Tiara Walker
November 21, 2014
English 232 -08
Cheryl Breaux

In John Steinbeck’s, The Red Pony: The Promise, Steinbeck discusses the situation and outcomes of a promise that was made to a young boy by the name of Jody. Jody is promised to be given a new colt buy his father, however, the situation does not end how Jody expected it to be. With this promise, Jody experiences the reality of responsibility, life, and disappointment in this section of The Red Pony. When promised to be given a new colt by his father, Carl Tiflin, Jody has to take on new responsibilities in order to earn his new colt. Carl informs Jody that the colt would cost five dollars, and he would have to take care of their horse, Nellie, until the colt is born. Steinbeck states, “He went to work with his unprecedented seriousness. This night he did not dump the can of grain to the chickens so that they had to leap over each other…he spread the grain so carefully that the hens couldn’t find some of it at all” (2126). With his responsibilities, Jody became more mature. He realized that in order to receive his colt, and handle his responsibilities that he also had to grow up. He states, “Indeed, Jody felt that all such foolishness was lost in the past. He was far too grown up ever to put horny-toads in his lunch pail anymore” (2126). Growing up as a child, when I was given responsibilities, it gave me a sense of wanting to be more of an adult. Having to work to earn something is a major shift in a child’s life, opposed to just being given things from your parents. Working to earn something makes a person more careful in what they do, and how they handle their work. However, Jody remained constant in his work, and continued to work hard for what he wanted. Although Jody began to worry about Nellie having the colt, he stuck to his promise, never gave up on his word, and continued to handle his responsibilities. Also, Jody gets to experience the reality of life itself. Steinbeck incorporates situations of life and death in his text though nature, foreshadowing situations that would later happen in the text. Jody is able to witness the creation of life when he watches Nellie breed her new colt. However, as time goes by, he gets worried because he sees no changes in Nellie. Joy is afraid that he will be let down again by Billy. Billy was once responsible for the death of Jody’s previous horse. Steinbeck foreshadows death stating, “On the other hand, the black cypress tree by the bunkhouse was as repulsive as the water-tub was dear, for to this tress all the pugs came, sooner or later, to be slaughtered…The water tub and the black cypress was opposites and enemies” (2130). I believe this foreshadowed the death of Nellie later on in the story. Jody is well aware of the black cypress tree, and knows that it brings him bad luck. Steinbeck claimed, “Then suddenly he saw that he was under the black cypress…It seemed to him an unlucky ting to be thinking of his colt in the very slaughter place” (2130). Jody knows that the black cypress brings him bad luck. Later on in the story when Nellie is ready to deliver her colt, situations take an unexpected turn. “Billy muttered nervously, ‘There’s something wrong.’ His bare hand disappeared, ‘Oh, Jesus,’ he said. ‘It’s wrong.’” Nellie’s colt is turned the wrong way, and Billy has to kill Nellie in order to save the colt. Steinbeck describes, “And then he heard a