The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

"Ever' man wants life to be a fine thing, and easy. 'Tis fine, boy, powerful fine, but 'tain't easy. Life knocks a man down and he gits up and it knocks him down agin. I've been uneasy all my life...I've wanted life to be easy for you. Easier'n 'twas for me. A man's heart aches, seein' his young uns face the world. Knowin' they got to get their guts tore out, the way his was tore. I wanted to spare you, long as I could. I wanted you to frolic with your yearlin'. I knowed the lonesomeness he eased for you. But ever' man's lonesome. What's he to do then? What's he to do when he gits knocked down? Why, take it for his share and go on."

                             —Penny Baxter in The Yearling

If you have read my last several posts, you already know I've been teaching a class on the work of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. This is the last one in that series, at least for a while.

I selected The Yearling for my class to read and discuss because it is MKR's best known novel and most highly acclaimed, having won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939. I was quite sure I had read it several years ago when I first took on an acting role portraying the author. In listening to the audio version in my car, I realized in the last half of the novel that I had NOT finished it. Maybe, I only thought I had because I had seen the 1946 movie version. At any rate, I enjoyed the book much more than I had back then and possibly due to the talented narrator who was so adept at reading the dialogue and making the characters come alive. I'm rating The Yearling a 5 and I have no doubt I'll read it again.

My class seemed to genuinely enjoy the book, as well. We all loved Penny, the wise and loving father of Jody who is actually the main character. We agreed that the obvious theme was the coming of age story of a boy but thought perhaps the theme of survival was just as significant. We learned that MKR had a great love for the land of North Central Florida and its flora and fauna. This reverence for nature is evident in Penny's philosophy in the novel.

Don't think of this one as a young adult fiction. Think of it as a valuable historical fiction beautifully capturing the life of early pioneers of Florida. I recommend it highly!