The Red Pony By John Steinbeck
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Raised on a ranch in northern California, Jody is well-schooled in the hard work and demands of a rancher's life. He is used to the way of horses, too; but nothing has prepared him for the special connection he will forge with Gabilan, a hot-tempered pony his father gives him. With Billy Buck, the hired hand, Jody tends and trains his horse, restlessly anticipating the moment he will sit high upon Gabilan's saddle. But when Gabilan falls ill, Jody discovers there are still lessons he must learn about the ways of nature and, particularly, the ways of man. The Red Pony
This book was featured on Shabby Sunday @ https://readrantrockandroll.com/2018/...
I can still remember reading this book for the first time when I was in junior high school and I didn't like it. From the look of the cover and title, you'd think you'd be reading a happy little novella about a boy and his horse, but it's so much more than that.
The Red Pony is a collection of four short stories about a 10-year-old boy named Jody and his life on a ranch with his family. As time moves forward and he matures, Jody is exposed to multiple events and learns many lessons on what it means to be a man. Much of what he learns comes from his father and the farm hand named Billy. He looks up to them both.
Jody did not ask where his father and Billy Buck were riding that day, but he wished he might go along. His father was a disciplinarian. Jody obeyed him in everything without questions of any kind.
I don't want to summarize the four stories and spoil them for those that haven't read this, but I will say I had a good mix of emotions when reading it for the second time. I was sad and angry multiple times and didn't care for a few of the characters, but there was happiness here too, especially when Jody gains some responsibility and gets excited about upcoming future events like visiting with his grandfather, or caring for his pony by himself for the first time.
Jody was glad when they had gone. He took brush and currycomb from the wall, took down the barrier of the box stall and stepped cautiously in.
One thing I didn't like, was how I didn't really see Jody's character change over time. With the death he's experienced, he certainly doesn't seem to be effected by it much and maybe that's because as a boy, he wasn't allowed to share his feelings vocally. His actions portray anger, but not a whole lot of sympathy for the animals themselves as he still continues to irritate them by throwing rocks, etc. He seems to forget about how sad he was to lose a friend to death and doesn't make the connection.
There are many themes in this book including coming of age, tragedy, death and disappointment to mention a few, but also one I didn't truly pick up on the first time I read it. It appears that the modern men in the story don't feel that they measure up to older men from the past. This is something I experienced myself--even as a female--when I moved out to the country. Being raised in the city meant that I didn't have the experience the country folk had as far as raising your own food, and in turn, putting the animals to death. A lady I met within the first year of living in the country told me that my generation weren't survivors and I had to stand corrected as I realized there was no way I was going to cut a chicken's head off with my hand like she did so effortlessly, in fact, I wasn't ever going to do it. There were multiple times in the book that I cringed because of the details that were given and it reminded me of this very moment in my life, but this is farm life, whether you're exposed or not and that's just part of it.
Overall, this is a powerful little novel and worth a try. You might end up hating it, or you might be sucked into the writing like I was because it's so descriptive and realistic. I wound up devouring this in one sitting when reading it for the second time.
My copy is from 1992, not very old, but still vintage. It's in good condition for the most part with mainly cover wear.
My rating is 4**** The Red Pony The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
Steinbeck has always done really well when it comes to describing human emotions. In this novella, there are four chapters. And each one can be defined as a standalone but all connected. It is an engaging and very well-written story. It has some depressing moments. However, throughout the tale, it explores many things, especially about human relationships with nature.
No matter how good a man is, there's always some horse can pitch him.
Good read. The Red Pony A story about a pretty, pretty precious pony? Hurray! This is going to be giggly-joyous, laughy-good pony times!...What? It's written by John Steinbeck? Fuck. Sorry pony, you or everyone you love is going to die.
Yes, these are tales of living on a ranch in the early days (well, early-ish) of California, but underneath they are more of the same Steinbeck: the vignettes of the hardscrabble life of immigrant farmers.
