Everyone loves that "dog dies" ending in Where the Red Fern Grows but I think it's manipulative

I read it for the first time last Tuesday at age 34 and felt nothing when Old Dan went down. The whole story just builds toward that moment and it felt cheap, like the author didn't trust us to care about the characters any other way. Am I the only one who thinks sad endings need to earn their sadness instead of just stacking tragedies?

2 comments

2 Comments

allen.ruby20d ago

I totally get what you mean about "stacking tragedies" feeling cheap. For me, the key is when a sad moment feels earned by the character's own choices, not just piled on by the plot. Like in Old Yeller, the ending hits so hard because the boy himself has to pull the trigger and make that horrible call, not just watch something bad happen to his dog. It's the difference between watching a car crash and having to personally decide to end your best friend's suffering.

colemiller20d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah that "earned" thing is exactly where my head was at. @allen.ruby you nailed it with the Old Yeller comparison, having the kid pull the trigger himself makes it feel real instead of just stacking sad stuff until you cry. I read somewhere that Rawls wrote the whole book in like two weeks and it kind of shows, like he knew the ending would carry the weight so he didn't bother making the middle parts feel genuine.