In "The Red Pony", John Steinbeck's celebration of the spirit and courage of adolescence, we meet Like most ten-year-old boys, Jody feels the urge for rebellion as well as the need to be loved. In these stories, Jody begins to learn about adulthood - its pains, its responsibilities and its problems - through the acceptance of his father's gifts. First he is given a red pony and later he is promised the colt of a bay mare. But both these gifts bring tragedy as well as joy, and life (and death), but is also made painfully aware of the fallibility of adults. . .