Specifically, it's second and third generation immigrants, such as seen in Tortilla Flat. The people are established. This is their land. It feels as if it's always been theirs, but there were others before them...ghosts now.
The Red Pony follows a boy, who is coming of age and given the responsibility of raising his own horse. Steinbeck captures well the emotions and perspective of a child feeling his way in a world that is changing for him, new understandings that jab at young folks daily like minor revelations. Will he cope?
Thought I'd give this a read, what with my interest in animals being piqued by Goodreads' recent ads for All Creatures Great and Small. The Red Pony reads like a collection of related short stories. It definitely doesn't feel like a complete novel with a plot, climax and satisfying finish. There's just theme, like viewing a photo album. That can be enjoyable too, after all, every picture tells a story, don't it? The Red Pony Hey everyone, it's my 400th review on goodreads!!!!!!
Honestly I'm a little surprised we've gotten this far as I mostly started reviewing just to make some mental notes on things I liked about recently read books… but here we are and with the 400th review. I decided to go with another classic. Let's try another cheerful Steinbeck work shall we?
It's the story of a boy and his pony! How sad can this one…
Oh…
Oh...
As I said, another cheerful Steinbeck read.
The book is really four connected short stories focusing on a young boy named Jody. In one he learns about death. In another he learns about death. In another he learns about life… and death. And guess what, there's some more education in the fourth as well.
Yes, I know I'm just making this sound like a charming book, aren't I? Seriously though, it's actually a great examination of a person coming to terms with mortality at various points in time. On one hand, it feels like it all hits this poor kid in a short amount of time, but it gets the point across.
The last Steinbeck I read (Burning Bright) was a major disappointment; this one certainly makes up for that. I do not find it as good as Of Mice and Men, but this is certainly well worth a read. I can't say it's a fun book, but it is a beautiful one and one I highly recommend... just, you know, don't buy it for a child thinking it will be a fun book about a boy and a pony because that would just be cruel.
4/5 stars. The Red Pony The Red Pony, John Steinbeck
The Red Pony is an episodic novella written by American writer John Steinbeck in 1933.
The stories in the book are tales of a boy named Jody Tiflin. The book has four different stories about Jody and his life on his father's California ranch.
Other main characters include:
Carl Tiflin – Jody's father;
Billy Buck – an expert in horses and a working hand on the ranch;
Mrs. Tiflin – Jody's mother;
Jody's grandfather – Mrs. Tiflin's father, who has a history of crossing the Oregon Trail, and enjoys telling stories about his experiences;
and Gitano – an old man who wishes to die at the Tiflin ranch.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز دوم ماه اکتبر سال1975میلادی
عنوان: اسب سرخ؛ اثر: جان اشتاین بک؛ مترجم: مهدی افشار؛ مشخصات نشر تهران، اکباتان، سال1353، در144ص، چاپ دوم سال1362، موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده 20م
