The story of Old Yeller begins with a fourteen year old boy who goes by the name of Travis, and his younger brother Arliss and his mother who are left to fend for themselves after the husband has to leave for the cattle mart with plenty of other men in town as well. Travis’ father leaves him in charge of things around their home while he is gone and Travis takes up the responsibility of doing various chores that his father had taken care of himself prior to him leaving.
The deal between the two of them is that if Travis does a good job keeping things in check and taking care of the chores that were to be done, his father will bring him back a horse when he came home after his journey. Travis has always admired horses and wanted one of his own for years so he does not hesitate to take him up on the bargain. While his father is away, Travis handles the daily chores and his responsibilities well, except when he goes to fetch the meat that his family has stashed away, only to find nothing but a big yellow dog with his stomach large, a clear give away that he had eaten all of the family’s meat.
Travis’ immediate reaction is violence, trying to kick the dog as punishment for eating their meat as well as drive it away. Though instead, his younger brother, Arliss, runs out of their house yelling and screaming at Travis while throwing rocks at him for hurting the dog that he claims as his. Their mother manages to stop Arliss before he could hurt Travis, and decides to keep the dog when she realizes how badly Arliss wanted him and thinks no harm could come since she assumes the dog is a stray.
Travis does not take a liking to the big yellow dog at first, but he wants to get rid of him and even tries setting up meat in the same place as they had before to show his mother how troublesome the dog really is. Though the dog doesn’t steal the meat like it did the first time and Travis has to deal with the old dog’s presence from now on. His hatred for the dog only grows with time when a bull fight takes an unexpected turn and the family is put in danger. Travis tries to protect the family and grabs a whip and approaches Old Yeller in hopes that the dog will be of some help to drive the bulls away.
But when the dog sees the large whip in Travis’ hand, he takes off for the woods in fear that Travis will hurt him with the weapon. The dog’s actions only anger Travis more and he finds himself becoming more frustrated with the animal. Though just when Travis thinks that the dog couldn’t be any more useless, Old Yeller changes his mind when he saves Arliss from a bear attack that nearly gets him killed. Travis and his mother witness the dog fight off the mother bear who tries to rescue her cub who is caught in the er cub who is caught in the hands of little Arliss himself, and Travis begins to appreciate Old Yeller from this point on. He even begins to take Old Yeller out with him when he hunts and the dog turns out to be a tremendous help to the boy. But when the family finds out from a family friend, Lisbeth, that Old Yeller is the father of her dog’s puppies, they decide to keep him locked inside the house at night with Arliss and Travis to make sure that he does not run off at night anymore.
It is also to keep him from stealing meat around town like Travis assumes he has been doing and to make sure he is safe from the disease hydrophobia that had been spreading near town. However, just when things are going well for the family and their new dog, an unfamiliar man, Burn Sanderson, turns up at their house and claims that the big yellow dog belongs to him. Since Travis has now bonded with Old Yeller, he obviously doesn’t want to give him up.
When Travis’ mother gives Old Yeller to him, Arliss begins throwing rocks at Burn to try and keep him from taking Old Yeller away. Luckily Burn is a kind man and he realizes how much the dog means to Arliss, and how useful he can be to a mother and her two sons who are by themselves for the time being. He lets the family keep the dog, but only if the boys’ mother agrees to make him a nice dinner in return. After having dinner, Burn warned Travis about hydrophobia that was spreading and reaching closer to town, infecting stray animals and pets.
Travis worries about the disease possibly spreading to their cows or animals around their house, and possibly Old Yeller getting infected as well. Though he is more concerned when Old Yeller gets hurt badly in a fight with wild hogs, saving Travis himself. Travis’ leg is badly hurt and Old Yeller has several wounds for the fight, so bad that they are both bedridden for weeks, unable to do anything or help out with the daily chores that his mother and Lisbeth have to take over.
But when Old Yeller gets into another fight protecting Travis’ mother and Lisbeth, he does not go home hurt again, but carrying the disease of hydrophobia. Due to a bad bite from a wolf who was infected with the disease as well, Old Yeller could possibly contract the disease. Travis’ mother is aware of the risk they would be taking if they let Old Yeller stay with them, and putting the family at risk was not something she is willing to let happen. She gives Travis the choice to kill Old Yeller himself, and she would do it herself if he could not bring himself to do it.
Travis forces himself to shoot Old Yeller, because he is just as much worried as his mother is and knows it is not a good idea to keep the dog around when he could possibly be infected with the disease. Time passes and Travis is still upset about the incident with Old Yeller, so when his father returns with a new horse just like he promised, Travis is not excited about it like his father expects him to be. His mother tells Travis’ father what had happened with Old Yeller, and he told Travis he was proud of him for making such a difficult decision to save the family.
When Travis begins to heal emotionally, one of the puppies from the runt that belonged to Lisbeth’s dog and Old Yeller sticks around their home, stealing meat just as Old Yeller did. It is at this time that Travis begins find his happiness again, and even decides to take Arliss and the young pup on a squirrel hunt with him the next morning. Three of the many literary devices shown in the book, Old Yeller, were foreshadowing, similes, and hyperboles.
Foreshadowing occurred several times in the writing but the first one shown was in chapter one. He made me so mad at first that I wanted to kill him. Then, later, when I had to kill him, it was like having to shoot some of my own folks. ” (Gipson 1). This was foreshadowing what would happen later on at the end of the book when Travis was forced to shoot Old Yeller because he was infected with hydrophobia. The author used a large amount of similes as well, including plenty in just the first few chapters. “His belly was swelled up as tight as a round pumpkin. ” (Gipson 16).
Gipson related Old Yeller’s stomach as large as a pumpkin due to all the meat he had eaten previously. Hyperboles were present in the text too, some quite easy to find. “After all that, I guess you can see why I nearly died when a man rode up one day and claimed Old Yeller. ” (Gipson 88). Travis did not die in all actuality, but was distraught and upset about someone wanting to take Old Yeller from him. Old Yeller is still a very popular book to this day, many critics think well of the writing and many would consider this a classic novel made for all ages.
The Chicago Sunday Tribune said that it is rare, but when one reads a book, sometimes it is a classic unfolding in front of them. The Saturday Review of Literature said Old Yeller is a bestseller for generations and that it is a combination of great writing and the ability to relate to human feelings and emotions. Gipson accomplished many things with this book, he was able to relate the story to readers in a way that could make the readers feel the emotions of the characters. Old Yeller has been a classic for years and it likely will be years to come.
