Sentimental Tripe

Having read through this thread, I'm struck by the number of those who completely missed the period of the film and its characters. From time to time I come across the same cultural differences in the youth of today who take all that we have in the 21st Century for granted.

THE YEARLING is set immediately after the end of the Civil War. At that time the only vaccinations available were for rabies and smallpox. Smallpox was preventative and rabies was after exposure. Unfortunately most people did not have access to that benefit of health care. Today we have vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, whooping cough (pertussis), diphtheria, tetanus and polio. Any one of these or a simple cold could have carried off Orrie's and Penny's babies. There were three graves in the film and six in the book. Post partum depression, which is presumably the illness Orrie suffered from, had no treatment in the 19th Century. I'm uncertain that it had a name. In rural Florida it would certainly have been an unknown mental condition.

To those of you who believe that Jody behaved in a sentimental manner, or that he was naive, he lived more than 150 years ago. This child had never traveled more than 5 miles from his home before he ran away. He had to carry all the water they used from the pump into their house. They had no flush toilet, no running water and no bath or shower in their home. Chances are you have running water in your kitchen, hot and cold and the same in your bathroom no matter how poor you may be. When Jody went to town with his father, he was impressed with the sights. Are you judging his reactions and comparing him with a child from the 21st Century?

Jody never attended school a day in his life but all of you do. You see or speak with your friends on the telephone regularly. For Jody it was a special day when he saw his friend Fodderwing. He lived too far away to attend school in town. Jody learned the alphabet at his mother's side and reading from Orrie. Going to church on holidays was a treat. If you wish you can attend any worship service you like and many if not most of you live close enough to have your choice of any religious service you wish to attend. These changes, i.e., neighborhood schools, local churches, utilities, suburbs, all happened in the 20th Century and are all taken for granted by nearly everyone, especially the younger generations. They haven't always been available to everyone.

It goes on but it seems to me that it isn't Jody who is naive but rather the viewers who are somewhat jaded and cynical. Jody's a boy whose life is like that of one who lived in a western...but you missed it a little. It happens.

Try this, see if it helps: imagine Jody as the son of a poor farmer from a western. Penny scratching in the dirt, trying to feed his family from year to year, hunger hovering over their cabin like a ghost. True, unlike the sere desert west they could always hunt deer, feral hogs or go fishing, but they depended on the corn crop for their daily bread. It was cornbread they ate day in and day out. They were not short of water, but they still had to haul it in buckets and tubs. Do you remember that they were saving to dig a new brick well for their yard?

It was the lush and verdant beauty of Florida that fooled you all. It does that, don't be surprised. In the 19th Century steamboats on the St John's River transported people on the waterway. Still the interior was a mystery to most people.

How do I know all this? My grandmother told me stories about living in the woods. She was a pioneer. My family history goes back long before that Jody's family's time in Florida. The Minorcans who came to Florida more than 250 years ago are my ancestors on my mother's side of the family. If you'd like to know our history, Google Minorcan + St Augustine.