The Red Pony Literary Element

The Red Pony

METAPHOR:

---Carl Tifflin's joke comparing Gitano to Old Easter: "If ham and eggs grew on a side-hill I'd turn you out to pasture too. But I can't afford to pasture you in my kitchen." Page 46

SYMBOLISMS:

---The pony in The Red Pony works as a symbol of Jody's boyhood and innocence as well as a symbol of his future.

---The death of the pony makes Jody believe that he should not have absolute trust in any human being. He had trusted Billy Buck and had been disappointed; it also teaches him the pain of loss.

---When the old man, Gitano, secretly leaves the ranch with the old horse, Easter, Jody feels a ÐŽonameless sorrow.ÐŽ± He feels sorry and sad because he loses a friend and the old man has left the ranch to die alone. Page 51

---When Billy Buck has to kill Nellie, this incident brings a huge change in Jody. He grows through the understanding of the importance of a relationship between two human beings. He also learns that selfishness causes guilt and blames himself for Nellie's death. (This example functions as an image, too) Page 73

---Through his experiences with his Grandfather, Jody becomes less self-centered. He feels compassion because of his Grandfather and he is willingly to give up doing what he would lie in order to spend time with him.

---The spring tub and the black cypress tree represent life and death respectively. The spring tub is the place where the boy went to ease himself of his worries and to contemplate life. It is a place where safety and retreats to recover from the harsh realities of the world can be solved. The opposite of the spring tub is the black cypress tree where the pigs are killed. Jody identifies its black trunk and branches with death. Page 63

---Old Easter is a