Chapter I Summary:

The narrator, Billy Colman, comes home from work feeling very good. He sees several dogs fighting one dog, an old redbone hound. But the hound is defiant and fends off several attackers. Billy is shaken; he remembers a time when an old hound such as this one had sacrificed its life for him. Billy scares off the other dogs and calms down the dog. It is starving, has apparently traveled a great distance, and wears a leather collar with the name "Buddie" childishly scratched in it. Billy takes him home, feeds him and bathes him. The next night, Billy tearfully lets him go on his way. Billy wonders what displaced the hound from the country, but knows the hound will not give up on its way to its destination. It stirs up memories of Billy's childhood, his two red hounds, love, devotion, and death. He leaves his gate open in case the hound returns, then builds a fire inside. He examines two beautiful cups, one large and one small, and thinks about his childhood.

Analysis

Billy outlines the major themes of the novel when he speaks of "Memories of a wonderful love, unselfish devotion, and death in its saddest form." Each of the themes feeds into the next.

Taking them in order, we immediately see evidence of the effect love has had on Billy. He has a soft spot in his heart for the redbone hound here, crying when it leaves him. The dog's owner, most likely a small boy, evidently loves the hound, too. This love turns into unselfish devotion. Billy gladly endangers himself while scaring off the attacking dogs, and warmly welcomes the hound into his house. The hound, too, is devoted and determined. It has been traveling for ages and will keep traveling until it reaches its destination, presumably to return to its owner. Finally, Billy speaks of death. Although we do not see an actual death here, the initial scene of violence foreshadows it. Great love and devotion, Billy implies, make violence and death that much sadder.

Billy also foreshadows his childhood memories. The two cups have something to do with his two dogs, and the K. C. Baking Powder can stirs up intrigue as to what its function was.

Chapter II Summary:

Ten-year-old Billy badly wants two coon hounds. His Papa does not have enough money for them, and his Mama says Billy is too young to be hunting with dogs and a rifle. They live in a fertile valley in the Ozark Mountains on Cherokee Land (because Billy's mother has Cherokee blood) in northeastern Oklahoma. Billy loves roaming the country, especially to track river raccoons (known as "coons"). Billy wants dogs so badly he loses his appetite, but Papa cannot afford $75 for two hounds. He does give Billy three small steel traps. Billy soon drives off the accident-prone house cat, but he later catches rats and small game. He wants to bag a wily coon, however, which is too smart to get caught. The experience with hunting only makes Billy thirst for hounds even more, which breaks his parents' hearts. His Papa decides to have Billy help him work in the fields this summer, an exciting prospect for Billy.

Analysis:

Billy's determination to get a dog is strong. He is willing to forsake food and sleep to get his beloved hounds. While these are typical reactions to not getting something one badly wants, food and sleep are necessary to sustain life. It is almost as though, even before he gets his dogs, Billy is willing to give up his life for them.

While it is not explicitly referred to, it appears that the novel is set during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Papa explains how financially hard it is for farmers, and it makes Billy's goal to get his dogs - despite the costs - that much more difficult.

Chapter III Summary:

Working does not kill Billy's desire for hounds. One day, he finds an ad in a magzine for two coon hound pups at $25 each from a Kentucky kennel. He decides to save money by selling stuff to fishermen, and picking berries and skinning hides for his Grandpa's store. He puts the twenty-three cents he has into an old K. C. Baking Powder can. He works hard through the summer and the next one. After two years, he has fifty dollars. His Grandpa is shocked, and cries over Billy's hard work. He promises to write to the kennel for him, then gives Billy a huge helping of candy. Billy shares the candy with his three little sisters.

Analysis:

Billy's determination to get his dogs grows. He devotes two potentially carefree years working hard to save money. Aside from determination, selflessness shows up repeatedly in this chapter. The fishermen who buy Billy's wares do so out of kindness, not because they especially need or want his things. His Grandpa, too, selflessly gives Billy the candy when he sees how hard Billy has worked. The charity is infectious: Billy shares the candy with his sisters.

Chapter IV Summary:

After a little while, Grandpa tells Billy the kennel still has dogs for sale, now for $45. However, the mail buggy cannot carry dogs, so they will only get as far as the depot at Tahlequah, 32 miles away; Billy will have to ride with someone going there to pick them up. After two weeks, Billy gets a notice that the dogs are ready. He can get a ride in a week's time, but he cannot wait. He takes some food and sneaks out the house at night without telling his family his plan.

