Mama Character Analysis in Old Yeller

Mama is Travis and Little Arliss’s mother. Though mama is a kind, generous woman, she’s just as gritty as she is gentle. A hard life in the Texas Hill Country has prepared her to weather almost anything—and unlike her son Travis, she’s wise to the ways in which the wilderness can to intrude quickly and mercilessly on daily life. Mama is generous with her sons—she understands that although their personalities are vastly different, they must be taught to get along. She works to help them better understand and respect each other, often using Old Yeller as a point of connection that the two boys can bond over. Mama herself has a soft spot for animals and nature: though she’s most often in the house cooking, cleaning, and taking care of her boys, she has no qualms about venturing out into the wilderness to fend for herself when push comes to shove. When Travis and Old Yeller are injured while tagging hogs, Mama comes to the rescue: she mends Travis’s leg, sews up Old Yeller’s wounds, and comes up with an ingenious method of ferrying them both home from the site of the accident. When Old Yeller saves Mama and Lisbeth Searcy from a rabid wolf while they’re out gathering firewood one evening, Mama is devastated by what must be done—but she warns Travis that if he doesn’t shoot Old Yeller in order to ensure that his hydrophobia (rabies) infection doesn’t spread from him to their family, she’ll do the deed herself. Tough and resourceful yet lighthearted, Mama forms the emotional core of her family’s lives and indeed of the novel itself.

Mama Quotes in Old Yeller

The Old Yeller quotes below are all either spoken by Mama or refer to Mama. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

We sat and ate and listened to [the bulls]. We could tell by their rumblings and bawlings that they were gradually working their way down through the brush toward each other and getting madder by the minute.

I always liked to see a fight between bulls or bears or wild boars or almost any wild animals. Now, I got so excited that I jumped up from the table and went to the door and stood listening. I'd made up my mind that if the bulls met and started a fight, I was going to see it.

Related Characters: Travis Coates (speaker), Little Arliss, Mama, Chongo and Roany

Page Number and Citation: 26

Explanation and Analysis:

Every night before Mama let him go to bed, she'd make Arliss empty his pockets of whatever he'd captured during the day. Generally, it would be a tangled-up mess of grasshoppers and worms and praying bugs and little rusty tree lizards. […] Sometimes it was stuff like a young bird that had fallen out of its nest before it could fly, or a green-speckled spring frog or a striped water snake. And once he turned out of his pocket a wadded-up baby copperhead that nearly threw Mama into spasms.

Related Characters: Travis Coates (speaker), Little Arliss, Mama

Page Number and Citation: 35

Explanation and Analysis:

That day when I saw [Little Arliss] in the spring, so helpless against the angry she bear, I learned different. I knew then that I loved him as much as I did Mama and Papa, maybe in some ways even a little bit more.

So it was only natural for me to come to love the dog that saved him.

After that, I couldn't do enough for Old Yeller. What if he was a big ugly meat-stealing rascal? […] None of that made a lick of difference now. He’d pitched in and saved Little Arliss when I couldn’t possibly have done it, and that was enough for me.

Related Characters: Travis Coates (speaker), Old Yeller, Little Arliss, Mama, Papa

Page Number and Citation: 43-44

Explanation and Analysis:

This sure looked like a case of hydrophobia to [Bud] Searcy, as anybody knew that no fox in his right mind was going to jump on a hunter.

Which reminded him of an uncle of his that got mad-dog bit down in the piney woods of East Texas. This was way back when Searcy was a little boy. As soon as the dog bit him, the man knew he was bound to die; so he went and got a big log chain and tied one end around the bottom of a tree and the other one to one of his legs. And right there he stayed till the sickness got him and he lost his mind.

Related Characters: Travis Coates (speaker), Mama, Bud Searcy

Related Symbols: Hydrophobia (Rabies)

Page Number and Citation: 50

Explanation and Analysis:

In a way, it sort of hurt my pride for a little old girl like Lisbeth to come in and take over my jobs. Papa had left me to look after things. But now I was laid up, and here was a girl handling my work about as good as I could. Still, she couldn't get out and mark hogs or kill meat or swing a chopping axe. . .

