At first glance, The Yearling by Marjorie Rawlings is an uncomplicated book about a boy and a young deer he finds in the woods, but upon further examination, the book is much more than a simple story. The book tells about people struggling in harsh surroundings. It addresses loss and grief, love and loyalty, and how each original, authentic character responds to these feelings. The book illustrates the subtle beauty of the northern Florida area, and how rural families survived there. Hearty generations of Florida crackers emerged from this humble, wilderness. To many people the book feels real, “simple, but deep, and beautifully honest.” (Yoder.) Rawlings’ displays fear, isolation, loss, and coming of age in The Yearling by using vivid diction,…show more content… Rawlings’ is able to create realistic and life-like characters that readers are able to connect to and respect. Symbolism can be seen through the first half of the novel where we see Jody Baxter, the main character, seemingly obsess over his toy flutter-mill, or waterwheel, that he build himself. The flutter-mill is symbol of Jody’s carefree childhood. Later, the flutter-mill is destroyed and washed away in a flood, representing that Jody’s childhood is nearly washed away as well. Allegory can be seen in the story when Flag the fawn is first introduced. Flag is first introduced when Jody’s father, Penny, shoots the young deer’s mother to use its liver to treat a snakebite. The young deer represents a young Jody, who realizes the prospect of losing his father is very real at the moment. Through the rest of the story Flag and Jody seem to almost be parallels. The struggle between man and nature can be seen in the Baxter family’s constant struggle with a bear, Old Slewfoot, that keeps eating their animals and destroying their crops. At first Jody views the bear as “something exciting, thrilling, and even romantic.” (Shmoop Editorial Team.) But later in the story, as he grows, he starts the see the bear as more of a threat and starts to see the danger in the nature all around