What Are The Plans For The Prize Money If Billy And His Dogs Win The Championship?

Where the Red Fern Grows | Quotes

The good Lord figured I had hurt enough ... it was time to lend a helping hand.

Billy, Chapter 3

This is the first time Billy mentions God's plans for him. Billy is a very spiritual boy who believes God sends divine help to encourage him in his hunting dreams. After Billy's prayer he finds a hunting magazine and is struck with ideas of how he can raise money to buy his dogs.

I wasn't scared of the darkness ... for I was raised in those mountains.

Billy, Chapter 4

As Billy travels to town, alone and in the middle of the night, he doesn't feel afraid. This highlights the strong connection Billy has with nature. The woods are home to him.

After all, not every boy owns two good hounds.

Billy, Chapter 5

In town Billy expects everyone to treat him with respect when they see his two beautiful pups. Instead, the townsfolk, particularly the schoolchildren, mock and bully him. This teaches Billy the lesson that it doesn't matter what others think of you—it matters only what you think of yourself.

I was ready to die for my dogs.

Billy, Chapter 5

When a mountain lion prowls around Billy's campsite on his way back from town, the puppies leap to defend their owner. Billy feels a strong instinct to protect his dogs at any cost. This scene highlights the instant loyalty felt between Billy and his dogs.

From now on I want you to catch them with your dogs.

Papa, Chapter 7

Although Billy easily caught a coon using Grandpa's nail-in-the-hole trap, Papa teaches Billy the "right" way to hunt. He wants to raise Billy to be fair and sportsmanlike, not to take the easiest, quickest route. The lesson is part of Billy's journey to manhood.

Women are a little different than men. They worry more.

Papa, Chapter 8

This quote highlights the stark gender divide in 1920s rural life. Differences between men and women were exaggerated, and each had distinct roles to fill. Women's roles were almost entirely domestic, while men were expected to be the sole breadwinners and to adhere to standards of masculinity.

If I don't, my dogs won't ever believe in me again.

Billy, Chapter 8

Billy tries to explain why it's so important for him to cut down the sycamore tree alone. His dogs did their part by treeing the first coon, and now Billy has to chop the tree down for the kill. Billy knows that if he fails his dogs on their first test, the trust in their relationship might be broken.

He only answers the ones that are said from the heart.

Mama, Chapter 11

Mama explains to Billy that God will answer prayers only if they're said wholeheartedly. Just as Billy demands loyalty and obedience from his dogs, so God demands the same from his believers.

What's the matter? You 'yellow'?

Rainie Pritchard, Chapter 12

Billy successfully fends off mockery and teasing from the neighborhood bullies until they question his masculinity. In a highly gendered society, Billy has no choice but to defend himself against Rainie's taunts. He accepts the bet proposed by the Pritchard brothers.

10.

Why kill him? He had lived here a long time.

Billy, Chapter 13

Billy's decision not to kill the ghost coon highlights his deep, almost spiritual relationship with nature. Even though he makes a living skinning raccoons, he respects animals and wants the hunt to be fair and sportsmanlike.

11.

It's not good for a young boy to feel that way.

Grandpa, Chapter 14

In a sign of the times, Grandpa tells Billy to ignore his feelings of guilt and sadness after Rubin Pritchard's death. To be a man in 1920s rural America, Billy needs to suppress his negative emotions, which are seen as a sign of weakness.

12.

These mountains are full of that jinx stuff. If a man believed it all, he'd go crazy.

Papa, Chapter 15

Although Papa raised Billy to be deeply spiritual, he doesn't have the same faith in local myths and traditions. Billy and Mama, however—perhaps because of Mama's Cherokee heritage—believe local superstitions, omens, and mythologies.

13.

I knew that in the veins of these hounds flowed the purest of breeded blood.

Billy, Chapter 15

Just as he felt out of place in town as a young boy, Billy feels intimidated by the caliber of dogs at the competition. He feels as if his dogs are inferior to the expensive, purebred dogs he sees there. The moral when Billy's dogs win is that pedigree doesn't matter as much as determination.

14.

All I wanted was my dogs.

Billy, Chapter 17

When Billy fears he's lost his dogs during the hunting competition, suddenly nothing else matters. Even though he's close to winning the trophies and prize money, his friendship with and loyalty to the dogs are more important.

15.

He doesn't like to see families split up. That's why they were taken away.

Papa, Chapter 19

After Billy's dogs die, Papa tries to console him by suggesting that their deaths were all part of God's plan. Billy doesn't believe this until he sees the red fern at the end of the novel. The fern convinces him that, just as Papa said, the dogs' deaths were God's will.

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