Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Old Yeller, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
People and Animals
Masculinity and Emotion
Bravery vs. Fear
Coming of Age and Responsibility
Summary
Analysis
The next morning, when Travis goes out to the dog run to cut a side of meat for breakfast, he’s surprised to find that all the meat is gone. He realizes what’s happened when he sees a “big ugly slick-haired yeller dog” curled up on the ground; the dog’s belly is round and full. As the dog sees Travis, he lazily stretches and then runs toward Travis, barking happily. Travis is furious with the dog for stealing the last of the family’s meat from the previous winter’s hog butchering. He begins yelling at the dog and trying to kick him—but the happy dog thinks that Travis is playing a game and continues barking.
Travis is furious with the “yeller” dog he finds eating his family’s meat. He feels that the dog threatens his ability to provide for his family while Papa is away—and this could throw a wrench in Travis’s goal of proving himself to be a strong, capable man. Travis primarily sees the animals around him—Jumper and now this dog—as nuisances who only affect his world negatively. He doesn’t yet understand the overlap between the world of people and the world of animals.
Themes
Mama and Little Arliss come out to see what all the fuss is about. As soon as Arliss spies the dog, he runs to him and hugs him. Arliss tells Travis that he’ll hit him if Travis continues being mean to “his” dog. Mama laughs and agrees to let Arliss keep the stray dog—Arliss, she says, needs a playmate. Travis makes a fuss, but eventually he quiets down and resolves to secretly find a way to get rid of the dog. He remains in a dark mood over breakfast. When the meal is finished, Mama tells Travis to go out and kill a doe for some meat—and to think, while he’s out, about what having a dog might do for their family.
In Travis’s opinion, the responsible thing to do would be to get rid of the dog, since it stole food from his family. He’s so focused on maintaining order on the family homestead in Papa’s absence that he doesn’t see how he, Arliss, and Mama could help this animal—and how this animal could help them in return.
Themes
