Doe Season-#3

The woods in the story, "Doe Season" by David Kaplan symbolize the youth of Andy as a child. She begins the story on her first deer hunting trip with her father and two other males. Although at first Andy seems like a young boys name, Andy in this story represents a nine year old girl. The woods are a safe place to her, somewhere that is familiar and good. Andy doesn't have much to worry about when she is in the wood; no standards to live up to, no responsibilities to attend to.
During the hunting trip she begins to see the woods as a different place, a new place with uncharted territory. In the story Andy talks about the time she first saw the ocean: "That was the first time she had ever seen the ocean, and it frightened her. It was huge and empty, yet always moving. Everything lay hidden" (Kaplan, 459). This symbolizes her conflict with growing older, becoming an adult. When you're young, everything is simple, almost worry free. However, this transition from young to old often happens within the blink of an eye and before you know it, you are no longer a child.
"There just has to be one moment when it all changes from light to dark" (461), is another example of how Andy is trying to savor her youth. She wants to realize when she is going through the transition from childhood to adulthood. However this transition, as stated earlier, just happens. The woods are Andy's childhood, seemingly unchanging, and the ocean is her uncertain adulthood that is just around the corner.