Old YellerBy: Ashlynne

Hartman

Fred Gipson’s Life

His real name is Frederick Benjamin Gipson. He was born on February 7,1908. He died on August 14, 1973, at 75 years of age. He is most famous for his novel Old Yeller, which was published in 1956, and the classical Walt Disney movie, Old Yeller.

Setting

• When: Late 1800’s• Where: Salt Licks, Texas• Clues: Wild Hogs, Prickly Pear Roots,

and Pea-Vine.

Characters

• Old Yeller- A brave and fearless big ugly “Yeller” dog in Travis’s opinion.

• Travis Coats- A teenager that’s having to grow-up fast, and be the man of the house.

• Mama (Mrs.Coates)- Travis and Little Arliss’s mother.

• Papa- Travis and Little Arliss’s father.

• Bud Searcy- A man that liked to talk about everybody.

Characters (continued)

• Burn Sanderson- A man from San Antonio, Texas. Old Yeller’s original owner.

• Lisabeth- Bud Searcy’s granddaughter.

• Little Arliss- Travis’s little brother that’s a brat.

Author’s Purpose

• Fred Gipson wrote this book to entertain.

Sequence- Chap. 1-4

In chapters 1-4, Papa went to Abilene, Kasnas with the other men. On his way out, Papa promised Travis a horse if he did the duties his Mama wanted him to do. After Papa left, an old ugly “Yeller” dog showed up at the Coats’ residence. Travis tried to get him to go away and tried to throw rocks at him. When he went to do that, Old Yeller went to hollering and pitching a fit. And Little Arliss came out and defended his dog, Old Yeller.

Sequence chap. 5-8

In chapters 5-8, Arliss and his catching wild critter habits, got him in a life or death situation. Arliss saw a black bear cub, and grabbed his leg. When that happened, the cub’s Mama heard her cub, and goes to attack him and Old Yeller jumps in and attacks the she-bear.

Sequence 9-16

In chapters 9-16, Travis and Old Yeller go out hog marking, and Travis finds a tree that is good to get hogs. When Travis falls out of the tree, he gets slashed in the leg by the hogs. When Old Yeller jumps in to save Travis, but he doesn't have time to defend himself. After that, when Lisabeth and Mama go out to burn Spot, a wolf with hydrophobia attacks Old Yeller, and Travis has to shoot Old Yeller.

Little Arliss and Travis

Little Arliss and Travis are different because, Travis is a mature teenager, and Little Arliss is a immature 6 year old. Little Arliss runs naked all the time and Travis always is dressed and presentable for anything life throws at him.They are the same because, they are both boys, they both love Old Yeller, and they are brothers.

Theme

• A boy is losing his child innocence and becoming a man.

Summary

Old Yeller is a novel about a boy, a dog, a little brother, and a lot of hard decisions. In this novel, a family is threatened by a plague of hydrophobia, and is worried to death that Old Yeller is going to catch it. In the end of the book, Old Yeller saves Mama and Lisabeth from a mad wolf, and Old Yeller gets hydrophobia, then Travis has to shoot him.