Billy walks through the night to Tahlequah. An unkempt, barefoot country boy, he feels out of place in the sophisticated town. He buys some clothing and cloth for his family, and some candy. Some kids at a school playground taunt him with the words "'Hillbilly, hillbilly.'" After they leave, he plays on a slide and believes he has set a record for the longest slide.

Analysis:

Billy is steadfast in his desire to get his dogs; he is willing to walk through the night rather than wait a week for a ride. His dream is so important to him that he does not want to tell his family about it. It is as though telling them would lessen the significance, as would his getting a ride into town. This is something Billy has done all on his own, and he wants to keep it that way.

Still, Billy wants to thank his family for their love, so he gets them gifts. His family is tightly knit and bound by love, which is fortunate since Billy is shunned by the townspeople in Tahlequah. Billy has his private revenge, however, when he proves far better than the schoolchildren on the slide. Billy's physical prowess - he is muscular, too, and fit enough to walk to Tahlequah - will be an asset when he hunts.

Chapter V Summary:

Billy arrives at the depot, unsure why he is scared. The kindly stationmaster gives him the puppies. Billy holds them and cries. He walks through town with them in his gunny sack as people stare and laugh at him. A bunch of children gang up on Billy. The leader pulls the ear of Billy's girl pup, and Billy knocks him down with a punch. He fends off a few others, but soon the gang beats up Billy. The town marshal fights everyone off and helps Billy up. He gains respect for Billy when he learns how long he worked for the pups. He buys Billy his first bottle of soda pop.

Billy heads home, but the sack is a heavy load. He camps out at night in a cave and examines his dogs up close. The male dog is larger and bolder, while the female dog is timid but smart. Billy is woken up at night by the scream of a nearby mountain lion. The dogs run out of the cave and bawl a challenge to the lion. Billy joins them and throws rocks down the mountainside. After a few hours, the lion retreats.

Analysis:

Billy's fight with the children in town is similar to the dogfight he breaks up in Chapter I. In both cases, one individual fights bravely against a gang but must be rescued by someone else (Billy saved the dog; the marshal saves Billy). This episode shows Billy's continuing determination - he will not back down - and, more importantly, his already deep love for his dogs - he chooses to fight back only when one of the kids hurts his female pup.

The mountain lion episode also demonstrates the courage Billy takes from his dogs. Just as we have seen how charity can be contagious - remember how Grandpa gave Billy candy, and he in turn gave it to his sisters - so can courage be.

Chapter VI Summary:

Billy moves on with the dogs in the morning. By the fisherman's camp where he found the magazine ad for the dogs, he sees the names "Dan" and "Ann" carved inside a heart on a tree trunk. He decides to call the male dog "Old Dan" and the female dog "Little Ann." Billy feels the coincidence of finding the names here happened with the help of an "unseen power."

Billy goes home. His parents figured out where Billy had gone with the help of Grandpa, but Mama was still worried. He gives his family their gifts, which they happily receive. He tells them about the mountain lion and about his unpleasant feelings toward the town and the people there. His Papa urges him not to be biased against the town; at some point he wants to move the family to town. His sisters ask questions about the town and school. The next day Billy scratches his dogs' names into leather collars. He tells Mama he feels God helped him get the dogs.

Analysis

Billy's sense of an "unseen power" helping him get the dogs foreshadows a miraculous event at the end of the novel. Beyond this event, something mystical does seem to bond Billy and the dogs and will contribute to their hunting teamwork.

Chapter VII Summary:

Billy tries to trap a coon so he can train his dogs with a coonskin, but the coons prove too wily. His Grandpa teaches him to catch a coon with a simple brace and bit, and a shiny piece of tin for bait. Although the coon merely has to let go of the object to free itself from the trap, coons stubbornly hold onto objects.

Billy makes and sets the traps along the river. More than a week later, he still has not caught any coons. Papa thinks it is because his scent is still around the traps. When Billy investigates his traps, he finds a trapped coon. The dogs attack the coon, who easily defends himself. Billy takes his dogs and runs back home. The whole family returns to the trap, and Papa kills the coon with a club. Papa tells Billy to get rid of the other traps, as it is not sportsmanlike to hunt them this way. Billy agrees.

Using the hide from the coon to make scent trails, Billy trains the dogs. Through the summer and fall, he teaches them many tricks the coons use, and the dogs are quick learners. With hunting season a few days away, they rest.

