Woodrow Wilson Rawls was an American writer. His most famous writings are “Where the Red Fern Grows” and “Summer of the Monkeys“. Though, both of them are children’s novels but explore deeper meaning implicitly.
Moreover, his literary works present the picture of perturbed circumstances of America particularly in the age of the Great Depression. As well as, his aforementioned novels explore the adversity of lower classes. Before coming to the spotlight, he was an unpolished writer. His early manuscripts consisted of numerous grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors.
His novel ” Where the Red Fern Grows” was written in 1961 and received the “Evansville Book Award, Division III”. Similarly, his other notable novel “Summer of the Monkeys” also received “The Oklahoma Library Association’s Sequoyah Children’s Book Award” in 1979. Both of these novels are considered classics for young readers.
Wilson Rawls’ Biography
Woodrow Wilson Rawls was born in Scraper, Cherokee County, Oklahoma, on September 24, 1913. He was brought up on a family farm. His mother Winnie Hatfield Rawls was given some land by the federal government since she was a Native American.
He did not receive his formal schooling rather he was homeschooled by his mother. In his childhood, he was immensely inspired by Jack London’s “The Call of the Wild”. Also, this inspiration soon turned into his desire of becoming a writer.
In 1929, the Great Depression hit the United States drastically. The country started facing economic upheaval and people were becoming jobless and financially unstable. Rawls’ family also encountered an extreme financial crisis. Given that, Rawls left home in order to earn something and support his family.
His family left Oklahoma and moved towards Albuquerque, New Mexico. His father also got a job there at a local toothpaste factory.
Moreover, he became a Carpenter. Also, he traveled to South America, Canada, and Alaska in order to work on construction sites in 1930 and 1940. He also wrote manuscripts while traveling.
However, these manuscripts contained numerous grammatical, punctuation, and spelling mistakes due to his lack of formal education. He never showed it to anyone, rather it kept them hidden in his father’s trunk of the workshop.
Afterward, Rawls started working for a construction company on a guided missile range in the Southwest in the late 1950s. Later on, the company transferred him to Idaho Falls on a construction site. He was there on a contract to work for the Atomic Energy Commission. He stayed in a cabin at Mud Lake while working for the atomic energy commission.
As well as, he met his future wife, Sophie Ann Styczinski. She was working as a budget analyst for the Atomic Energy Commission. They fell in love with each other and got married on August 23, 1958.
In 1958, just before getting into his marital life, he succumbed to his dream of becoming a writer. He visited his parents and burned all his manuscripts.
Later on, he revealed his secret desire of becoming a writer and burning his manuscripts. In contrast, Sophie appreciated his desire and encouraged him to rewrite one of his works again.
On his wife’s encouragement, he made himself rewrite “Where the Red Fern Grows” in three weeks. He gave it to his wife in order to edit since he lacks formal education. Sophie appreciated his stories and as well edited it, removing all grammatical, punctuation, and spelling mistakes from it. They took the story to the publisher.
After serialization in Sunday Evening Post, Doubleday printed the book formally in 1961. At first, the book didn’t get the attention of the public. However, students and teachers after reading it began a campaign of word-of-mouth publicity for the novel in the late 60s. This escalated the sales of the novel.
Doubleday, after witnessing such fame, arranged speaking engagements for Rawls in schools across the United States.
These speaking engagements made Rawls an influential speaker as well. Before his diagnosis of cancer, he visited 2,000 schools across the United States. He died on December 16, 1984, because of cancer.
Romanticism in Rawls novels
In his novels, he not just celebrates the beauty of nature rather it’s power too. He is of the opinion that nature is a lens through which one can find his inner self. According to him, both nature and man are inseparable and dependent on each other.
It is evident from the character of Billy in his novel “Where the Red Fern Grows”. He lives in the rural area and exploring the ecosystem around him, he succeeds in achieving the understanding of his inner self.
Rawls says:
“I am an ardent fly fisherman and a hunter. I wouldn’t trade a good bedroll by a blue mountain stream for the best bed in the Waldorf-Astoria.”
