Old Yeller

Chapters 1-4

READING CHECK

1. How old is Travis when the story takes place?

Answer: fourteen

2. What does Papa tell Travis to do while he is gone?

Answer: to be the man of the family; to take care of things

3. What does Papa promise to bring Travis when he returns from Abilene?

Answer: a horse

4. What is the big “yeller” dog doing when Travis first encounters him?

Answer: stealing the family’s meat

5. From whom does Travis learn his hunting skills?

Answer: Papa

6. What does Little Arliss do when he gets mad at Travis for yelling at him and Old Yeller in the drinking water pool?

Answer: throws rocks at Travis

7. How does the fight end between the two bulls, Chongo and Roany?

Answer: Roany falls into a hay cart that rolls downhill; Chongo licks the spinning cartwheel.

QUIZ

1. When does the story take place?

A) the early 1860s, before the American Civil War

B) 1790, following the American Revolutionary War

C) 1913, just before World War I

D) the late 1860s, after the American Civil War

2. Where do Travis and his family live?

A) Colorado

B) Kansas

C) Texas

D) Missouri

3. Why does Travis hang the fresh venison where Old Yeller can reach it?

A) He knows Yeller is hungry and wants to give him some extra food.

B) He wants to prove Yeller is a thief and get rid of him.

C) He is curious to see if Yeller will resist the temptation.

D) He wants to see if Little Arliss will defend Yeller if the dog takes the meat again.

4. What type of narration is used in Old Yeller?

5. Why does Travis not want another dog, even though Papa says they need a good dog around the farm?

6. Why does Mama decide to keep Old Yeller?

7. Why doesn’t Old Yeller come to Travis when Travis tries to sic Yeller on the two bulls? 

8. Why does Travis want a horse?

Discussion Suggestion: Travis takes his new role as man of the family seriously. What does he think that being man of the family entails? In what ways does Travis show he is responsible enough to fill his father’s shoes? How does Travis reveal he is not yet ready to be in charge?

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. D

2. C

3. B

4. First-person

5. Travis loved his first dog, Bell, who died from a snakebite. He does not think another dog could ever replace Bell.

6. She knows Little Arliss is lonely and thinks he deserves to have a dog like Travis had when he was younger.

7. Yeller is afraid Travis will whip him.

8. A horse is a sign of adulthood. With a horse, Travis could travel farther and be more like his father. Having a horse is more grown-up than having a dog.

Chapters 5-8

READING CHECK

1. What animal does Old Yeller save Little Arliss from?

Answer: an angry mama bear

2. Why hasn’t Old Yeller been eating the food Travis and Mama give him?

Answer: Yeller is stealing food from other homesteads.

3. How do Travis and Little Arliss keep Old Yeller from raiding?

Answer: They let Yeller sleep with them.

4. Who is Burn Sanderson?

Answer: Yeller’s owner, a cattleman

5. What does Little Arliss do when Sanderson tries to take Yeller?

Answer: throws rocks at him and his horse

6. What does Sanderson trade Old Yeller for?

Answer: a home-cooked meal

QUIZ

1. What does Travis realize after Old Yeller saves Little Arliss?

A) He realizes how dangerous wild animals can be.

B) He realizes how much he loves his brother.

C) He realizes the importance of clean drinking water.

D) He realizes the importance of being a good shot.

2. Searcy’s stories about hydrophobia and Sanderson’s warning are examples of what literary device?

A) metaphor

B) allegory

C) personification

D) foreshadowing

3. How does Travis feel when he realizes Sanderson is going to take Yeller?

A) glad that Yeller will finally be gone

B) proud that he trained Yeller to be a good cattle dog

C) heartbroken because he cares for Yeller

D) worried that Little Arliss will be sad

4. Why does Lisbeth promise not to tell anyone that Yeller is stealing food?

5. What is one way Old Yeller proves helpful around the farm?

6. Why does Mama turn down Sanderson’s offer to keep Yeller until Papa returns?

7. What does Sanderson tell Travis to do if he sees animals acting unnaturally?

8. Why is hydrophobia dangerous?

Discussion Suggestion: Consider the literary conflict, character vs. nature. How does Gipson portray this conflict in Old Yeller? What dangers do the Coates family face in their daily lives on the homestead? What character traits do Travis, Mama, and Papa each have that help them survive the challenges of nature?

