FREE ESSAY ON OLD YELLER

OLD YELLER

OLD YELLER
This was one of my favorite books during my childhood days. The book is a classic, and
Disney later made it into a motion picture. the story''s climax develops quickly by
telling stories 
and adventures of a boy named Travis and his old stray yellow dog named Yeller.At the
introduction of the book Travis is plowing corn in the garden when an old yellow darts
bye and causes the mule to jump. He chases the dog out of the garden and curses at him.
Then a few days later the stray dog ate some of the deer meat that was very important for
the family''s survival. Travis was very angered and threatened to kill the mischievious
yellow dog, but his younger brother, Arliss, would not allow this.
There are many more adventures that the book tells of Old Yeller throughout the story 
and I am going to put a heavy emphasis on the three that I enjoyed the most. First of all
Travis 
and his brother Arliss were out in the forest with their mother and were cutting wood.
This was 
going to be used to mend a fence that had broke in the yard. While Arliss was off on his
own 
exploring that day he ran across a small bear cub and began to play with it. Travis
yelled at him 
to turn the cub loose. Arliss could see the mother bear coming, but he was too frightened
to turn
the cub loose. Travis and his mother ran down the hill to assist Arliss, but they knew
that they 
were going to be too late. All of the sudden Old Yeller came like a flash and attacked
the bear 
from her side. The bear turned quickly to fight the dog off. Travis hoisted Arliss up and
threw 
him to their mother. Travis then began to run and shout at the two fighting animals. The
bear 
tucked it''s tail and left. Old Yeller had saved the life of Arliss and they were all
very appreciative of what Yeller had done.
One of the next highlights in the book is when Old Yeller knocks down Rose, the milk 
cow. Travis and Old Yeller were out in the woods looking for Rose because she had been
gone 
for three days without a trace. Rose had been expecting to give birth at any time and
went off by
herself to do this. Travis finally located Rose and she had already given birth to the
calf. Travis 
chased after the calf to lift it up. While attempting to do this Rose charged towards
him. It was at 
that time that Travis began to realize what a great dog he really had. Old Yeller dashed
and 
knocked down Rose then as she charged time and again at Yeller the dog tripped her up
several
times. Later on that day while Travis was milking Rose she kept kicking the milk bucket
over 
and would not allow Travis to milk her. In order to put a stop to this incident Travis
called over 
Old Yeller to keep Rose in line. Old Yeller stood directly in front of Rose and thrashed
forward 
staring at her. The heifer was so frightened that she did not even try to budge.
The final adventure of Old Yeller that I would like to portray is very tragic and sad. It

begins with Rose contracting a disease called hydrophobia. This is an extremely fatal
disease 
which brings fourth foaming at the mouth of the animal. Rose, the cow, is killed and then
burned 
so that no other animals would eat her and spread the disease. Mama and her daughter
Lisbeth
were burning the cow when a gray wolf tried to ambush them. Old Yeller came to their
rescue 
like a bolt of lightning and wrestled with the wolf. Both animals were biting and clawing
at each
other. Travis then retrieved his rifle, took aim, and shot the wolf. The wolf also had
hydrophobia 
so that meant that Old Yeller had the chance of obtaining the sickness as well. After
this incident 
they were forced to lock Old Yeller up in a woodshed for a few weeks while keeping an eye
on 
him to make sure that he did not become ill. Nothing happened for a few days, but one
night the 
dog almost bit Mother and tried to lunge at her. At that moment Travis had no choice but
to 
shoot Old Yeller because it had become evident that the dog had contracted the disease.
After 
putting the poor yellow dog out of it''s misery Travis took Yeller and buried him. As he
stood 
staring at the grave recollecting all the times Yeller had been there for he and his
family he grew 
very sad.
Lisbeth had soon later brought them a new puppy which helped to cheer Travis up. The 
puppy was one of Old Yeller''s offspring. He began to see similarities between the pup
and the 
old, yellow, stray named Old Yeller who had won over his heart. I really enjoyed reading
this 
book once again considering that it has probably been at least twelve years since I had
read it the last time. It has many exciting adventures and is a little sad, but the
ending helps to lift your spirit.