entrance into the forest may be interpreted as a step toward his own initiation into society, while the bull itself represents the primal impetus toward knowledge. Immediately after Jim’s revelation he finds himself swimming with Corely. Pushing water off his body, Jim notices that his hand had been, a new feeling came. He did not remember such a feeling at all. “[w]here When Corley came and was standing, white, above him, he felt ashamed but did not know why” (SR 111 V 51). The bull elicits Jim’s new sensations of physical awareness, the same modesty produced by original sin. Unaware or perhaps unwilling to allow their boys to reach natural level of maturity, the adults of the story slaughter the bull. As the story closes Jim overhears about the bad old bull being gone out of the wood and how little children don’t have “something to be afraid anymore” (SR 120 V 51). The adults in the story ultimately cannot allow their son to begin his own growth and suspend him in a state of safe and complacent childhood. Removed from his natural rights of initiation, Jim languishes in immaturity. Leatherman returned to the the next year with Sportsman,” a about Jim SR “The Daigre’s first try at fishing. With his father unwilling to teach him how to fish on his own, Jim is pushed into learning by Corley. While he manages to hook an impressive catch, he is incapable of accepting his father’s pride as Corley and then his father retell the story over and again. Jim will naturally come by some experience of his own, but without a guide he fails to realize any deeper significance behind his actions, thus misunderstanding the importance of the “fish-story” in relation to the act of fishing. Lytle outlines a strikingly similar scene in his short story “The Mahogany Frame” (first published as Guide” in the in 1945) centered on a young boy’s SR “The first duck hunt with his uncle. Hunting is an accidental sort of initiation in Lytle’s estimation, especially as it is revealed in the story. Paralleling one another in their writing, Lytle and Leatherman’s relationship grew and continued well beyond their early correspondence on
entrance into the forest may be interpreted as a step toward his own initiation into society, while the bull itself represents the primal impetus toward knowledge. Immediately after Jim’s revelation he finds himself swimming with Corely. Pushing water off his body, Jim notices that “[w]here his hand had been, a new feeling came. He did not remember such a feeling at all. When Corley came and was standing, white, above him, he felt ashamed but did not know why” (SR 111 V 51). The bull elicits Jim’s new sensations of physical awareness, the same modesty produced by original sin. Unaware or perhaps unwilling to allow their boys to reach natural level of maturity, the adults of the story slaughter the bull. As the story closes Jim overhears “something about the bad old bull being gone out of the wood and how little children don’t have to be afraid anymore” (SR 120 V 51). The adults in the story ultimately cannot allow their son to begin his own growth and suspend him in a state of safe and complacent childhood. Removed from his natural rights of initiation, Jim languishes in immaturity. Leatherman returned to the SR the next year with “The Sportsman,” a about Jim Daigre’s first try at fishing. With his father unwilling to teach him how to fish on his own, Jim is pushed into learning by Corley. While he manages to hook an impressive catch, he is incapable of accepting his father’s pride as Corley and then his father retell the story over and again. Jim will naturally come by some experience of his own, but without a guide he fails to realize any deeper significance behind his actions, thus misunderstanding the importance of the “fish-story” in relation to the act of fishing. Lytle outlines a strikingly similar scene in his short story “The Mahogany Frame” (first published as “The Guide” in the SR in 1945) centered on a young boy’s first duck hunt with his uncle. Hunting is an accidental sort of initiation in Lytle’s estimation, especially as it is revealed in the story. Paralleling one another in their writing, Lytle and Leatherman’s relationship grew and continued well beyond their early correspondence on