On John Steinbeck's ＂the Red Pony＂: ＂the＂ Initiation of Jody Tiflin

10.29962/TOJA.200804.0009

Huei-Hun Tsai

Story of Initiation ； John Steinbeck ； The Red Pony ； ＂The Gift＂ ； ＂The Great Mountains＂ ； ＂The Promise＂ ； ＂The Leader of the People＂

真理大學人文學報

6期（2008 / 04 / 30）

181 - 193

英文

John Steinbeck traces the progress of the initiation of the protagonist Jody Tiflin in the four episodes of ＂The Red Pony＂. The initiation starts from ＂The Gift,＂ in the first episode ten-year old Jody is given a red pony as a gift. Jody takes care of the pony and becomes responsible along with the changed role as a horseman. However, the neglect of Jody and the unfulfilled promise of Billy Buck make the irrevocable death of the red pony. Jody learns from the event both the pain of the lost treasure and the realization that life is full of losses and failures. In the second episode ＂The Great Mountains,＂ the sudden appearance of the old paisano Gitano arouses Jody's curiosity and interest of the unknown mystery of the old man and the great mountains. Yet, as Gitano is forced to leave and faces the oncoming end of his life by himself, Jody finds out that becoming senile is a cruel and miserable experience and he feels sympathetic to Gitano. In the third episode the mare Nellie is going to deliver. As he witnesses the stages the mare Nellie goes through from the mating, pregnancy, the dangerous delivery and finally the sacrifice of her life for the new life of the colt, Jody learns to accept the cycle of life and death in human beings, animals and nature. Finally in ＂The Leader of the People,＂ Jody expects to become the leader of the people as he would follow the example of his grandfather. These four episodes of ＂The Red Pony＂ delineate Jody from an innocent child to a matured boy and present the thematic unity in the whole work.