The Doe Season Theme

Andy’s loss of Innocence and Identity Change through a Traumatic Event Often times, the mental development, loss of innocence, and discovering of identity in children is a gradual process. Traumatic events in one’s life may cause early maturation of these processes in young children. In “Doe Season”, David Michael Kaplan uses third person limited point of view through Andy to manifest the idea that death is an impressionable tragedy on young innocent children still discovering their identity. Kaplan’s use of this point of view allows the reader to see not only the reactions stemming from death of the deer, but all of the emotions and thoughts through the innocent mind of the major character, Andy. Initially, Andy is portrayed as an innocent nine year old as her dad, his friend, and his friend’s son, Mac, begin their hunting trip. The introduction and the first night of the hunting trip establish the innocence and nieveness of Andy. Her father refers to her as …show more content…
She not only runs away from the horrific, bloody deer, but from her childhood, her innocence, her old identity. When her father calls back to her, she doesn’t turn back. “Andy, Andy (but that wasn’t her name, she would no longer be called that)” (176). Andy’s tomboy identity is gone, and her preferred name is now Andrea.
Throughout the short story, Andy is harassed, her innocence and identity are both made fun of. These obstacles don’t seem to deter her, though. Rather, they are used to establish her strong willed personality, as she attempts to prove herself worthy of hunting with men. However, Andy killing of the deer, and seeing the pain and suffering she caused, is enough to completely change everything. Kaplan’s use of third person omniscient point of view allows the reader to see specifically into Andy’s thoughts, and how the death of the deer ultimately changes her perspective and