43 pages • 1 hour read
Jim KjelgaardBig Red
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1945A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaThemes
Coming of Age and Personal Growth
The novel’s plot progression follows the protagonist Danny Pickett’s coming of age and personal growth. Since Big Red is written from the third-person limited point of view, the novel’s central conflicts and themes emerge from Danny’s experiences as he grows up. In Chapter 1, Danny is not sure of himself. He is afraid of Old Majesty, bashful around adults and strangers, and wary of voicing his opinions. However, the more challenges that he faces throughout the novel, the more mature he becomes. His adventures in the Wintapi wilderness, his experiences with Red, and his relationships with Ross and Mr. Haggin contribute to his character evolution.
Danny grows in maturity and confidence once he is entrusted with Red, as caring for the dog gives Danny new responsibilities and helps him feel more like an adult. Red gives Danny self-confidence: Danny begins to differentiate himself from his father by openly disagreeing with Ross’s training methods for dogs, deciding to do what he thinks is best for Red instead. As he navigates the Wintapi with Red and faces encounters with wild animals like the wolverine, Danny learns to be quick-thinking and self-reliant, developing his sense that he can thrive in the landscape even when he does not have another person there to support him.
Danny’s climactic encounter with Old Majesty in Chapter 12 marks Danny’s passage into adulthood. Since the bear is infamous in the Wintapi region, Danny has feared Old Majesty throughout the novel. His regard for the bear changes, however, after Old Majesty attacks his father and kills Ross’s remaining three hound dogs. Danny is still young when he decides that facing Old Majesty is his fight, “but old enough to know that life [is] seldom easy” (232). Before venturing out into the woods with his dog to find the bear, he considers the risks and benefits of defeating Old Majesty once and for all: “Regardless of loss or sacrifice,” he decides, “he must give everything to winning it” (232). Therefore, the bear is a symbol of life’s overarching struggles and challenges. In facing Old Majesty without fear, Danny is facing life “with heart, courage and brain” (233).
When he kills Old Majesty, he fulfills his rite of passage into adulthood. This is why Danny returns to the cabin from the forest a changed individual. While one version of Danny Pickett went “forth on the outlaw bear’s trail” (471) a new Danny Pickett returns to the cabin. The new Danny is “able to do what he never could have done before” (247). Danny’s defeat of Old Majesty thus signifies his maturation and evolution. Facing Old Majesty helps Danny to see himself anew. In turn, Danny’s father and boss recognize Danny’s changes and regard him as a man, with Danny taking on a new, more involved role in working for Mr. Haggins at the novel’s end.
Bonds Between Humans and Animals
Danny and Red’s relationship captures the transformative possibilities inherent in the bonds between humans and animals. Red introduces change, wonder, and hope into Danny’s life. Since Danny has grown up in the Wintapi wilderness, he is familiar with wild creatures, livestock, and pets. However, as soon as Danny meets Red in Chapter 1, he knows “that at last his dream dog [has] come to life” (7). Danny has always dreamed of having a dog of his own. However, he’s never wanted a mere hunting and trapping partner. Rather, in Red, Danny finds a loyal, trusting, and honorable friend.
In Chapter 2, when Danny returns home to the cabin with Red for the first time, he realizes that as “hard as [life in the Wintapi wilderness] might be, it would never again be lonely” (25). Danny sees Red as his equal and believes that he and Red can learn to rely upon one another. This is why he consistently cares for and respects Red. He refuses to beat him when he doesn’t behave the way that Danny expects. He repeatedly remarks upon Red’s good qualities, affirming Red for his intelligence, spirit, and loyalty. Furthermore, Danny keeps Red with him even if Red doesn’t pose a ready use to him. For example, in Chapter 9, Danny takes Red to “run the line and re-set sprung traps” even though “a dog wasn’t much help on a trap-line” (180). Rather, Red offers Danny “a lot of comfort” (180) while he is out in the woods working alone. Therefore, Red is Danny’s companion, rather than his underling. He stays by Danny’s side when he is in trouble, when he’s sick, and even when he’s feeling discouraged or sad. Such scenes convey the power of interspecies connections.
Red becomes a sidekick character to Danny over the course of the novel. Red’s immediate attraction to Danny in Chapter 1 foreshadows the progression of their relationship. For example, when Danny waits for Mr. Haggin outside of the estate, Red “crouch[es] closer to Danny’s knees” (5) even after Robert Fraley snaps for him to leave. This display of affection portends the bond that will form between the dog and Danny in the chapters to come. Indeed, the more affection, loyalty, and kindness that Danny learns to show to Red, the more affection and loyalty Red shows to Danny. Therefore, the boy and dog’s relationship is reciprocal. As their dynamic isn’t purely utilitarian, Danny and Red are able to grow and evolve together. Red thus shepherds Danny out of boyhood and into adulthood.
Respecting and Understanding Nature
The narrative setting captures and conveys Danny Pickett’s evolving respect for, and understanding of, the natural world. Danny has always called the Wintapi wilderness his home, and has an intimate connection with its hills, trees, waters, and mountains. Each time that Danny leaves his cabin at the edge of the clearing and ventures into the woods, he closely observes his surroundings. The third- person narrator’s keen attention to describing the Wintapi wilderness conveys Danny’s love for the setting, reinforcing the importance of the human bond with nature.
Therefore, Danny’s familiarity with nature hasn’t desensitized him to his home and its neighboring landscapes. Rather, he understands himself, his life, and his relationships according to the seasons, skies, and weather. The novel’s nature imagery and metaphors illustrate Danny’s regard for the wilderness. For example, in Chapter 1, Danny sees “Mr. Haggin’s place stretch[ing] like a mirage before him, something to be seen but never touched” (8). Mirages are a facet of the natural world, and thus a guidepost by which Danny can understand the unattainability of Mr. Haggin’s wealthy lifestyle. Shortly thereafter, Danny stares “into the purling creek” and sees “the red dog’s reflection in the water, looking up at him with happily lolling tongue” (9). The creek is nature’s mirror. When Danny looks into it, he is looking for answers and trying to see his own heart. Therefore, he goes to nature to find the truth of who he is, what he wants, and where he should go. Furthermore, Danny’s transition from childhood into adulthood parallels winter’s transition into spring in the novel’s final chapters (See: Symbols & Motifs). The seasonal changes are a motif for Danny’s growth, conveying Danny’s spiritual bond with the environment.
Danny’s relationship with the wilderness evolves as he grows up. At the start of the novel, Danny is more wary of the unknowns the Wintapi holds. He fears Old Majesty and panics when his father gets lost in a snowstorm. In the latter chapters, Danny braves repeated storms, spends many nights alone with Red in the woods, and ultimately kills Old Majesty. Therefore, he is learning how to navigate the natural world, while allowing these experiences to make him stronger. Although he has a power struggle with the forest’s wild creatures, Danny doesn’t claim supremacy over nature. Rather, he shows mercy to the doe by sparing her a painful death in Chapter 8 and doesn’t claim Old Majesty’s hide as a trophy at the end of Chapter 12. In these ways, Danny learns to dwell in harmony with his natural surroundings.
