Coming of Age: Death in The Yearling

The death of a beloved pet is never easy, especially for children. They may want to have a small funeral in the back yard. They’ll probably make a little cross out of sticks to mark the grave. They’ll cry and wonder why this happened. I remember all this from experience, and you probably do too.

But what if it was more than just a pet; what if it was the child’s only true friend? And what if the child didn’t merely discover that the pet had died but was forced to kill it himself in a horrific way? This child would come face-to-face with reality in a way that few others will experience for years to come, if ever. The coming-of-age process would be thrust upon him, and there would be no going back.

This is the story of Jody Baxter.

A Contrast of Experiences

Last time we looked at how death affects the children in Peter Pan. The story is carefully crafted to preserve Peter’s naiveté and innocence—after all, he’s the boy who never grows up. But the other children all choose to grow up, and part of that is their experiences of death. Even while characters like Hook and Mrs. Darling die in the story, things are still fairly lighthearted, albeit poignant and nostalgic.

But death in The Yearling is approached from a completely different angle. Both stories hold the premise that certain events can’t help but speed the coming-of-age process. However, while Peter Pan intentionally spares its characters from most of those realities, The Yearling takes Jody Baxter right to the heart of them. Let’s see how the various kinds of death in The Yearling cause Jody to grow from a boy into a yearling.

Jody’s Familiarity with Death

A polar opposite of Neverland, Baxter Island is a rural Florida farm that sees all kinds of death on a regular basis. Jody’s family raises animals to slaughter and eat. Pa hunts for food, guts it, and hangs the meat in plain sight. Animals kill each other out of hunger or pure meanness, and natural disasters wipe critters out by the hundreds.

Even the crops provide a reminder of death when a flood destroys nearly everything the Baxters had been growing. Jody Baxter is daily faced with death constantly. But as the story progresses, not even this familiarity with death can prepare him for some of the great losses he will experience.

Relational Deaths in The Yearling

Jody is closer and more affectionate with Grandma Hutto than he is with his own mother. While Grandma Hutto not actually his grandmother, she is a comfort and an inspiration to him. Her son, Oliver, is the closest thing Jody has to a brother. That’s why the intrusion of unfaithful Twink Weatherby, Oliver’s gal, is the beginning of the end for Jody’s close relationship with the Huttos. When the Huttos eventually leave town and Jody watches them sail away, he thinks about how their fading from view is like watching them die.

Before moving away, Oliver gets into a fight with the Forresters over Twink, and Jody and his Pa are forced to get involved to save Oliver’s life. This puts Pa at odds with the Forresters, who are his only neighbors. The Baxters had enjoyed a tense peace with the Forresters up until this point, but now they have to watch their backs. Even worse for Jody, his only friend, Fodderwing, is a Forrester, and now Jody can’t spend time with him like he used to.

But the most heartbreaking relational death is between Jody and Pa. When Pa resignedly gives the order to shoot Jody’s yearling, Jody’s unwavering trust in and love for his Pa are destroyed. Bitter and spiteful, Jody runs away from home. Pa’s betrayal had broken his heart. It was quite a while before Jody came around to considering Pa’s side of the issue, but even then their relationship never returned to the blind worship that it had been before the incident.

Physical Deaths in The Yearling

As we mentioned, Jody is pretty familiar with death because of the harsh realities of farm life. But the first death that actually breaks Jody’s heart is the death of his friend Fodderwing. Fodderwing is a kind boy and is Jody’s only real friend. He is born slow-witted, though, and his body must have been weaker than most. He succumbs to a sickness with almost no warning. Jody is blindsided — his only friend, ripped unexpectedly from his life. He never quite recovers from this brutal reality.

But the most devastating death is the death of Flag, his beloved pet deer. Flag wasn’t just a normal pet to Jody; it was his only remaining friend, a symbol of his growing responsibility and the trust his parents had in him as he took care of it. It was his companion, his baby, his best friend. So when Flag becomes an unmanageable threat to the Baxters’ winter food supply, Pa eventually makes the decision that Flag must be shot.

Jody flat out refuses to do the deed himself, so Ma takes the initiative while Jody isn’t looking. The horrific details are a crimson gash at the end of the story. Ma’s shot injures but fails to kill Flag. Jody is forced to finish the deed himself, taking the life of his beloved friend at the same pool where he had previously experienced such delight and innocence at the creation of his little water wheel. When he comes to his senses days later, he is no longer Jody the child; he is Jody the yearling.

The Monster, Death

Death is terrible. There’s no way around that fact. But it does play a role in the inevitable progress from childhood toward maturity. While Peter Pan seems to get a pass, allowing him to stay young and innocent forever, Jody Baxter comes face-to-face with the monster, death. It doesn’t kill Jody, but it devours his naiveté. Jody is never the same boy again.

While death is the worst way to experience coming of age, it’s not the only factor. We’ve already looked at the role that first love plays, and next time we’ll see how family plays a vital role in the journey from childhood to maturity. See you then!