His admiration for nature is expressed in his own aforementioned quote. He states people like to sleep in a fancy hotel Waldorf-Astoria. However, he would prefer to sleep under the starlit sky in his sleeping bag. Hence, he represents nature as a positive influence on him.
Animal characters in his novels
Rawls has written two notable novels and both include different animal characters. This is his other technique of depicting a relationship between nature and man. In his novel “Where the Red Fern Grows” he has shown a friendly relationship between both creatures.
The protagonist of the novel learned a lot of things through his pets and developed familial feelings for them. Rawls states “It was wonderful indeed how I could have heart-to-heart talks with my dogs and they always seemed to understand”
Through the animal characters, he insinuates the apathy of people of that era. He pinpoints their lack of emotions and highlights their brutal involvement in the war. He expressed that even animals are more sensitive than humans.
Wilson Rawls’ Writing style
He has frequently used imagery and symbolism in his works. He usually describes things by picturing it through the tactics of incredible imagery. He has pictured both rural and urban areas in his novel. However, he describes it the way he has experienced.
In the case of the rural locality, he emphasized its beauty by making it appealing for the readers. He accentuates nature by stressing its vitality before the readers. He exhibits rivers, plants, and even animals in a way that readers may get to know the importance of ecosystems.
Similarly, he inserts natural symbols in his novels like “dogs” and “red fern” in “Where the Red Fern Grows”. Via such symbols in the novel, he vitalizes its presence, worth, and role that it plays in human life. Moreover, he adds rational ideas with the help of such symbols.
On the other hand, he also provides rich details of animals’ character. He uses onomatopoeia to make readers completely sense the happenings.
Language and tone
Rawls employs the language in his novel which is easily comprehensible. Though, his overall works show as if written for children. However, it’s language is simpler but suggests it’s written from an adult perspective. Moreover, it’s language is also symbolic, through that, he digs deeper meaning into the text.
The language is carried along with an optimistic tone. Even in tense situations in the novel, he uses an optimistic tone. In this way, he conveys the message of hope to his readers.
Autobiographical elements
Rawls portrayed his own life in his novels. He has used protagonists as his mouthpiece to recount his own life experience in a fictional way. In this way, his novels have a subjective approach.
In both of his novels, the protagonists are endeavoring hard to achieve something. They are mostly represented as detached characters. Moreover, in both novels, the protagonist is hardworking and tries to support his family.
This is the representation of his own life when even in childhood he worked on a family farm in order to assist his father.
Similarly, the protagonists belong to lower classes and their desires are always hindered by the fewer resources. Rawls at that point also provides glimpses of his own life and how his life was messed up in the age of Great depression. He almost killed his desire of becoming a writer due to fewer resources.
Main themes of Rawls writings
Hardships and Poverty
Rawls has used his writings to depict his own life in a fictional way. Therefore, his writings mostly include the theme of hardships. He highlights the sufferings of lower classes in both of his novels, particularly when they kill their desire due to poverty.
Hope and Faith
Despite depicting life with hardships Rawls also conveys a message of hope and faith in both of his novels. He exhibits in his works the poverty and hardships of characters but he ends his novels with happy endings. He showcases the wishes of characters coming true.
The Great Depression
Rawls implicitly interweaves the effects of the Great Depression in his novels. He exhibits economic instability due to which people migrate to urban areas in search of better opportunities. Also, he depicts the detached environment of urban areas.
Due to the hard-hit of the Great Depression, everyone was running after money. He has shown it through the desires of protagonists implicitly. They wish to collect money in order to fulfill their desires.
In “Where the Red Fern Grows” Billy wants to collect money in order to buy puppies. On the other hand, in “Summer of the Monkeys” Jay Berry wanted to bargain monkeys to get money.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, Rawls is an epitome of struggles and challenges. From his writings and life, he has shown courage. His writings exhibit his life implicitly the way he faced challenges. Moreover, it also provides glimpses of the age of the Great Depression. His writings are motivational and easily comprehensible even for a layman.