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Doe Season Symbolism

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An Analytic Review of David Kaplan's “Doe Season” “Doe season” is a short literary work featured in one of Kaplan's popular collections. “Doe Season” may be short in length relative to other types of literature, but exhibits a deep, underlying meaning that burrows deeper than the story itself. One of the key components to the creation of “Doe Season” is the symbolism it displays. The title itself is very symbolic, as well as the descriptive writing used in this short work. While “Doe Season” takes place in a common setting, traversing the woods while hunting, a few aspects of the story are unique in the sense that the story is told from a 9-year-old girl's perspective. While hunting has long been seen as a man's task or hobby, this story follows …show more content…

Other than her mother, Andy is the only female character in this story. This fact alludes to multiple facets of symbolism within the short novel. Andy is a 9-year-old girl with a very staunch, intelligent personality, yet possesses a very young and innocent mind. She is assumed to be the only child of a family of three, a mother and a father. Her relationship with her father plays a large roll in helping the reader understand why this story is taking place to begin with. It can be deducted from the story that Andy was very much raised as a tomboy and does not have a preference as to which one of her names she is called by. From the very first passage of the story, we can see that Andy is fond of the forest and acknowledges that the forest they will be hunting in is the same forest back behind her house. It is very possible that this could be the first time she is going hunting with her father. When she first wakes up very early in the morning, she is excited about the trip. Little does she know that the initial excitement of the first day will fade into feelings of fear and regret. It seems that Andy is a curious character, but is also very aware of what she is comfortable with and what is discomforting to her. This observation plays a prominent roll in the symbolism of the story. By the end of the hunting trip, Andy will have been drastically changed into something new through her experiences in the woods and in …show more content…

The protagonist is excited about the hunting trip, but initiates the event with a sense of innocence and curiosity. Another factor in Andy's willingness to go hunting may be in order to please her father or show that she is capable of doing everything a boy can do. While the hunters spend multiple days searching for game, Andy is the only one who comes in contact with the deer. While the characters hunt in the location where Andy saw the deer, Andy prays that they finally get a deer. On a second occurrence, she comes in contact with a deer. This time, the deer does not run away and stays stationary, grazing in the open. When the hunters finally spot the deer, Andy is asked if she wants to shoot it. Initially, she is frightened by the idea, but collapses under the weight of the peer pressure exerted by the impatience of Charlie and the expectancy of her Father. She finally holds the gun in her hand and aims the gun at the doe's chest area. While her mind began to blank out, she stopped thinking about the fact that she had never shot a living creature before and pulled the trigger. After the shot had been made, the doe eventually fell to the snow covered ground, and was assumed dead. Upon seeing the doe laying on the ground, the hunters walked steadily towards it, congratulating Andy for her clean shot. While

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