"Doe Season"

Throughout David Kaplan's "Doe Season," Andy mentally compares and contrasts the woods that she resides in with the ocean she once visited. This contrast symbolizes the similarities and differences between childhood and the adult world which Andy is exploring.

Andy is comforted by the woods because "they were always the same". She thinks to herself, "They stretch [...] longer than I could walk in a day [...], but they are still the same woods" (456). These woods are like her life as a child--safe, comforting, predictable. "There was no place she would rather be" (458).

However, Andy's recollections of the ocean are just the opposite. The ocean "frightened her." "It was huge and empty, yet always moving. Everything lay hidden" (459). While both the ocean and woods were quite expansive (possibly signifying the vast array of experiences in both childhood and adulthood), the ocean was everything the woods were not. It was scary, unnerving, and unpredictable.

As Andy follows her father through a majority of the hunt, she remains comfortably within her role as a child. Her father is nearby, and life is simple. He tells her what to do, and she does it. He is around to protect her, guide her, and ensure her welfare, just as the woods are always around her as a security blanket.

The moment Andy is handed the gun, however, she momentarily enters the world of adulthood. The status quo has suddenly changed, and she must make her own decision: shoot the doe to please the hunting party, or let the doe run off to safety. No one can choose for her. Her situation is much like the ocean she recalls, which was "always moving" and in which "Everything lay hidden." She has yet to discover what the consequences of either decision may entail. Later, as Andrea flees the scene while her father guts the deer, she realizes that the "sea" of adulthood is "now inevitable" (467).

Thus, the contrast between the woods and the ocean effectively signifies the contrast between childhood and adulthood. Children must eventually become adults by learning to make their own decisions, even when unsure of the consequences.