JODY AWARD - THIRD PLACE
7th Grade: Kate Popky, All Saints’ Day School
In The Red Pony by John Steinbeck, the protagonist, Jody, is given a pony named Gabilan.
Through Gabilan, Jody becomes responsible, learns that all humans are fallible, and changes from a
loss of innocence.
When Jody first meets the pony, he is described by John Steinbeck as a young, innocent boy. “He
gazed down at his hands for a moment, and asked very shyly, ‘Mine?’” As Jody learns to care for his
new pet, he also becomes more responsible in his chores.
For example, before Gabilan, Jody carelessly rushed to finish his chores, now he carefully stacks
the sticks into the woodbox. In addition, Jody becomes eager to train Gabilan. He wakes up before
the triangle rings to get him out of bed. “It became his habit to creep out of bed even before his
mother was awake, to slip into his clothes and go to quietly down to the barn to see Gabilan.”
Eventually, Jody halter breaks and saddle trains Gabilan, and learns to be patient from these tasks. In
these ways, Jody matures and learns the responsibilities of caring for a pet.
Through Gabilan, Jody learns that all humans are fallible, and that there are times when a situation
isn’t in your control.
Billy Buck assures Jody, “Not likely to rain today. She’s rained herself out.” Uneasy, Jody leaves for
school, and it begins to rain. Trusting that Billy Buck will bring the horse in, Jody ignores his parental
instincts to check on Gabilan. After school, Jody rushes home. “From the top of the ridge, he could
see Gabilan standing miserably in the corral.”
Billy Buck’s fatal mistake causes Gabilan to fall sick with the “strangles” and eventually leads to his
demise. Jody is shocked by this turn of events, he always thought that Billy Buck was infallible.
“Below, in one of the little clearings in the brush lay the red pony.” In this tragic moment, Jody
discovers that Gabilan has died. “Force on by panic and rage, Jody viciously kills a buzzard circling
Gabilan’s carcass.”
I went through a similar experience with my dog, Stella. While I was at school an announcement
over the intercom called me to the office. I could feel an uncertainty in the air, described by John
Steinbeck as “a feeling of change and of loss and of the gain of new and unfamiliar things.”
I met my parents in the office and the broke the bad news to me. My dog, Stella, had developed an
incurable cancerous tumor around her heart. When I visited Stella in the hospital, she weakly wagged
her tail, but I could tell that she was in a lot of pain. We later made the unfortunate decision to put her
down and take her out of her misery. When she died, I went through many emotions, just as Jody did
when he discovers Gabilan died. I felt responsible for her death, wishing that I’d noticed her strange
behavior. I wish the doctors had discovered the tumor before it was too late. I was forced to realize
that nothing lasts forever, and that you can’t always control what happens to your loved ones.
Jody becomes responsible, learns that all humans are fallible, and loses his innocence through the
death of Gabilan. We all learn these important life lessons in various ways. John Steinbeck’s novel,
The Red Pony, gives a realistic example of this maturation through the relationship between Jody and
his pony.
Kate Popky
All Saints’ Day School
Coach: Andrea Weiss