Tracker

These chapters introduce the backstory, conflict, and main characters of the novel. John’s internal conflict revolves around his grandfather’s cancer and how his life will change with his grandfather’s death. As the story progresses, the doe and the hunt become metaphors for The Meaning and Inevitability of Death, and all of these things combine to form John’s character arc, which ends with his acceptance of death.

John’s inability to find the look of death on his grandfather represents how death is a natural part of life and not something shocking or particularly unique. The death John has seen on others is literal—people or animals that were actually dead at the time. But death takes on new meaning when John can’t find the same look on his grandfather. With his grandfather’s illness, John learns that death and life can coexist, if for a short while.

John’s reluctance to and fear of accepting change in these chapters shows he is at the beginning of his character arc. His chores are a distraction that allow him to not focus on the cancer, but they are not a fix for how he feels. They help him focus elsewhere for a time, but the pain of his grandfather’s disease and the change it will bring are just below the surface, waiting to catch John in a vulnerable moment. His chores represent both a necessary but also potentially unhealthy way of dealing with grief.

The novel’s inciting incident—John learning that he will hunt alone this year—begins the novel’s exploration of Individual Growth Through Life Experience. John starts to consider hunting in relation to his grandfather and death in Chapter 2. In the past, John has gone hunting for food and for sport, though he doesn’t view hunting as something that makes him better than other creatures. John hasn’t considered the animals he’s killed as living beings in the same way he thinks of his grandfather until this moment, and his thoughts reflect how animals have the same right to life as humans, even if they don’t possess the higher processing power that humans do.

The doe first appears in Chapter 3, which foreshadows her importance. The doe’s unusual behavior is the first example of The Unpredictability of Nature and is the catalyst for John’s ultimate change in how he views hunting and killing. She doesn’t run from John and instead just looks at him; he ascribes meaning to this moment, although he can’t quite put the meaning into words. This initial encounter shows the connection between John and the doe, and her behavior can be understood as a mirror of John’s own internal journey. Even as her presence will later carry meaning related to the grandfather and death, she is primarily a symbol for John.

Chapter 4 exemplifies how death changes the dynamics within a family. Though John’s grandfather tries to maintain a sense of normalcy, John and his grandmother are affected by the cancer, something they can’t always hide. Crying and avoiding the topic are common responses to knowing someone will die, but these reactions make it difficult for John’s grandfather to cope with his situation. He snaps at John’s grandmother because her tears remind him of his cancer, something he’d rather forget to enjoy the time he has left. The chapter as a whole shows how people react differently when they are the one who’s sick as opposed to the loved one of someone who’s sick.