"Doe Season"

"They were the same woods that lay behind her house, and they stretch all the way to here, she thought...(paragragh 1). Thinking of this gave Andy comfort that things don't seem to chang in her childhood. This is why when she entered the woods things seemed different. This was the beginning of Andy's change into adulthood. As a child she had foundcomfort in knowing that things were always the same. The ocean had scared her and she did not feel comfortable walking into the unkown water. Her mother was not afraid and this made her think of the unexpected chages of becoming an adult. "Blowing through the treetops, it sounded like the ocean, and once Andy thought she could smell salt air." (paragraph 45) The wind in the woods reminded her of the ocean and how frightened she was by it. This symbolized her fear of the unknown in the woods and of shooting a deer. Andy is aware that a change his coming but is not sure what it is until she shoots the doe and saw it lying dead. At this point she realized that she had changed and she no longer wanted to be known as Andy.

Doe Season

Childhood can be compared to the description of the woods being "always the same", in that when you think as a child, changes don't impact you as much as long as you have the basics (mom,dad, home, food, school, etc.). A child's life is fairly simplified and a child will look at his surroundings and see them as just part of his world. When a child grows into a teenager and then an adult, "the woods", or familiar places (like home), become much smaller and life can be better compared to the ocean. In this "ocean", the world becomes much larger and more complex as the maturing mind begins to analyze everything around it and connecting oneself to these surroundings in a different way. Andy discovered that her actions had changed the world, a living being stopped existing because of her choice. In the same way, teenagers and adults begin to see how their choices render the consequences around them. For Andy, the shooting of the doe triggered her transition from a comfortable, simple existence to the "terrible, now inevitable, sea" of adulthood, wherein she has already discovered that many questions don't have easy answers and many problems don't have simple solutions. Even her name has lost it's innocence and she runs from the fallen doe with the thought that "she would no longer be called that [Andy]".

Doe Season

"They were always the same woods, she thought sleepily as they drove the early morning darkness." (pg.1) This was Andy's thoughts about the woods as her father and her leave on a journey that will change Andy's life forever. The woods in which they are about to retreat to are so large that Andy believes they connect to her home and cross country. This is well related to how she explains the ocean when she visited it. Andy was not afraid of the woods. In fact she was quite excited to be on hunting trip with her father; even if it also involved Charlie and his son Mac, a friened of her fathers. Andy was scared of the ocean the first time just as she was to shoot her first deer. If her father hdn't been so persistant she may not have shot at the doe. Andy's dream was quite disturbing yet it changed something inside her; almost as if she understood the doe. "huge and empty, yet always moving." (pg.45) This is the same as the ocean always has waves yet not people and the woods always has animals moving around in it yet without the wind or people. At the end of the story is no longer "Andy" after shooting the doe, she must then become Andrea.

Doe Season

In the story Doe Season. It talks about how the wind "blowing through the tree tops, it sounded like the ocean, and it frieghtend her." It was huge and empty and always moving". (459) I think Andy was hoping to become an adult, with going out and making her first kill, with the other adults. As the story talks about the woods being huge and empty like the ocean, which she was also scared of. She was scared to walk out in the ocean, afraid of how deep it was or what might be in there that she couldn't see. She was also scared to pull the trigger, scared of killing the deer. But when she was in the ocean, she was too scared to go out to deep, showing the child side of her. And when out in the woods, when she made her first kill, is when she went from childhood to adulthood.

"The Chrysanthemums"

There may be two different symbolic things here.
Elisa Allen is smbolic of women in the olden days who minded their own business and did what women were supposed to do. "When she heard him splashing in the tub, Elisa laid hie dark suit on the bed, and shirt and socks and tie beside it. She stood his polished shoes on the floor beside the bed."(p.638. 95) In this statement of her actions, Elisa had been the prime wife in those days symbolically showing her husband that she knows her place. Then there is the chrysanthemums.
The chrysanthemums are symbolic of what she would like to be. They seem to portray the idea that she would like to rid of certain things in her life and do more. "It's when you're picking off the buds you don't want." This is symbolic of her regret and desires all at the same time. The colors of the flowers may be used to interpret her longing to be bright (happy). "Kind of a long-stemmed flower? Looks like a quick puff of colred smoke?" he asked.p.635) "Quick puff of colored smoke": can symbolize a sense of boldness and independence, all things that she does not stand for (only desires to).