جودی، پسرک آرام، و کمرویی است، که در یک مزرعه، زندگی میکند؛ روزی پدرش «اسب سرخی» را، به همراه میآورد، تا از آنِ «جودی» باشد؛ «جودی»، از اسب مراقبت میکند، و بسیار به اسب دلبسته میشود؛ کتاب، شرح مراقبتها، و احساسهای «جودی»، به «اسب سرخ» است؛ هرچند در ادامه ی داستان، «اسب سرخ» میمیرد، و قرار است «نلی» اسب ماده ی باردار مزرعه، و کره اش به «جودی» برسد؛ ...؛
نقل از متن: (مادر «جودی»، حرف وی را قطع کرد، گفت: «جودی»، امشب جعبه ی هیزم رو، کاملاً پرکن، شب گذشته، هیزمها رو، روی هم ریخته بودی، در نتیجه، جعبه نصفه هم نشده بود؛ امشب هیزمها رو، کاملاً صاف بذار، که جعبه پر بشه؛ در ضمن، مرغها ممکنه، جایی دور از چشمرس تخم گذاشته باشن، و يا ممکنه، سگها، تخممرغها رو خورده باشن؛ به هر حال، لونه هاشونو خوب نگاه کن، اگه تخم مرغ هست، اونا رو بردار
دهان «جودی»، هنوز میجنبید، او رفت، تا همانند دیگر روزها، به کارهایش برسد؛ وقتی برای مرغها، دانه پاشید، بلدرچینها نیز، برای دانه چینی پایین آمدند، تا با مرغها همسفره شوند؛ به دلایلی، پدر «جودی»، از اینکه بلدرچینها، با مرغها همسفره شوند، احساس رضایت میکرد؛ او به هیچوجه اجازه نمیداد، کسی در اطراف خانه اش، تیراندازی کند، چون وحشت از آن داشت، بلدرچینها رمیده، و از آن منطقه کوچ کنند
وقتی جعبه ی هیزم، از هیمه آکنده شد، «جودی» تفنگ بیست دو خود را، برداشت، و به طرف چشمه ی آب سردی، که در مسیر بوته ها جاری بود، حرکت کرد؛ امروز، برای بار دوم، از چشمه، آب نوشید، و تصمیم گرفت، به هر چیز، که جلوی چشمش قرار گرفت، شلیک کند، به صخره ها، به خرگوشها، به پرندگان در حال پرواز، و یا به خوک بزرگ کله سیاه، که در زیر درخت سرو، چرا میکرد؛ ولی شلیک نکرد، زیرا اصلاً فشنگ نداشت، و هیچگاه نیز، تا زمانیکه دوازده ساله نمیشد، فشنگ، در اختیارش قرار نمیگرفت؛ اگر پدرش میدید، او تفنگ را به طرف خانه، نشانه رفته، فشنگها برای یکسال دیگر، از دسترسش دور میماند
جودی، وقتی این موضوع را، به یاد آورد، دیگر تفنگ را، به طرف پایین تپه، نشانه نرفت؛ برای «جودی»، دو سال انتظار کشیدن، برای دست یافتن به فشنگ، زمان کوتاهی نبود، و او نمیخواست، یک سال دیگر، بر زمان انتظار افزوده شود؛ تقریباً همه ی هدایایی که پدرش، به او میداد، با قید احتیاط، و مشروط بود، و همین مشروط بودن هدایا، از ارزش آنها، در چشم «جودی» میکاست، و این خود مقررات چندان جالبی نبود
از آنجا که پدر، و «بیلی»، دیر به خانه بازگشتند، صرف شام، به تاریکی شب کشید، و سرانجام، وقتی با «بیلی باک»، پشت میز نشستند، «جودی» میتوانست، بوی لذتبخش «براندی» را، از میان نفسهای پدرش، به درون بینی بکشد، و این بو، برای «جودی»، خوشآیند بود، به خصوص وقتی روی سخن پدرش، با او بود، و بوی «براندی»، بهتر در هوای تنفسی «جودی»، پراکنده میشد؛ پدر، امشب سر کیف بود، و حتا از شیطنتهای خودش، در زمانی که پسر بچه ای بود، و از روزگاری که، طبیعت بسیار وحشیتر بود، سخن گفت)؛ پایان نقل
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 01/11/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 17/08/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی The Red Pony
The Red Pony is a well-written and beautifully descriptive book about a young boy, Jody, and his life while being raised on a ranch in northern California. The stories in this classic literature covers the lessons Jody learns about life, death, ways of nature and, particularly, the ways of man.
John Steinbeck describes the life on the ranch so well and vividly. These stories appear simple at the start, but as we go further we realize that they are deep and highly meaningful.