Analysis:

Wilson Rawls is excellent at describing various actions in detail. He brings the reader into the story and makes our identification with Billy more complete. When Billy finally catches a coon in his trap, we feel we have had a share in it, as we have ourselves learned how to make and set a coon trap. The same goes for the training of the dogs; we learn what a coon does and how smart it can be (and we will learn more in later chapters).

However, Rawls also demonstrates how experienced humans can outsmart coons. We also see the characters of Old Dan and Little Ann emerge more; Old Dan is very aggressive, but Little Ann will not back down from a fight, either.

Chapter VIII Summary:

Hunting season opens, and Billy prepares for the night. Papa tells Billy he can hunt as much as he wants during the season, but his Mama remains worried about him. He leaves after dinner and sets his dogs free on the trail. They soon track a coon, but the coon loses them with a trick. The dogs quickly figure it out and trail the coon, but the coon eludes them again. Just as Billy packs up to leave, they chase the coon again. They tree (send up in a tree so it cannot escape) the coon.

Billy is proud of his dogs, but the tree is huge sycamore. He knows he cannot cut it, and tells his dogs they should give up. The dogs are deeply disappointed, and Billy decides to cut down the tree. After two hours of chopping with the ax, he is exhausted, and by daylight he gives up. Papa comes and offers to help, but Billy wants to do it by himself. His sister gives him some food and his strength returns.

Analysis:

Billy's determination in cutting down the tree rivals that of his dogs as they chase the coon. His refusal to let his father help him shows how much he wants the first coon to be a product of teamwork between just him and his dogs.

In fact, Billy speaks of the "'bargain'" he made with the dogs, that if they treed a coon, he would chop down the tree. They rely on each other and make promises that they keep, a sign of their deep love and devotion to each other.

Rawls makes the coon-hunting scenes exciting by throwing escalating obstacles Billy's way. After the coon uses a simple trick to throw off the dogs, it uses a more complicated trick. Just when we think the episode is over, the coon climbs the biggest tree in the forest. And when we think Billy has given up, his family helps him with support and food.

Chapter IX Summary:

By noon, Billy again gives up cutting down the tree. Grandpa arrives and teaches him how to make a scarecrow to keep the coon in the tree so Billy can get some rest at home. At dinner, Billy says he thinks the coon his dogs treed is a different one from the first one they chased; Grandpa agrees and explains how the coon did it. The family realizes that Old Dan has stayed by the tree overnight, and when Billy goes down to it, he sees that Little Ann did, too.

Billy chops the tree, and by afternoon he has terrible blisters. He wants to give up, but he prays to God to give him the strength to finish the job. A breeze blows and the tree topples. The coon runs out and Little Ann grabs the coon, which viciously attacks her. Old Dan helps her, and the coon is soon dead.

Billy returns home triumphantly. He tells Papa about the wind and how it only hit the big tree. He believes God helped him again.

Analysis:

Grandpa speaks about the "'determination and will power'" involved in cutting down a big tree. Although Billy does not fully heed his words, he does exemplify determination and will power time and again. So do his dogs - Old Dan and Little Ann are tenacious, and will not leave the coon up in the tree.

Billy again credits God with helping him, here by cutting down the tree. All the mystical aid he and the dogs receive foreshadows the great mystical event at the end of the novel.

Chapter X Summary:

Mama makes Billy a cap out of his first coon hide. He hunts every night, and his dogs prove excellent hunters. Billy turns the money he earns from the hides over to his father. When he gives the hides to Grandpa, Grandpa always notes something down on a piece of paper, though he doesn't explain why. On Saturdays, Billy swaps hunting stories with other hunters. The hunters make fun of his dogs, but know Little Ann and Old Dan are the best.

Billy discovers Old Dan will not hunt if he is not with Little Ann. Little Ann becomes the favorite of Billy's sisters. Unfortunately, because of her small size, Little Ann cannot have puppies.

One night, while they hunt a boar coon, Little Ann saves Old Dan's life by alerting Billy to an underground muskrat den that Old Dan has trapped himself in. Another night, Old Dan himself gets caught up in a tree, and Billy has to use some ingenuity to get him down.

Analysis:

This short chapter describes the regular nature of Billy's hunting adventures. He is becoming an excellent hunter, as are his dogs. Little Ann continues to demonstrate her superior intelligence, while Old Dan shows how determined and strong he is. Like Billy, a boy among adult hunters, they are undersized but compensate with great will power and skill.

The narrative now becomes more episodic, meaning it is made up of episodes that do not really build up into each other, as the story did earlier when Billy's goal was to get his dogs. To make up for the episodic narrative, which risks becoming boring and repetitive, Rawls varies Billy's adventures and makes them increasingly difficult.

