by M G Vassanji

SYNOPSIS CHAPTER 1 

                         Richard,father and Gus went hunting after the heavy snow had stopped.

They went to their hunting cabin and stayed there.On Sunday morning before sunrise, the 

three of them went down the river and found a pool where deer came to drink.They hid to 

wait for a deer to come.Richard was nervous because his father wanted him to shoot his

 first deer. A deer come to the pool and his father instructed Richard to shoot instead 

of his brother.Richard could not kill the animal and he missed the shot.Gus was angry

 and wanted to shoot the deer but Pa stopped him. Pa told them that they were 

leaving and sometimes hunters missed their shot.Richard's father asked him why

 he left the buck go  on purpose and he told him that he didn't like to kill animal and

 that he didn't like killing

 rabbit before.Pa told him that death is a part of life and that Pa also felt some grief after

 killing. Pa told Richard not to come hunting anymore if he didn't want to. Richard went

 back to the cabin and gave him some advice.Gus wanted Richard to be in sports and

 fit in with others.Richard asked Gus how he felt killing animal and Gus told him that he 

felt no remorse at all.Then,Richard knew that Pa and Gus had different feelings about 

hunting and killing animal.When their father comeback.They started walking back home 

and talked about war in europe since 1914.Gus wanted to join the army but Pa said that

 without education , you went nowhere but after school they could do whatever they

 wanted to do.That night at dinner while Pa and Gus wer talking about sports,

boxing in general,Richard went to the kitchen to help his sister

,Angie.He felt sad and pitiful that 

Angie had to stop school and stayed at home as full time farm's woman organising the 

house and helping with the farm. However Angie said that it was her duty and father

 was a difficult man because he lost two people in his life.After that,Richard went up 

to his room and he remembered the first time he went hunting with Pa, Gus and 

Grandpa.When granpa killed a deer,Richard tried his best not to cry.To take away

 the sadness,he wrote a poem.

My crayons made it white and brown,

Nature made it shy,

God made it fleet of food,

But Grandpa made it die.

Richard felt better after writing down the poem and then he kept at his poetry .

No one knew Richard wrote poetry and he did not want them to know because to

 them he already strange.

Setting

Time : The early morning, February ,War raging 1914.

Place : Tiny hunting cabin, near the pool in the forest , Prairie,Dining

 room,Kitchen.

Theme

Human vs nature

Family Relationship

Moral values

1. We must appreciate the nature by protecting in anyway possible
2. We have to accept our family members for who they are