Synopsis from Amazon:The stories chronicle a young boy's maturation. In "The Gift," the best-known story, young Jody Tiflin is given a red pony by his rancher father. Under ranch hand Billy Buck's guidance, Jody learns to care for and train his pony, which he names Gabilan. Caught in an unexpected rain, Gabilan catches a cold and, despite Billy Buck's ministrations, dies. Jody watches the buzzards alight on the body of his beloved pony, and, distraught at his inability to control events, he kills one of them. The other stories in The Red Pony are "The Great Mountains," "The Promise," and "The Leader of the People," in which Jody develops empathy and also learns from his grandfather about "westering," the migration of people to new places and the urge for new experiences.
My rating: 1 star
2 comments:
The Red Pony is part of a larger set of short stories in The Long Valley. It is one of the last things in the book and makes more sense in context to the other stories.
"The Red Pony" is another book which I had to read in school. We never read the book in the context of the other stories -- this may have helped me appreciate the book and Steinbeck more.
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