Rawls creates intrigue when he reveals that Grandpa takes notes on how many hides Billy skins. Billy ignores it, but the reader knows that Grandpa is cooking up something.

Chapter XI Summary:

Billy goes hunting after a five-day snowstorm. The dogs track a coon, who runs back by Billy's house and along the partly frozen river. Billy sees that Little Ann has not been able to clear an unfrozen part on the river and has fallen into the icy waters. Billy is too heavy to step onto the ice.

Billy prays to God, and the sound of his lantern's wire handle falling and hitting the metal frame interrupts him. Billy gets an idea. He unhooks and straightens the lantern's handle, then attaches it to the end of a cane pole. Wading into the water, he hooks it to Little Ann's collar. He fishes her out, but her muscles are frozen and she cannot move. Billy's legs are frozen, too. Billy manages to get out and he builds a fire. In some time, Little Ann and he are restored to health. Billy thanks his lantern, and on the way home he silently gives thanks to God.

Billy gets a cold and is bed-ridden for a few days. Mama tells him that God answers only prayers that are from the heart.

Analysis

Billy's ingenuity as a hunter is demonstrated as he smartly uses the lantern to save Little Ann. However, he once again receives help immediately after praying to God. So long as Billy prays from the heart, as his mother says, some mystical force seems to aid him.

This is the first occasion of true life-and-death matters. There will be many more throughout the book, and Billy, Little Ann, and Old Dan all take turns as the victim and the savior.

Chapter XII Summary:

The reputation of Billy's dogs spreads. Grandpa brags, and sometimes exaggerates, about Billy's exploits. One day at Grandpa's store, Billy runs into Rubin and Rainie Pritchard, two mean, violent brothers. Rubin is older and quieter, while Rainie is Billy's age, violent and nervous. They start up trouble with Billy and Grandpa, then propose a bet. There is a coon in their part of the country nicknamed the "ghost coon" for seemingly disappearing once he is treed; their blue tick hound has treed him many times only for him to vanish. They bet Billy his hounds cannot tree the ghost coon. Grandpa spots Billy the two dollars and warns the Pritchard boys not to mess with Billy.

Billy does not tell his family about the bet. He meets the Pritchard boys the next night and they work their way along the river. The dogs soon track the ghost coon. After a while, the dogs bawl at a hole in a sycamore tree that has fallen in the water. But the ghost coon does not appear to be inside. Little Ann investigates the hollow log and surrounding area some more, and she flushes out the ghost coon from under a bank.

The dogs give chase, and the coon eventually runs right between the boys and past them. The dogs, then the boys, chase after him. The coon runs to the tree it always ends up in, the one from which it always disappears.

Analysis:

The Pritchards are the opposite of Billy. Rude, violent, and disrespectful, they also differ in another major way: they are not as determined as Billy. Although they keep telling Billy to give up to break his own will, they have probably told themselves the same thing many times while hunting the ghost coon.

Rawls spices up the coon-hunting scenes with ones such as this, which are exceptional in some way. By giving Billy two antagonists here - the Pritchard boys and the ghost coon - we are doubly hopeful he will tree the ghost coon.

Chapter XIII Summary:

Billy and the Pritchards approach the isolated short, broad tree in which the ghost coon is treed. Billy climbs the tree, but cannot find the ghost coon and comes back down. The dogs keep searching, but after Billy climbs the tree again and still cannot find the coon, they all give up. Billy pays Rubin the money for the bet.

Just before they leave, Little Ann catches the scent in the breeze. She bawls by a nearby large gatepost, and Old Dan joins in. Billy gets on Rubin's shoulder and sees the post is hollow. He sticks a switch into the post and hits the coon. It jumps out, and the dogs fight him. The coon is elusive and scrambles up the original tree. Billy climbs up, and the coons cries - it knows its end is coming.

Billy decides not to kill it, and climbs down. Rubin cannot believe it. He climbs up the tree, intending to scare off the coon so the dogs can kill it. As he starts to climb the tree, the Pritchards' big, ugly hound, Old Blue, comes over. It has gnawed through the rope that held it. Rubin is satisfied, since now Old Blue can kill the coon. Billy does not want to see this happen, so he asks Rubin to return the money and he will leave. Rubin refuses, arguing the bet was over whether Billy's dogs could kill, not tree, the coon. Billy reminds him about his grandfather's threat, and Rubin pins Billy and threatens to knife him if he says anything to his grandfather.