"The Chrysanthemums"

"The Chrysanthemums"

The chrysanthemums symbolize Elisa Allen; beautiful, strong, earthbound. The story occurs at a time where a woman’s place was well defined. They are to embody feminism, do menial household tasks, and leave the serious work to men. When the man in the wagon showed up she secretly envied him, he represented all she could not be. He was free, independent, in charge of his own destiny. His hands were cracked and unwashed, her own protected by gloves. Knowing she could never live that kind of life, the idea of something she grew and that which represented her, the chrysanthemums, “escaping” her garden was the next best thing. After the man leaves she prepares for her night out. Despite yearning to break the convention she is expected to adhere to, she makes herself attractive in the typical feminine style. She scrubbed the soil and rough spots off her body, put on a fancy dress, and put on rouge. On the way to town for a typical night out of dinner and a movie, something her husband mentioned jokingly earlier suddenly intrigued her. Going to see men fight, witnessing the violence, something a proper woman should have no interest in, sparked her curiosity. After casually inquiring about the fight she relents and tearfully relinquished into her place as a proper woman. At least the potted chrysanthemum was on its way to an unknown destiny.

Doe Season

Andy compared the distance of the woods and the ocean and the moon. I see this compare and contrast as how small or young that she views herself. She states in the first paragraph that the woods are always the same, but yet when they arrived to hunt in them, they were then different. Four hunters making noise and tracks in these quiet woods. They were small compared to the mile and miles of woods, just like the ocean in paragraph 45. "The ocean was huge and empty, yet always moving". The woods are huge and appear to be empty when you want them to be full of deer during deer season. But the animals are always moving.
In her memory, she is afraid of what is under the water, but admires her mom for going out past the break point. Her mother was very brave, and I think she is very brave for going on a hunting trip with all men, trying to impress them.
She shot the first doe, which I think proves how quick she is growing up in this story. Along with her not wanting to be called Andy anymore. She wanted to be called by her grown woman name from now on.

"Doe Season"

Andy first states that the woods were “always the same.”(paragraph 1). Andy finds out by going on her first hunting trip that they are not always the same. This time she would have to do something that she thought she was ready to do; which was to shoot a deer. She was afraid of this. Andy recalled another time when she was afraid. This was a new experience for Andy and it brought her back to a previous experience that she encountered. It was when she first saw the ocean water, which scared her. Andy recalled that the ocean water did not scare her mother. “Her mother had floated beyond the breakers, calling her to come in, but Andy wouldn’t go farther than a few feet into the surf.” (paragraph 45). David Michael Kaplan wanted to compare the innocence and fearfulness of a child to the bravery and courageousness of an adult. In paragraph 1, “always the same woods” symbolizes childhood because someone is always going to be there to protect you. Later in the story when Andy recalls the ocean as being “huge and empty, yet always moving,” on paragraph 45, symbolizes that how life changes when you become an adult. Andy’s life changed and she grew up when she realized that the woods were not always the same. The hunting trip also made Andy realize that sometimes you do things that you don’t want to do. It also made her realize that things are not always what they seem to be.

"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.

Doe Season

The woods suggests that Andy's childhood was "always the same" for miles and miles. As she transitions into her adulthood her life would become huge and empty, yet always moving. As stated in paragraph 45 "She and her parents had gone last summer to stay for a week at a motel on the New Jersey shore. That was the first time she'd seen the ocean, and it frightened her." This is also brought up after she shoots the deer. As a child begins to grow, life starts to throw you different things and many different "hurddles" arise. The blood supports the story's initial theme of being scared. Growing up as a child there are many things that scare different people. After Andy shoot's the deer, she is scared initially. She has a nightmare that night but the next day they find the deer and she is no longer scared. Another theme that they may be suggesting is menstration.