Doe Season
Doe Season
In the short story Doe season, David Kaplan creates a character named Andrea, who would rather be called Andy. Doe Season is not simply a story about a young girl’s hunting trip with her father and friends. During the few days that Andy is on the hunting trip, she takes an incredible journey trying to find out who she really is. Usually, hunting deer is an event reserved for young men and their fathers. Yet, it is through this outing that Andy experiences a rite of passage into womanhood. All through her life Andy has acknowledged herself as being able to relate to male figures and being more similar to her father than her mother. Andy is a young girl who enters the world of a boy 's rite of passage to adulthood, experiences an internal journey through the group’s teasing, the killing of the doe, and the transformation of changing from Andy to Andrea.
As Andy reflects on past journeys, the family trip to the beach stands out in her mind. She is very uncomfortable with her feminine side. Unlike her mother, Andy and her father were both nervous in the ocean. Her mother swam and splashed with animal-like delight while her father smiling shyly, held his white arms above the waist-deep water as if afraid to get them wet (513). Andy associates more readily with her father. The naturalness of womanhood only makes Andy uncomfortable. After her mother’s top falls down in the ocean, Andy is embarrassed and quickly looks around to see if anyone has noticed (514). “The nipples like two dark eyes,” symbolizes Andy’s feelings that being feminine is similar to being grotesque instead of having elegant and beautiful qualities. Yet, this whole time Andy is unconcerned if anyone has noticed how foolish her father must look in the water trying to stay dry (514).
In the beginning of the story, there is emphasis on the woods always remaining the same. The woods stretch inevitably and offer a sense of security and safety. Even while hunting, the same woods lead back
In the short story Doe season, David Kaplan creates a character named Andrea, who would rather be called Andy. Doe Season is not simply a story about a young girl’s hunting trip with her father and friends. During the few days that Andy is on the hunting trip, she takes an incredible journey trying to find out who she really is. Usually, hunting deer is an event reserved for young men and their fathers. Yet, it is through this outing that Andy experiences a rite of passage into womanhood. All through her life Andy has acknowledged herself as being able to relate to male figures and being more similar to her father than her mother. Andy is a young girl who enters the world of a boy 's rite of passage to adulthood, experiences an internal journey through the group’s teasing, the killing of the doe, and the transformation of changing from Andy to Andrea.
As Andy reflects on past journeys, the family trip to the beach stands out in her mind. She is very uncomfortable with her feminine side. Unlike her mother, Andy and her father were both nervous in the ocean. Her mother swam and splashed with animal-like delight while her father smiling shyly, held his white arms above the waist-deep water as if afraid to get them wet (513). Andy associates more readily with her father. The naturalness of womanhood only makes Andy uncomfortable. After her mother’s top falls down in the ocean, Andy is embarrassed and quickly looks around to see if anyone has noticed (514). “The nipples like two dark eyes,” symbolizes Andy’s feelings that being feminine is similar to being grotesque instead of having elegant and beautiful qualities. Yet, this whole time Andy is unconcerned if anyone has noticed how foolish her father must look in the water trying to stay dry (514).
In the beginning of the story, there is emphasis on the woods always remaining the same. The woods stretch inevitably and offer a sense of security and safety. Even while hunting, the same woods lead back
Cited: Kaplan, David Michael. Doe Season. Literature. Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Ed Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. 8th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2012. 511-521. Print.