Old Blue and Old Dan start fighting. Little Ann joins in and the two attack Old Blue. Rubin takes the ax and goes for Billy's dogs, but a stick pops up from the ground and trips up Rubin. Billy runs past him and with difficulty pries his dogs off Old Blue, who is nearly dead.

Rubin is motionless, and Rainie runs away in fear. Rubin has fallen on the ax, and the blade has buried itself in his stomach. Rubin whispers for Billy to remove it from him. Billy does as blood gushes out, but it is too late, and Rubin quickly dies. Billy leads his dogs away and goes home.

Billy tells his parents the whole story. His mother cries, and his father tells him to alert some neighbors. Papa goes to tell the Pritchards and Grandpa. He returns in the afternoon with their mule, wet and exhausted. He later tells Billy that they brought Rubin's body to the Pritchards' place. Rainie had been too dazed to explain what happened, but they knew something was wrong. Papa told them, and though the news had an impact on Old Man Pritchard, none of the men in the family cried. Papa tells Billy not to see the Pritchards anymore.

Billy feels bad about Rubin's death and does not want to go hunting, but his mother explains that they cannot do anything for the Pritchards. At night, Billy goes with the dogs to the Pritchards' place and takes flowers his sisters gave him a while aback. He quietly sets the flowers on Rubin's grave, but as he leaves he dislodges a rock and disturbs Old Blue. The hound bawls, and Mrs. Pritchard comes out and sees the flowers on the grave, though she cannot see Billy. She cries as she enters the house. Billy feels better after paying his respects to Rubin. He promises his dogs they will go hunting later at night.

Analysis:

We see two instances in which Billy displays a sensitive attitude toward death. He respects the ghost coon enough to let it go, while the bloodthirsty Rubin wants to kill it. More importantly, Rubin's death deeply affects Billy. It makes him not want to hunt, and he feels better only after paying his final respects to Rubin.

Rawls does not show his hand about the effect of Rubin's death on Mrs. Pritchard until the end of the chapter. In this manner, he makes the end of the chapter more powerful and shows us how even the death of a person as cruel as Rubin can significantly impact others. We also learn why Rubin is the way he is; his father does not seem to be the most sensitive, loving parent.

Billy perhaps again receives some mystical help when Rubin trips on the stick. Although the end result is unpleasant, at least it saves Billy's dogs from the ax. Rawls foreshadowed the incident with some irony when, in Chapter XII, Rainie made Billy carry his own ax.

Chapter XIV Summary:

A few days after Billy visits Rubin's grave, he gets a message that Grandpa wants to talk to him. He reluctantly takes the dogs with him to the store. He repeats the whole story for Grandpa, who feels guilty for having taken on the bet with Rubin and making the whole incident possible. He urges Billy to try to forget the whole thing.

Grandpa switches gears and tells Billy he has entered Old Dan and Little Ann in a prestigious championship coon hunt that takes place six days from now. Billy comes home in a delightful mood and tell his family about the championship at dinner. Mama, who is pregnant, convinces Papa he can take time off to go with Billy and Grandpa. Billy promises his little sister to give her the gold cup if he wins it.

Billy does extra work at home to prepare for his departure, and the morning before the championship, Billy and Papa head off. Billy tells Papa that Little Ann is gun-shy (afraid of guns being fired). They go to Grandpa's store and get in his buggy. Grandpa has Billy's ax; Billy briefly thinks about Rubin and the accident, but focuses on the hunt. Grandpa also wants Billy to bring a jug of corn liquor from the store, and hide it so Grandma cannot see it. They set off.

Analysis:

In this transitional chapter, we see how Billy further deals with Rubin's death: through coon-hunting and the support of his family.

Obviously, the championship coon hunt is an ideal way to shift Billy's attention to more pleasant activities. But underneath that, his family provides plenty of support. Grandpa, with his mischievous, loving ways, and Papa, with his stable support, have been major characters all along, while Mama has always shown deep love and concern for Billy. We also see Billy express even greater affection than normal for his sisters, and learn that Mama is pregnant. The female characters are even more stereotypical than the male characters - they are either overly worried for Billy's well-being, like Mama, or get excited over candy and city ways, like his sisters. However, they do conform to behavior that was probably more normal when there were highly rigid gender divisions.

Chapter XV Summary:

Billy, Grandpa, and Papa travel and set up camp near Bluebird Creek. They discuss the unselfish, strange ways of Old Dan and Little Ann, how they share food and closely watch Billy. Billy has coffee with them and feels grown-up, and they go to bed. Billy listens to wildlife sounds and thinks he hears two screech owls, a sign of bad luck.

