I’ve already talked about my uneasiness with how Rawlings uses gender in the novel. Those moments certainly help me understand why many people loved this book when it came out-it wasn’t just a Pulitzer winner, but a major best-seller-and why some still read it and recommend it to others today.īut the other side of The Yearling gets to be too much for me. The storm and its aftermath are probably the best section of the book for me, since they really bring home how hard it is to live where the Baxters do, and how inventive and enterprising they have to be just to keep food on their table. At its most winning, it’s an engrossing experience, walking me through a world I don’t particularly know (the swampy farmland outside of Volusia, Florida), and helping me understand an era of small subsistence farming that is important to remember. There are certainly things to praise about Rawlings’ novel-her use of setting, most critically, and also some of her character development. The Yearling has been, as you’ve seen, a bumpy ride. A barn in Cross Creek, Florida-Rawlings lived nearby, so this is part of the setting that I imagine inspired her.
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