The short story “Doe Season” was written by David Michael Kaplan in 1985. Kaplan is considered to be a magic realist. Magic realism is a literary genre in which the story is realistic but it includes magical elements. “Doe Season” first appeared in his collection of short stories titled Comfort. This short story was chosen as one of the Best American Short Stories in 1985. He continued his work when he published his first novel called Skating in the Dark in 1991. He currently works Loyola University Chicago where he heads the Creative Writing Program. This is a thorough critical analysis of the short story “Doe Season” through characterization, plot, setting, symbolism, and theme. The main characters in “Doe Season” are Andy, Andy’s father,
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The woods are the primary location of the story. The woods are the primary setting of the story because this is where the hunting trip takes place. However, there happens to be another significant location where the story takes place, and that is the ocean. Andy recounts a time when they took a vacation to the New Jersey shore. Her mom swam in the vast ocean until the point where she lost her bathing suit top. Andy was embarrassed to see her mother’s feminine aspects. This story occurs in present time because the reader is not given any significant details about the time …show more content…
Looking at the title “Doe Season,” the reader can interpret it to mean “female time.” Instantly the reader can see the story will be about the passage of a pre-teen girl into womanhood. Further, the woods symbolize her childhood. She feels safe and secure in the woods. In contrast, the ocean represents womanhood. Andy describes it as frightening and terrible. The name “Andy” also holds symbolic value. Once the reader hears the name “Andy,” it is assumed that she is a male. However, the reader soon finds that Andy is a female. She prefers the name “Andy,” because it takes away the frightening aspects of womanhood. Furthermore, Andy dreams one night about the deer that she shot, and she states that there was a great deal of blood. Once she woke up from this dream, she felt the roaring of the inevitable ocean. This dream symbolizes the female menstrual cycle since it is the transfer from childhood to
The woods are the primary location of the story. The woods are the primary setting of the story because this is where the hunting trip takes place. However, there happens to be another significant location where the story takes place, and that is the ocean. Andy recounts a time when they took a vacation to the New Jersey shore. Her mom swam in the vast ocean until the point where she lost her bathing suit top. Andy was embarrassed to see her mother’s feminine aspects. This story occurs in present time because the reader is not given any significant details about the time …show more content…
Looking at the title “Doe Season,” the reader can interpret it to mean “female time.” Instantly the reader can see the story will be about the passage of a pre-teen girl into womanhood. Further, the woods symbolize her childhood. She feels safe and secure in the woods. In contrast, the ocean represents womanhood. Andy describes it as frightening and terrible. The name “Andy” also holds symbolic value. Once the reader hears the name “Andy,” it is assumed that she is a male. However, the reader soon finds that Andy is a female. She prefers the name “Andy,” because it takes away the frightening aspects of womanhood. Furthermore, Andy dreams one night about the deer that she shot, and she states that there was a great deal of blood. Once she woke up from this dream, she felt the roaring of the inevitable ocean. This dream symbolizes the female menstrual cycle since it is the transfer from childhood to