They arrive at the championship the next day. The number of people there amazes them, and the fine hounds intimidate Billy. Grandpa encourages Billy to enter one of his dogs into the contest for best-looking hound, though Billy does not think his dogs have a chance. Still, the next day he grooms Little Ann and enters her in the contest. Little Ann wins, and Billy receives a silver cup.

The twenty-five hunters are told the rules of the championship. Each night, five sets of hunters go out with a judge; the hunter with the most skins at the end of the night qualifies for the championship runoff; hunters after the first night must equal or surpass the number of skins the first night's winner got. Billy draws a card and gets to go out the fourth night.

The first night's winner gets three skins. No one equals that the next night, so all the hunters are eliminated. Billy thinks he should hunt far from where the others have hunted. A hunter on the third night ties the first night's winner. Billy gets restless.

Analysis:

Rawls increases the tension for Billy's hunt, since he not only has to beat the others in his group, but also has to match the first night's winner. Rawls also throws in other things to make us doubt Billy's chances, from the superstition of the screech owls to the majestic, intimidating dogs at the contest.

However, we gain some satisfaction even before the hunt through Little Ann's surprise beauty contest victory. That she ends her victory walk with a hug in Billy's arms confirms their deep love for each other, something Grandpa and Papa comment on briefly at the camp. They keep referring to something "'strange'" about Billy's dogs, foreshadowing the strange event at the end of the novel.

Chapter XVI Summary:

At sundown, Billy, Papa, Grandpa, and a judge travel downriver in their buggy to get away from the previously hunted territory, as do the other hunters. The dogs soon track a coon but chase it back through the camp. Still, they soon tree it and, with the help of the bird shot rifle, kill it. They soon tree and kill another coon, though Grandpa gets wet in a river.

The dogs quickly track another coon and seemingly tree it, but the coon pulls a trick and is nowhere to be found. Still, the dogs, and Billy, do not give up. As morning comes, the dogs tree and kill the coon. Little Ann's intelligence in locating the coon greatly impresses the judge.

Back at the camp, another hunter describes seeing the dogs chase the coon through the camp last night. No one skins three coons the last night of the first round, leaving just three teams for the championship runoff. The camp puts together a jackpot for the winner. One of the teams Billy is up against has won four gold cups.

In the final round, Billy's team revisits the spot where they treed the last coon. The dogs quickly get in a vicious fight in the water with a coon, but Old Dan defeats him. The dogs tend to each other's wounds before they move on.

Analysis

Billy's and his dogs' determination magnifies when we see how both Papa and the judge doubt the dogs' ability to get three coons. Billy's confidence in his dogs, too, is deep; whenever he speaks solemnly to his dogs before a major event, we can tell that they send back an unspoken message of understanding and responsibility. The dogs also have a strong commitment to each other, as evidenced by their tending to each

The chapter also provides some welcome comic relief from the tension of the hunt. Grandpa's falling into the water is not only humorous, but underscores the difficulty of being a good coon hunter. While Old Dan and Little Ann are mostly responsible for the team's success, Billy often makes shrewd decisions that save the team time and effort.

Rawls keeps the tension up throughout the hunting scenes by putting in cliffhangers at the end of the chapter. Unlike before, when we knew Billy needed to get three coons to qualify for the championship, we now do not know how many he needs to get to win the championship.

Chapter XVII Summary:

A windy sleet storm brews as the dogs trail their second coon. In the harsh conditions, the men lose track of the dogs. The men want to return to camp, but Billy wants to find his dogs; he knows that Old Dan would sooner freeze to death than give up a chase and return to camp. The others decide to follow Billy.

The blizzard makes it more difficult to locate the dogs. Billy gets the idea to shoot the gun to draw Little Ann's attention. Papa shoots, and Little Ann returns. Billy asks her to lead them to Old Dan. They go through the thick underbrush but cannot find him. The judge thinks they should go in before they freeze, and Papa and Grandpa seem to agree.

Suddenly, Old Dan's voice rings out nearby, and they find him bawling by a tree. When they reach him, they realize that Grandpa has been left behind somewhere. They shoot the gun, but get no answer. Little Ann finds Grandpa and leads them to him. He has fallen and twisted his ankle, and the pain has knocked him unconscious. Papa revives Grandpa's partly frozen body, and they build a fire nearby. Papa wants to go for help, but Grandpa urges them to continue the hunt.

