Where The Red Fern Grows
Do you know what a Universal Theme is? If you think that’s a movie company then you need to start reading, kid! Universal Themes are included in all stories. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls is a great example. It includes many themes but the one that stood out the most was Conflict.
In the beginning of the story, the setting is in the Ozark Mountains. The main character is a kid name Billy Coleman. The conflict was that Billy wanted dogs. Not just any dogs, he wanted hounds and he wanted 2 of them. Billy’s family was poor and didn’t have the money to afford them. Billy wanted them so bad that he became ill. He lost weight, wouldn’t eat, and couldn’t sleep well anymore. This was too much for his parents. So they bought him some traps so he could still hunt. This worked a little but like a new toy, the newness wore off and the sickness came back, but this time, it was worse. One day something good happened. While prowling the places where fishermen had camped, Billy found a sportsman’s magazine. This had an ad on hounds and they were only $25 each. Billy got excited and started to save up. After he got the 50 dollars, he mailed the money to Kentucky with the help of his grandpa. His wish came true and he finally got his hounds. This was how the conflict was resolved.
It didn’t stop there! His dogs became good hunters and their fame spread through the region. One day, a guy named Rubin and his younger brother Rainie offered a bet. If he couldn’t catch the “ghost” coon, then he would have to pay 2 dollars. If he did then they will give him 2 dollars. The ghost coon was a cunning old coon that was very hard to catch. The hunt was tough but in the end Billy’s dogs prevailed and treed the coon. Billy suddenly got an urge to not kill the coon and asked Rubin for his money. Rubin wouldn’t give it until he killed the coon. This ended up as a conflict that ended horribly. They argued until Rubin’s dog, came and started to fight with Billy’s dogs, Little Ann and Old Dan. Rubin’s dog got beat up by Old Dan and Little Ann so Rubin decided to kill Billy’s dogs. It wasn’t a wise thing to do. He ended up tripping and falling on an axe. The conflict ended but Rubin was in a bad shape. This even proved that conflicts sometimes end up dangerous and sometimes even fatal.
Rubin’s death delayed Billy in his coon hunting but Billy was soon back in action. Near the end of the story, something tragic happened. That night, Billy’s dogs got into a head on fight with a mountain lion. The fight was very fierce and ended up bad for both sides. The mountain lion was killed in the end but it did a lot of damage to Old Dan. As Billy and his dogs walked home, Old Dan’s entrails worked out of a wound n his stomach and got stuck in a bush. Billy got him out but wasn’t able to save him. Old dan died soon after. Little Ann mourned from the loss of her friend. She refused to eat and eventually passed away. This is another example of a conflict turned bad.
As you can see, Where the Red Fern Grows is a good example of a conflict filled story. Remember, conflicts can turn out good or bad. It just depends on how the character deals with it. The theme conflict played a big part in Where the Red Fern Grows because it helped to put action into the story. Conflict is only 1 of the many Universal Themes in this book. The others are big too, but the conflicts stood out the most to me.
This is a book report on Where the Red Fern Grows. The teacher lended everyone a copy of the book to read and we were supposed to write a book report on 1 Universal Theme that occured more than once in the book. I chose conflict. I have a picture that I drew to go along with this also but I need to wait until I get that back to post it here if you can even post pictures.
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