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Chapter 5
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Old Yeller, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
People and Animals
Masculinity and Emotion
Bravery vs. Fear
Coming of Age and Responsibility
Summary
Analysis
After the incident at the spring, Travis feels his attitude toward Little Arliss change. Whereas for years he simply tolerated Little Arliss, he now realizes that he loves his little brother just as much as he loves Mama and Papa. Travis also begins to feel great affection for Old Yeller, the dog that saved his beloved little brother. He’s is suddenly willing to overlook all of Old Yeller’s bad habits, treating the dog like a friend and companion rather than a nuisance.
To show his appreciation for both Old Yeller and Little Arliss, Travis takes the two of them on a squirrel hunt. Travis finds Arliss to be annoying company, but the hunt is successful: they bring home five squirrels for supper. A week later, Old Yeller helps Travis recapture a huge turkey after Little Arliss distracts Travis while he tries to shoot it, resulting in a bad shot. When Travis tries to reward Old Yeller by giving him a piece of turkey that evening, Old Yeller refuses it. Mama and Travis wonder what Old Yeller has been eating to keep himself full.
Though Travis still often finds Little Arliss annoying, the positive shared relationship he and Arliss have with Old Yeller helps bridge many of the gaps between the two brothers. Travis and Mama, however, begin to notice that Old Yeller is almost too helpful—his behavior seems too good to be true.
Themes
The next day, Bud Searcy—a gregarious but lazy neighbor of the Coateses’—drops by with his 11-year-old granddaughter Lisbeth, a tomboyish and sweet-natured blonde. Travis likes Lisbeth—but when she looks at him, he gets nervous because he feels she can see what he’s thinking. Lisbeth and Bud bring their female blue-tick hound with him—Old Yeller and the dog begin playing and romping around right away, then go off to mate.
The Searcys’ arrival—and the almost instantaneous mating that occurs between Old Yeller and the Searcys’ hound—illustrates yet another way in which the human world and the animal world can be connected. The Searcys have long been the Coateses’ neighbors, yet the relationship seems to have been a distant one until now: as the two dogs mate, Gipson foreshadows a deeper alliance between the two families.
Themes
Bud, Mama, Travis, and Lisbeth sit and talk. Bud checks in on how Mama has been holding up in Papa’s absence and then changes the topic to goings-on within the Hill Country. He mentions Rosal Simpson having recently seen an aggressive fox that seemed to have a case of hydrophobia, or rabies. Bud tells a story about an uncle of his who was bitten by a mad dog years ago—before hydrophobia could set in, the man tied himself to a tree with log chains so that he wouldn’t be able to attack his family when he himself became rabid. He died within days. Bud then moves on to talking about a “strange varmint” that has started stealing from smokehouses and henhouses throughout the settlement. Travis gets an uneasy feeling, and Lisbeth motions for him to get up and come with her.
As Bud Searcy talks about the goings-on in the Hill Country, his observations foreshadow trouble for everyone in this region. Most importantly, he mentions a sighing of an animal infected by hydrophobia (rabies), which is one of the book’s central symbols. As Bud tells the story about his uncle getting bitten by a rabid dog and slowly going mad himself, Gipson illustrates how animals and people are profoundly interconnected—diseases like rabies can plague and decimate human populations as well as animal ones.
Themes
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Outside, near the spring, Lisbeth tells Travis that Old Yeller is the strange varmint—she’s seen him steal from her and her grandfather’s own backyard, but she’s not going to tell anyone. Lisbeth says that her hound, Miss Prissy, will soon have puppies—Old Yeller will be the father of the litter, and Lisbeth doesn’t want the puppies’ father to get shot. Unsure of how to thank Lisbeth, Travis gives her an arrowhead he found a few days ago. Lisbeth happily accepts it and runs off. Travis remains worried that someone will spot Old Yeller stealing and harm him. That night, after gathering up the eggs from the hen house, Travis offers one to Old Yeller, who refuses to take it. Travis tells Old Yeller he can see right through him. “When they shoot you, I’m going to laugh,” Travis says, even though he knows he wouldn’t.
This passage provides even more foreshadowing about the tragic events to come later on in the novel. Travis recognizes that Old Yeller’s mischievous behavior—which Travis has come to finding endearing, in a way—makes him a target for those who don’t find him as likable as the Coateses do. Travis still wants to distance himself from Old Yeller—perhaps because he knows that Old Yeller, as a perennial thief, is in constant danger of being shot. He essentially tells Old Yeller that the dog will have it coming if he gets shot while stealing—but Travis knows he’s already more emotionally attached to the animal than he ever intended to be.
Themes