The coon is most likely inside the hollow tree the dogs have surrounded. They chop it down and the dogs chase the three coons that emerge. They kill two, but the third gets away, and the dogs chase it. The men let them go and skin the other coons.

Analysis:

Billy proves that he is not in coon hunting for the glory. Rather, his love for his dogs and his Grandpa trumps the competition; he is far more concerned with the health of both than with how many coons they take in.

Ironically, Billy's love for his coons contributes to his success. Had he given in, as the men wanted, they would not have found the dogs by the hollow tree with three coons. It is almost as if Billy is being rewarded for his choice of love over success.

Chapter XVIII Summary:

The storm blows itself out, and it starts snowing. The men (minus Grandpa) hear men from the camp searching for them. They meet up and Papa reassures them that they are fine, but that Grandpa needs help. Billy learns that the four-time championship winners killed three coons before the storm, and that he needs the final coon to win. A man who had wandered away returns and says he saw Billy's hounds looking frozen solid in ice, but alive. While Billy recovers from the shock of thinking his dogs are dead, the men help Grandpa into a makeshift stretcher and take him away.

Billy and two of the men find his dogs. Caked in ice, they have been circling continuously around the tree to keep from freezing. The men build a fire for them, and marvel at the determination and love of the dogs throughout the blizzard. After the dogs thaw out, one of the men shoots at the tree. The dogs kill the coon, and the men return to the camp. All the men are ready to leave for fear of another blizzard.

Grandpa's foot is in bad shape, but he wants to see Billy get the gold cup before he is taken to town for treatment. Billy receives the $300 jackpot and gives it to his father. Billy cries when he gets the gold cup, which he can engrave for free with his dogs' names.

Grandpa goes away with a doctor, and Billy and Papa head home. They arrive the next day, and he gives his sisters the gold and silver cups. They learn that Grandpa is doing well and will be back in a few days. Papa gives Mama the money from the jackpot, and she says her prayers have been answered. They have a celebratory feast. At night, Billy sees Mama give food to the dogs outside. She prays by their side and says something to them. Papa joins her, and Mama cries when they come back in. Billy is confused, but he overhears them mentioning Grandpa will now need help with the store with his bad foot. Billy thinks they want him to help out with the store, which is fine with him, since he can still hunt at night.

Analysis:

One of the men helping Billy expresses the view that if humans had the kind of love for each other that dogs have, "'There would be no wars, slaughter, or murder; no greed or selfishness. It would be the kind of world that God wants us to have - a wonderful world.'" He attaches the religious component that Billy has been alluding to each time God has answered his prayers. There is something spiritual about the dogs' love for each other and Billy, and God seems to be aiding them throughout their adventures.

All the danger and tension from the hunt is released in Billy's triumphant homecoming. We cannot help but feel as exuberant as his sisters do, and as grateful as Mama does, after having battled with the dogs throughout the hunt. Mama seems to have additional reasons for her behavior, too; she previously declared her desire to move the family to town, and the jackpot money should make that possible.

Chapter XIX Summary:

One night three weeks after the championship, Billy's dogs chase what he thinks is a bobcat. They have killed them before, but Billy thinks it is an unnecessary risk. They tree the cat, and Old Dan is especially vicious. Billy realizes they have not treed a bobcat, but a dangerous mountain lion.

The lion jumps out of the tree and fights the dogs. Little Ann is wounded, and Billy joins in the fight with his ax. The lion turns on Billy, but his dogs protect him. The fight continues down the mountain. The lion has Old Dan's throat, but Billy lodges the ax in its back. The dogs finish it off as it tries to get to Billy. Billy faints and wakes up. The lion is dead and the dogs are still holding on to it with their jaws.

Billy pries them off and inspects them. They are both injured, but Old Dan is far worse off. He leads them home, but soon discovers that the lion had slashed Old Dan's belly, and his entrails have come out. Billy puts them back in Old Dan's belly and carries him home. Mama helps Billy bathe Old Dan and sew up his belly before they tend to Little Ann. But Old Dan dies. Billy stays up at night next to his body. Little Ann joins them and snuggles up next to Old Dan. Billy runs outside and cries in the early morning.

In the morning, Billy buries Old Dan in a crude box by a red oak tree. Two days later, he finds that Little Ann will not eat and has lost the will to live. Billy force-feeds her for a few days, but it does no good. She is missing one day, and he finds her dead on top of Old Dan's grave. Mama joins Billy at the grave and tells him he did nothing wrong and that everyone must suffer sometimes. He rejects the idea of getting new dogs and says that he no longer believes in prayer, since he prayed for his dogs and they have died. They cover Little Ann's body in leaves and go back to the house.