Related Characters: Travis Coates (speaker), Little Arliss, Mama, Papa, Lisbeth Searcy

Page Number and Citation: 106

Explanation and Analysis:

We couldn't leave the dead bull to lie there that close to the cabin. In a few days, the scent of rotting flesh would drive us out. Also, the carcass lay too close to the spring. Mama was afraid it would foul up our drinking water.

"We'll have to try to drag it further from the cabin and burn it," she said.

"Burn it?" I said in surprise. "Why can't we just leave it for the buzzards and varmints to clean up?"

"Because that might spread the sickness," Mama said. "If the varmints eat it, they might get the sickness, too."

Related Characters: Travis Coates (speaker), Mama (speaker), Papa, Chongo and Roany

Related Symbols: Hydrophobia (Rabies)

Page Number and Citation: 114

Explanation and Analysis:

I went off to the spring after a bucket of fresh water and wondered when Papa would come back. Mama had said a couple of days ago that it was about that time, and I hoped so. […] This hydrophobia plague had me scared. I'd handled things pretty well until that came along. Of course, I'd gotten a pretty bad hog cut, but that could have happened to anybody, even a grown man. And I was about to get well of that. But if the sickness got more of our cattle, I wouldn't know what to do.

Related Characters: Travis Coates (speaker), Old Yeller, Mama, Papa, Lisbeth Searcy, Spot

Related Symbols: Hydrophobia (Rabies)

Page Number and Citation: 119

Explanation and Analysis:

"But Mama," I said. "We don't know for certain. We could wait and see. We could tie him or shut him up in the corncrib or some place till we know for sure!"

Mama broke down and went to crying then. She put her head on my shoulder and held me so tight that she nearly choked off my breath.

"We can't take a chance, Son,” she sobbed. "It would be you or me or Little Arliss or Lisbeth next. I'll shoot him if you can't, but either way, we've got to do it. We just can't take the chance!"

Related Characters: Travis Coates (speaker), Mama (speaker), Old Yeller, Little Arliss, Lisbeth Searcy

Related Symbols: Hydrophobia (Rabies)

Page Number and Citation: 126

Explanation and Analysis:

It was going to kill something inside me to do it, but I knew then that I had to shoot my big yeller dog.

Once I knew for sure I had it to do, I don't think I really felt anything. I was just numb all over, like a dead man walking.

Quickly, I left Mama and went to stand in the light of the burning bear grass. I reloaded my gun and called Old Yeller back from the house. I stuck the muzzle of the gun against his head and pulled the trigger.

Related Characters: Travis Coates (speaker), Old Yeller, Mama, Papa

Related Symbols: Hydrophobia (Rabies)

Page Number and Citation: 127

Explanation and Analysis:

Mama Character Timeline in Old Yeller

The timeline below shows where the character Mama appears in Old Yeller. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

After Papa says goodbye to Mama and Little Arliss, Travis walks him to his horse. Papa tells Travis that he expects... (full context)

...and approaches Arliss, so Arliss hurries out of the water and runs for the house. Mama, hearing the commotion, comes outside and asks what’s going on. Travis, using Papa’s trademark language,... (full context)

...switch, and Jumper immediately starts walking again. Back up at the house, Travis finds that Mama and Little Arliss have waited for him to come home before starting to eat supper—just... (full context)

...taught Little Arliss and Jumper that he’s not to be messed with, and he’s shown Mama that he’s “man enough to wait supper on.” Travis falls asleep happily, confident that he... (full context)

Mama and Little Arliss come out to see what all the fuss is about. As soon... (full context)

...rocks directly at his five-year-old brother. Instead, he heads up to the house to tell Mama what’s going on. Mama punishes Arliss for playing in the watering hole—but she also yells... (full context)

A couple of days later, Travis, Mama, and Little Arliss are eating lunch when they hear something outside. Almost immediately, Travis recognizes... (full context)

Travis then runs outside to sit on the split-rail fence and watch the bulls. Mama and Little Arliss follow him. Travis announces he’s betting on “Chongo” to win—Mama, however, thinks... (full context)

...whooping and cheering. The bulls collide and charge at each other again and again. Soon, Mama realizes that the bulls are headed straight for the split-rail fence, and she pulls Little... (full context)

As Travis looks at Mama and Little Arliss, he sees terror on their faces. Travis decides that he’s not scared... (full context)