The Red Pony Continuing my reading tour of Big Sad with Short Steinbeck, our next stop is The Red Pony, an episodic bildungsroman following the young Jody Tiflin and family as he learns the harsh facts of life on their Californian farm. Written between 1933-36 and published individually in magazines, The Red Pony was published as one volume in 1937 with these four Jody stories that grapple with the big issues of responsibility, disappointment, death, family, and the power and inhumanity of nature. In his small life on the farm, Jody looks to the horizon of the great mountains with a thirst for big adventure and big living and as these stories progress we see him vacillate between being an innocent child and a budding adult being carved out by the grit of the world and we hope he is productively internalizing the life lessons that make the difference between growing up or merely growing older.
‘ I’ll bet they don’t know what’s going to happen to them today.’
‘No, nor you either,’ Billy remarked philosophically, ‘nor me, nor anyone.’
Steinbeck constructs a harsh childhood for Jody, one with a tepid relationship with a father from whom he craves acceptance and praise and one with an early taste for failure and death. The opening story is a tragic tale where his ownership of his beautiful red pony comes to a sad and violent end and Jody, with the reality of death still sinking in, responds with an outburt of emotion doubling down on violence and death. It is his first reckoning not only with grief but shame, ‘He didn't care about the bird, or its life, but he knew what older people would say if they had seen him kill it,’ Steinbeck writes, ‘he was ashamed because of their potential opinion.’ That ‘potential opinion’ is Jody’s social eye awakening, realizing his actions are judged and have a bearing not only on his reputation and future but on his family as well.
Death is omnipresent in this episodic novella, with the rather moving tale of the old man who wishes to die on the Tiflin farm (there’s some hints at land acknowledgement going on here, or at least the old man wishing a white man would) and later on the troubled birth of a horse. The latter is an interesting lesson for Jody about how closely knit life and death are, with life literally birthed from a death. Steinbeck said buckle up, life is some sad bullshit, though this theme of wrestling with the inevitability of death seems to permeate his entire ouvreur. But is it death that is so saddest or is it the living on without (or past) a purpose that seems the most tragic, as we examine in the story of the grandfather coming to live on the farm.
I found the father to be one of the most interesting characters here. He is short on words for Jody and quick on setting him on a course for some life lessons, but when he praises Jody you can really feel the appreciation and dude-bonding going on strong. The coming-of-age dynamics here does have a bit of an uncomfortable tough guy masculinity (but in keeping for the times, I suppose). However, Billy Buck makes an interesting foil character to papa Carl and teases the notion of found families or father figures outside the family. Problem is, Billy Buck can’t keep his promise to save the pony. On the plus side, he sticks up for Jody, even in the face of Carl, and becomes another guidepost on Jody’s path to adulthood.
‘I tell those stories, but they're not what I want to tell’, say the grandfather late in the book, ‘I only know how I want people to feel when I tell them.’ I think this perfectly summarizes this brief book: the emotions and empathy that resonate with the reader vastly outweigh the admittedly slight stories that form a loose narrative here. Steinbeck is great at capturing emotion and feeding it to you as a life lesson while making it seem more like a delightful snack than a take-your-medicine sort of deal. I always picture Steinbeck writing and slapping his knee saying hoo-boy this is some Great American Novel stuff. He’s literary in the best ways, chock full of symbolism and purpose and historical context, etc., but what hits the hardest is the emotional punches and the way his prose so easily places you in the hearts and minds of his characters. The Red Pony is an early work, which shows, but it also points towards the greatness that would come in Steinbeck’s career, particularly his explorations of families and their influence in coming of age narratives such as in East of Eden.
This is a short little book that packs quite the punch. It might not be an ideal starting point for readers, but it makes for a wonderful read and expanded impression on Steinbeck as a writer and thinker: you’ll find many of these themes played in variations of the scale in his later novels. I always enjoy sobbing with Steinbeck and this is a quick but powerful little book.
