By Fred Gibson

Growing up in the real world may be really hard, but it is important. Old Yeller, by Fred Gipson, is a story about a boy who had to grow up when his father leaves home and about the boy’s relationship with his dog. Taking place in 1860’s Texas right after the Civil War, life was not that easy. The dog, Old Yeller, helps Travis to be the man of the house by helping him provide food for the family and by protecting them. But the last step for Travis to become a man is to kill his dog. Overall, the author teaches that there are hard lessons to be learned when growing up. 

At the start of the book, Travis’s dad leaves home, telling Travis to be the man of the house while his dad is gone. He leaves for a 600-mile year-long trip into Kansas to earn more money. His father says, “Now Travis, you’re going to be a big boy; and while I’m gone, you’ll be the man of the family … You look after the work and don’t wait around for mama to point out what needs to be done.” (3) This means that Travis will have a lot of chores and responsibilities, even work that his dad has to do. In being the “man of the house,” Travis has to do many hard jobs to provide food for his family like hunting pigs, squirrels, and deer. Old Yeller helps Travis while hunting for food by sniffing out the scent of animals. Travis also has to tend to the crops like corn so the family has cornbread to eat. All in all, Travis has to grow up quickly and do more chores for his family when his father leaves to go to Kansas for money. 

In addition, Travis has a very hard job protecting the family. He, a fourteen-year-old boy, is carrying around a gun and is supposed to defend his family against danger. One time, Old Yeller fights a rabid bull running straight out of the forest, and Travis shoots the bull with a gun.  With the help of his dog Travis protects the family. Another time at night, a loafer wolf starts attacking Travis’s family, but Old Yeller defends them. However, he is bitten by the wolf and becomes infected with rabies. 

Unfortunately for Old Yeller, he shows the signs of hydrophobia (rabies). During that moment, “it came clear to me then that mama was right. We couldn’t take the risk. And from everything I heard, I knew there was very little chance of Old Yeller escaping the sickness. It was going to kill something inside of me to do it, but I knew then that I had to shoot my big Yeller dog.” (127) This shows that Travis knows he has to shoot Old Yeller like any other wild animal, but he still thinks of Old Yeller as distinguished from all the other animals he shoots, even after his dog is infected with rabies. Old Yeller is his friend and family pet, and Travis does not want to shoot his own dog. Travis tries as best as he can to not believe the truth, even though he would have to shoot Old Yeller like “he was nothing.” This demonstrates that Travis has to do what the “man of the house” would do, and since the “man of the house” is usually the father, this means that shooting Old Yeller is not a job for a boy like Travis. Metaphorically, Old Yeller is a part of Travis and by killing him, Travis loses a part of himself.

After shooting his dog, Travis begins to recover from the loss of Old Yeller. He has to recover from his physical injury from the hogs and his mental injury from shooting Old Yeller. The next few days, Travis “felt better all day. [He] went back and rode [his] horse and enjoyed it.” (132) This shows that even though his childhood self is gone, Travis still moves on. At the end, Travis has a horse, which shows that his playful dog is upgraded to a working horse and he is upgraded to a man. Even though it was hard to recover from the loss of Old Yeller, Travis eventually moves on. 

In conclusion, Travis has to face the challenge of being the man of the house while his father is away. During that time, Travis has to hunt for food, defend his family, and shoot his pet and companion. Though it is not easy, doing a grown man’s job is necessary to finally grow up. 

One time when I was younger, I had to grow up fast was when my mom went to Atlanta, Georgia, for most of the summer to help my grandparents when my grandfather was in the hospital. She left me and my dad alone in the house. Up until then, I was very close with my mother so it was difficult to not have her around. When she left for Atlanta, I had to adapt by becoming more independent and by doing more for myself. But the good thing was that I got closer to my dad. Old Yeller teaches that it is hard to grow up, especially when it has to happen quickly

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