What is the lesson learned in Where the Red Fern Grows?

For Billy, home and school are the one and the same. Clearly this is before the whole homeschooling revival, because the boys in town think this is stupid enough to pick a fight over.

I knew the stories I had heard about marshals weren't true. Never again would I be scared when I saw one. (5.87)

Check it out: informal education, broadening minds. Billy is already beginning to revise his assumptions about town people, but he's not doing it through books—it's direct experience.

"A man's children should have an education. They should get out and see the world and meet people." (6.60)

Well, gee whiz. That's just what Billy did: he went out into the world, met some people, and learned a few things. So maybe Billy's dad isn't necessarily talking about education in school.

"There's more to an education than just reading and writing," Papa said. "Much more." (6.62)

Sure, like knowing how to play on a playground; being able to name your favorite kind of soda; and not being afraid of the cops. (Unless you really should be afraid of the cops, not that any of you Shmoopers would be.)

"I don't want you children to grow up without an education, not even knowing what a bottle of soda pop is, or ever seeing the inside of a schoolhouse." (6.65)

We can think of a few modern-day parents who would be thrilled if their kids grew up without ever knowing what soda pop was. But we get the point—these kids may have learned to read and write, but they don't know nearly enough to navigate a larger world.

"Now you do everything exactly as I tell you," he said, "and you'll catch that coon." (7.10)

Billy's life is full of teachers, even if none of them have degrees. Here, his grandfather passes on a little wisdom about how to catch raccoons.

"That's what I came down here for. I'll show you how to keep that coon in the tree." (9.11)

Grandpa should write a book, because he seems to know everything about catching coons. And guess what? It works. He teaches Billy practical skills as well as moral lessons about not giving up. But we doubt Billy uses many of these lessons in his office these days.

I felt my father's hand on my shoulder. Looking at me, he smiled and nodded his head. Papa and I knew I had judged the coon perfectly. (16.126)

Right then I didn't care about coons, gold cups, or anything. All I wanted was my dogs. (17.64)

Billy is learning something that you can't learn in fancy schools: what's really important in life. For all that his parents seem so obsessed with getting some book-learning in the kid, Where the Red Fern Grows really emphasizes the importance of life experience.

"You know how your mother has prayed that some day we'd have enough money to move out of these hills and into town so that you children could get an education." (19.174)

Obviously Billy is going to be totally thrilled about leaving the only home he's ever known to go to a town full of jerky boy and mean girls, where he gets to sit in a classroom all day. Right? Right??

Where the Red Fern Grows has two main themes: determination and man's relationship to dogs. The two are closely related. After all, Old Dan, a dog, is perhaps the most determined character in the novel. Billy earns his beloved dogs through his determination, and together, they are unstoppable; they are a trio of dedication. Billy distinguishes between Old Dan and Little Ann, deciding that Old Dan is brave (that is, determined) while Little Ann is smart. But what does Little Ann's intelligence entail? It means that she always keeps searching for a coon. It means that she doesn't bark "treed" until she has done as thorough a search as possible, and is sure that the coon is in the tree. She is smart because she doesn't give up too early.

The plot of the book consists of adventure after adventure, each one a little more dangerous than the last. And to survive each adventure, Billy and his dogs have to be increasingly determined. But there are other elements that make this dedication meaningful. Rawls shows the strong love that develops between the boy and his dogs, and supporting Billy's love is his parents' love for him. There is a chain of love linking all the characters, so that when the reader fears Little Ann might die, the reader imagines the sad reactions of everyone in the book. This is how Rawls involves us in his fiction and is what makes the book so famously sad.

Rawls braces the theme of dedication with moral characters. Not only do they love one another, but they always do what is right. If they make mistakes, they are accidents. If anything bad happens, it is usually the fault of nature or a wild animal. The only exception is the Pritchards, and Rawls includes Mama's admonition that they can't help the way they act, because they have a poor life. The reader has no choice but to support all of the characters and hope that everything comes out for the best.

Where the Red Fern Grows Deeper Meaning?

Where the Red Fern Grows conclusion?

Where the Red Fern Grows objective summary?