"Doe Season" By David Michael Kaplan

In this story David Kaplan uses symbolism to represent the transition from childhood to adulthood. In the beginning of the story Andy says,"They were always the same woods" and "it was like thinking of the space between here and the moon" (pg. 456). The woods may be symbolic of Andy's world, her own safe haven, where everything is always the same. When she is out in the woods with her father and his friends however, the woods become unfamiliar. This symbolizes the transition that she is going through to become an adult. This experience is new and unfamiliar to her. When Andy spots the doe and is getting ready to shoot it she is thinking,"Why doesn't it hear us, why doesn't it run away" (pg. 464). When Andy is thinking these thoughts it symbolizes her fear and uncertainty of making the final move to becoming an adult (shooting the doe). There is another scene in the story where Andy is having a dream about the doe. There was a part in the dream where Andy "pressed deeper, through flesh and muscle and sinew, until her whole hand and more was inside the wound and she had found the doe's heart" (pg 466). This may symbolize the guilt that Andy feels from shooting the deer, she feels like she took everything away from the doe. The doe symbolizes the innocence that Andy possesses and by shooting and killing the deer she no longer feels that that part of her exists. Andy is transitioning into adulthood, and when she finally realizes how scary it is, she runs away.