...keep creatures and insects, large and small. Each night, when Arliss comes in from playing, Mama makes him empty his pockets—often, Arliss pulls out worms, lizards, grasshoppers, frogs, and even venomous... (full context)

...Little Arliss brings the fish inside, even though the fish’s scales cut up his hands. Mama bandages Arliss’s wounds and cooks the fish up for dinner. Throughout the meal, Little Arliss... (full context)

...him away from the cub. He picks his brother up and runs with him toward Mama, who has come out of the cabin at all the commotion. Travis is prepared to... (full context)

...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... (full context)

...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. (full context)

Bud, Mama, Travis, and Lisbeth sit and talk. Bud checks in on how Mama has been holding... (full context)

After thinking a lot about what to do, Travis decides to tell Mama what Lisbeth told him about Old Yeller stealing from their neighbors. Mama suggests that Travis... (full context)

Travis realizes just how badly he needs Old Yeller when Mama declares that it’s time for a new milk heifer. The only available heifer the family... (full context)

...Sanderson, a newcomer to Salt Licks, arrives at the Coateses’ cabin. He introduces himself to Mama and explains that he has come down from San Antonio on a cattle drive, bringing... (full context)

Mama cooks a fabulous multi-course meal, and everyone eats their fill. After dinner, Burn sits around... (full context)

...vigilant and to not let anything that seems to have hydrophobia get anywhere near him, Mama, or Arliss. Travis says that he’s not scared—he’ll do what needs to be done. “That’s... (full context)

...tagging his family’s hogs, which run loose on the range. The hogs are wild and aggressive—Mama is terrified of them, and she hates the idea of Travis going out to tag... (full context)

...Travis gets home, his leg is acting up. The cut muscle jerks and twitches, frightening Mama. Mama refuses to help take Travis back out to get Old Yeller until he lets... (full context)

...still alive. Travis rolls away the stump in front of Old Yeller’s little hideout, and Mama immediately starts tending to Old Yeller’s wounds. She orders Travis to get a long hair... (full context)

When Mama is finished sewing Old Yeller up, she tells Arliss that it’s time to play a... (full context)

...telling whether the yowls and screams of pain he hears are his or Old Yeller’s. Mama works hard to keep Travis’s fever down and to make sure his leg is covered... (full context)

...in bed, beating himself up for being dismissive toward Lisbeth, he overhears Bud Searcy telling Mama that he plans to leave Lisbeth with her to help out around the house until... (full context)

...too big or too small for her. Travis watches wistfully as Lisbeth, Little Arliss, and Mama work together to harvest corn. He’s is sad that he can’t help, and his pride... (full context)

...in wide, confused circles, lowing and staggering. Two or three days later, the roan bull Mama nicknamed Roany appears on the ranch—he, too, is staggering, reeling, and moaning. When Old Yeller... (full context)

Knowing what he must do, Travis asks for Mama to bring him his gun. He can see from the window that Roany is headed... (full context)

Mama knows that the dead bull’s corpse can’t be left lying where it is—it’ll smell up... (full context)

Once Roany’s corpse is gone, Mama tells Travis it’s time to do the same thing with Spot—Spot has to be killed... (full context)

...sundown, and Little Arliss is in the yard playing with his pup. Travis wonders why Mama and Lisbeth aren’t back yet. He heads to the spring to get some water. As... (full context)

After dark, Mama and Lisbeth still aren’t home, which makes Travis deeply worried and uneasy. He knows that... (full context)

...Old Yeller tangling with a giant, rabid wolf. Travis is afraid to shoot—he might hit Mama, Lisbeth, or Old Yeller. He waits a moment for a good shot: when the wolf’s... (full context)

Mama comes over to Travis and tells him about how they encountered the wolf at the... (full context)

Travis begs Mama to let Old Yeller live—he claims that there’s no way to know for certain that... (full context)

...his love for Old Yeller and how guilty he feels about shooting him so unceremoniously. Mama and Lisbeth try to comfort Travis, but their words are no use. One night, it... (full context)

About a week later, as Travis feeds Jumper some lunch, he hears Mama yelling at Little Arliss’s speckled pup—the one fathered by Old Yeller. The puppy has stolen... (full context)