3.5/5 The Red Pony Sometime in the early 1930's, on an isolated small ranch, in northern California's long, rugged, Salinas Valley, a boy of ten, mischievous Jody Tiflin, lives with his parents, stern father Carl, and the equally tough, but loving mother Ruth, they are poor like everyone else, in the area, yet manage to eke out a living, their only hired hand the very capable Billy Buck, an expert in taking care of horses...Two dogs, four cats, six horses and the same amount of cows, many pigs, and more chickens, various wild critters that roam the land, coyotes, rabbits, gophers, plenty of birds, and numerous rodents, etcetera, a typical place in that era. The lonely boy walks a mile to school every day, nothing changes in the harsh, dull territory, until after his father and Billy Buck, return from a trip to the city of Salinas, to sell cows, bringing a gift to Jody, a beautiful, amazing, red pony, his own horse, the ecstatic child promises to take good care of the animal, with the help and knowledge of Billy Buck. He trains the colt, shows him to his envious friends, now named Gabilan, after the mysterious local mountains, that Jody always wants to explore, asking questions, to everybody around, what's over there, (they don't know, his imagination runs wild) under the wise supervision of Mr.Buck, the kid can't wait until he can put the red saddle , that came with the horse, on the animal... disappointed it will be two lengthy years, until that is possible, still the pony he is constantly thinking about, is kept clean and well fed... a new respect his father shows him, the proud lad is happy, but the future is unclear...A stranger arrives, a very old man named Gitano, who's family had owned a vast ranch , here, until it was broken up into little pieces, in fact born nearby, in a mud house , that has fallen down, he wants to stay , and never leave, besides as a youth, he had once been to the mountains, which fascinates Jody, too ancient to work, and in the great depression, money is hard to make, still insists, he won't take no for an answer... In this episodic novella, Mrs.Tiflin's father, returns for a visit, Mr.Tiflin is not happy, ( but has no choice) since all he does, is tell old stories, how he led a wagon train across the plains to California, during the old wild west days, and the Indians stealing their horses , after many such recitals , they become very boring, and nobody listens other than Jody...A slice of Americana, that has long been gone, the ghosts still haunt the valley , these pioneers can never be totally forgotten, since they made California , what it is today... whatever that is... The Red Pony People, places, and things play a large role in this coming-of-age tale. We see Jody deal with the harsh realities of growing up on the remote ranch with his callous, slightly formidable father, with dreams and desires in view yet just out of reach. On the other hand, while at times it all seems bleak and joyless, we also see Jody experience some of the softer moments that gladden and lift the spirit. As he learns the lessons from these people, places, and things, his hopeful and youthful optimism may be tempered, but he also gains a respect for the mature wisdom that comes with the passage of time.
There's a lot to take away from these short, interconnected stories; I wish I had been able to connect with them more. The Red Pony You can't protect children from pain.
That is a painful realisation in itself for most parents of my generation. We tend to feel the need to shield our beloved sons and daughters from the more disturbing aspects of life and death as long as possible, and that includes thinking carefully about the reading materials we give them or put on the curriculum in school.
This became very evident to me the other day when I held The Red Pony in my hand, pondering on the harshness of the message, the sadness of the main character's situation, and the possibility of a student becoming very upset by the brilliant short novel. Should I recommend it or not? Could the student take in the STORY of love and death even remotely as well as Steinbeck's character has to learn to cope in his reality?
We tend to find it easier to confront our children with pain if it is eased in the end, offering a positive outlook on better times ahead. Steinbeck does not do those kinds of fairytale delusions. He does reality with empathy. And it takes a lot of maturity to deal with reality with empathy, so are our young ready for that?
There is this catch 22 we always discuss when students are looking for their first jobs: work experience is inevitably asked for, but how are you to gain work experience without having a few first jobs to learn in? The same goes for reading painful literature, I believe: we have to start to develop that very special reader's empathy at some point, and the first sad stories of life and death and injustice described with heart will be the worst.
I recommended it. And I am ready for potential parent complaints. For that's the era I live in: the diametrical opposite of Jody's environment. The Red Pony