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. B

2. D

3. C

4. Lisbeth’s dog is going to have Yeller’s pups.

5. Some possible answers: Yeller helps protect the corn crop. Yeller helps tame Spot, the heifer.

6. Mama knows that the longer they keep Yeller, the harder it will be to give him up.

7. Travis should shoot them and keep them away from the family.

8. During the period in which the novel is set, hydrophobia is a fatal disease for animals and people, spreads easily, and has no cure.

Chapters 9-12

READING CHECK

1. What dangerous task does Yeller help Travis with?

Answer: marking their wild hogs

2. What happens to Travis when the riverbank gives way?

Answer: He falls amongst the hogs and is injured.

3. What does Travis promise Yeller when the dog is wounded?

Answer: Travis promises to get help and come back for Yeller.

5. Why does Mama tell Little Arliss to go hunt for lizards?

Answer: to distract him so he will not see Yeller’s injuries

3. How does Mama help Yeller?

Answer: She sews up his wounds.

4. How does the family get Yeller back to the cabin?

Answer: on a makeshift cowhide stretcher pulled by Jumper

6. What does Lisbeth bring Travis?

Answer: a puppy that is Old Yeller’s son

7. What does Bud Searcy do to assist the Coates family?

Answer: He has Lisbeth stay with them to help Mama.

QUIZ

1. How does Travis feel about marking the wild hogs?

A) the job is tedious and boring

B) the job is exciting and fun

C) the job is terrifying and upsetting

D) the job is messy and gross

2. Who is Jumper?

A) the family mule

B) an annoying bull

C) a calf that leaps the family’s fence

D) the neighbor’s dog

3. How does Travis feel after he tells Lisbeth he does not want the puppy?

A) proud for acting like a man

B) glad that Little Arliss will have a puppy

C) regretful for hurting her feelings

D) frustrated that there will be another dog in the house

4. How does Yeller show his loyalty to Travis?

5. How does Travis show his loyalty to Yeller?

6. Why does Travis reject the puppy?

Discussion Suggestion: When Travis and Yeller are injured, caring for them and handling their work falls to Mama and Lisbeth. Consider the roles of women in the story. In what ways do Mama and Lisbeth exemplify traditional female gender roles of the time? Do they step outside these traditional roles? How?

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. B

2. A

3. C

4. Yeller fights off the hogs so that Travis can escape.

5. Travis defies his mother’s direction to stay home and keeps his promise to go back and help Yeller.

6. He thinks a puppy is too immature for him. He feels grown up and has a “grown dog” in Yeller.

Chapters 13-16

READING CHECK

1. What happens when Mama tries to milk Spot?

Answer: Spot attacks Mama.

2. Why does Travis shoot the roan range bull?

Answer: It has hydrophobia and threatens the family.

3. What does the smell of the burning bull attract?

Answer: wolves and other predators

4. Why does Travis stay behind when Mama, Lisbeth, and Yeller go to burn Spot’s body?

Answer: He is still weak from his injury and must watch Little Arliss.

5. What animal does Old Yeller fight to protect Mama and Lisbeth?

Answer: a huge gray wolf

6. What must Travis do when his mother explains that Old Yeller is probably infected?

Answer: shoot Old Yeller

QUIZ

1. Why is Travis upset that Lisbeth can do most of his jobs?

2. Why must Travis and Mama burn Spot’s and the bull’s bodies?

3. How does Travis feel after Old Yeller’s death?

A) eager to forget the past and ride his new horse

B) heartsick and dead inside

C) proud he was able to shoot Yeller like a man

D) resigned and accepting

4. What advice does Papa give Travis about life and adulthood?

5. What finally helps Travis feel better after Yeller’s death?

A) riding his horse

B) teaching Little Arliss how to hunt squirrels

C) seeing how the speckled pup is like Yeller

D) listening to Mama talk to him about Yeller

Discussion Suggestion: Seeing Yeller’s pup steal some cornbread “loosens” something inside Travis and he starts to feel better after Yeller’s death. Why does the puppy help Travis heal from Yeller’s death? How does Travis’s opinion of the puppy change? Why? Think about the cycle of life, how the natural world transitions from birth, through growth, to death. In what ways does the novel reflect this natural cycle?

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. Lisbeth is a girl, and Travis, as a ‘man,’ is supposed to be able to do more than she can.

2. They do not want other animals eating their infected meat and spreading sickness.

3. B

4. Papa tells him not to dwell on the bad times and waste the good times.

5. C