. It is the story of a young boy, Jody Tiflin, who has to learn responsibility as he takes care of his new pony. He received the pony, which he named Gabilan after the Gabilan mountains, as a surprise. His dad, Carl, and the ranch hand Billy Buck, who knew just about everything there is to know about horses, let him take the pony out and walk it around the corral. After a while Gabilan got more comfortable around Jody and let him brush his fur and take him out to run around in the stable while tied to a rope. Before school one day Jody asked Billy if he could leave Gabilan out, because he did not know if it was going to rain. Billy promised it wouldn’t rain and if it did he would bring the pony in the stable right away. Sure enough it did rain that day; a downpour. The horse got sicker yet Billy kept promising that Gabilan would get better. When the horse died one day, Jody put a majority of the blame on Billy Buck, and this hurt him because he cared for Jody. Jody learns to cope with death and loss through Gabilan, and he begins to mature.
This red pony of his was a gift of life, and a gift is something that can be destroyed. It was an agonizing feeling for Jody because he would invite his friends home from school to come and look at his beautiful red pony. Realizing how death affects people, Jody begins to move on when a paisano, Gitano, comes and visits. Through the innovative use of other animals in this book, Jody also learns about sex, old age, sickness, and birth.
No one can defy nature, and Billy Buck had to realize this. He couldn’t make promises that he could not keep. Jody's father is not as open to other people as Billy Buck, but Steinbeck did not portray Carl as a villain.
This book starts off the same as Of Mice and Men in that Steinbeck takes a still frame moment in time and describes in detail to us what is going on. But he does not go into detail about the past of each character. Only the present is needed and what will become of them we will soon find out. Jody is a very unique character in that he does obscure things. For example, when he is sitting at the table eating breakfast and he hears either his father or Billy Buck walking through he knows what kind of shoes they are wearing, yet he checks to make sure and is always right. It seems as if he identifies the type of work involved in the day by the shoes that they wear. Another idea to think about is how Jody seems to have more respect for Billy Buck than his own father. This may be because Billy knows so much more than anyone else about horses does, and so Jody wants to be near him and learn all he can, making him seem more like a father figure. The novel continues to progress through life on the ranch and Jody learns from his surroundings what life means. Maturity seems to be the theme of this novel and we see this growth over the course of the four chapters.
These two novels written by John Steinbeck were classical novels because he did base them on what was going on in America at the time. People everywhere became hooked on Steinbeck’s remarkable writing style. He created an image in their heads and they were able to follow along with everything he said in the story. His use of irony was astounding in that he could tie together the beginning and end of the story and really make the reader understand what he wanted them to think. These books are highly claimed books and should be read by those who are looking for an enjoyable story that will win your heart over or just keep you busy for a short time. John Steinbeck died in December 1968 in New York City. He is still today considered one of the best writers of the 20th century.