Old Yeller Character Analysis

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
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