Papa shows Billy the money his dogs have earned; they now have enough money to move to town. Mama and Papa had decided to let Billy help out Grandpa in the store so he could remain with his dogs for a while, but they knew that was not a good solution. Papa believes God did not want to break up the family like this, so he took the lives of Billy's dogs.

Billy cries during the night and Mama tries to comfort him, though she cannot think of any way to do it. The next morning, Billy buries Little Ann by Old Dan, carves their names into a red sandstone, and places it by their graves. Mama reassures him that his dogs are in heaven, and Billy feels a little better.

Analysis:

The mountain lion episode demonstrates not just loyalty but love, as one of the men in Chapter XVIII said. Loyalty is too weak a word for what the dogs and Billy do for each other. Rawls makes the dogs' final actions sacrificial. Old Dan sacrifices his life for Billy, while Little Ann sacrifices her life for Old Dan. Unwilling to eat, she appears to lose her characteristic determined will for the first time, but really she wants to join Old Dan as soon as possible.

This quality of love is perhaps why Rawls has used red throughout Where the Red Fern Grows. The dogs are red, Billy buries them by a red oak, and he uses a red sandstone for their tombstone. Red, of course, is the color of blood and the heart, and serves as a symbol of the dogs' deep love, their strong will power, and their sacrificial intimacy with each other and Billy. Rawls withholds, however, the meaning of the novel's red title.

Billy's faith is shaken after his dogs' death. After so many of his prayers have been answered, he cannot understand why a benevolent God would take away his beloved dogs. Papa has a good answer: the dogs have sacrificed themselves not only for Billy, but also for the family. After his period of doubt, Billy regains his belief in God and heaven.

The appearance of the mountain lion provides structural symmetry. As Billy points out, his first major test with the dogs was in challenging a mountain lion from a cave their first night together. The mountain lion adds another religious meaning. Billy feels he has rid the mountains of a great evil - the "devil cat" - and made it safe for the defenseless animals there. He and his dogs have swept out evil with their love and goodness.

Chapter XX Summary:

The family leaves the Ozarks in good spirits the next spring. Billy goes to his dogs' grave to say goodbye. He finds a tall, beautiful red fern between the graves. He remembers the Indian legend about a little boy and girl who had been lost in a blizzard and froze to death. When their bodies were found in the spring, a red fern had sprouted between them. As the legend goes, only an angel can plant the seeds of a red fern, which never dies and makes the spot sacred.

Billy calls his family, and they feel it is God's way of explaining to Billy why his dogs have died. Billy does feel better, and he says a final goodbye to his dogs. The family rides away and looks back at the red fern, visible in the distance.

The adult Billy reflects that he would like to revisit the Ozarks of his childhood. He would like to see his old haunts and landmarks. He is sure the red fern has grown and now covers his dogs' graves, for in his heart he believes "the legend of the sacred red fern."

Analysis:

The poignant ending of Where the Red Fern Grows does not manipulatively pull heartstrings, but earns its emotional payoff. We have grown with the dogs and Billy, and their adventures and love for each other have culminated in the mystical growth of the red fern.

Rawls has made the red fern seem plausible in two ways. First, Billy mentioned early on that his mother was part Cherokee; her Native American background, then, has made Billy aware of the story of the red fern. Moreover, the story involves a boy and a girl who freeze to death in a blizzard, whereas Old Dan and Little Ann nearly froze to death in the blizzard during the championship coon hunt.

The meaning of the novel's title is finally revealed, as is the novel's final usage of the color red. Beyond love, determination, and intimacy, red now takes on a mystical quality that has been building through all of God's seeming interventions in the lives of Billy and the dogs. The novel ends on an upbeat spiritual note. As an adult, Billy is now a full believer in the legend of the red fern and in heaven.

• Biography of Wilson Rawls
• About Where the Red Fern Grows
• Character List
• Major Themes
• Short Summary
• Full Summary and Analysis
• Summary and Analysis of Chapters I-V
• Summary and Analysis of Chapters VI-X
• Summary and Analysis of Chapters XI-XV
• Summary and Analysis of Chapters XVI-XX
• Related Links on Where the Red Fern Grows
• Author of ClassicNote and Sources
• Purchase Where the Red Fern Grows and Other Works
• Test Yourself! Quiz 1
• Test Yourself! Quiz 2
• Message Board on Where the Red Fern Grows