Summary of Devil Deer
Rudolfo Anaya's "Devil Deer" is a profound narrative that explores the cultural roots of the Pueblo people and the modern environmental threats they face. This post provides a comprehensive look at the author's background, a word-for-word summary of the story, essential question-and-answer sets, and a critical appreciation of the work.
Rudolfo Anaya (30 October 1937-28 June 2020) was an American novelist, educator and author. He was born in Pastura, New Mexico. He earned a B.A. in English in 1963, an MA in 1968 and a second MA in guidance counselling in 1972 from the University of New Mexico.
He also worked as a high school English teacher in the Albuquerque public school from 1963 until 1968. His first novel “Bless Me” ultimately began as a trilogy including Heart of Aztlan and Tortuga in 1979. He won the “PEN” West centre Fiction Award for his novel Albuquerque 1992. Additionally, he wrote short stories and children’s books, plays and poems too. He received many famous awards such as the El Fuego Nuevo award, Excellence in Humanities award etc.
Summary of The Story
Devil Deer is a story published in Arellano Journal in 1992. It is a short story about a hunter who killed a deer known to be a devil. In the story, a hunter pursues what seems to be a powerful deer. After he kills it, he sees a deer that has been poisoned and deformed by a sort of black magic. The radiation of the Los Alamos Labs, The beautiful landscape has been poisoned as well, and now perhaps the life of the hunter is also threatened.
The Hunting Season
When the story begins, the winter season is about to end and in autumn farmers have harvested their farm and there is a lot of discussion going on about hunting bucks as the season of hunting deer is on. Men start preparing (Repairing) their rifles for it. The culture of going hunting deer has been going for a long time. It was the time to feed the family well. Most of the females expect that they would have big and strong deer gifted by their men.
Cruz and the Journey to Black Ridge
“Cruz”, a central character of the story, was also excited about deer season because he was impressed by the deer story told by the neighbours. Every young hunter was worried because there was less chance to get deers easily as the population of deer was decreasing day by day. Taking that in mind, Cruz and his friend Joe decided to go to “Black Ridge” where the pine trees were thick and a dark part of the ridge was fenced in by the Los Alamos Laboratory. It was rumoured that hunting near Los Alamos Laboratory is very risky and dangerous because it was fenced by electric circuit supply or lab guards might arrest them.
The Solitary Hunt
Cruz decided to go to Black Ridge alone when the season started because his friend Joe broke his leg a few days before the hunting. Joe suggested Cruz go with his cousin as he wouldn’t go there alone. Cruz wanted big deer for his family so he started his journey alone. He drove his truck up to Los Alamos Fence. He slept in it without Fire and camp throughout the night.
“Not even the medicine of your grandfathers can help you here”
The dream warning
The Omen and the Encounter
Early in the morning, he set off on his journey with the leather bag, the fetish stone and a black bear. Then he remembered the dream that he had at night. The bear was completely deformed and warned him to go back saying “Not even the medicine of your grandfathers can help you here”. Cruz deeply thought about the dream. He came out of the truck and saw that the forest was glowing in the darkness. He sensed something bizarre there. The place was somewhat magical. He felt someone or something was dying in the forest and breathing in agony. It seemed as if the breath of life was going out of the mountain. He became restless and thought he shouldn’t have gone there alone. But, he finally made up his mind. He took the breakfast (Beef sandwich and coffee), checked his rifle, and moved on following the track of the road along with the fence.
The Kill and the Deformity
Soon he found the deer (buck) standing inside the fence. When he looked at it, he felt that there was a vibration of the earth as if the entire ridge was moving. He secretly went near it, undisturbed to get a good shot but the deer itself was following him. There were no good signs for Cruz because when he opened his leather bag, he found there was a crack in the stone bear. However, he shot the deer which seemed peculiar by its appearance and presence.
Noticing the deer was following him, he took it near to his truck and finally killed it. He ran to cut its throat to drain its blood. He stopped because the deer was deformed. He felt uneasy and started vomiting. He saw its legs were bent and gnarled. Its tail was long like a donkey's tail, he was not happy about what he did. He was unlikely to take it but was compelled to do so. He was cursing himself about his mistake of killing deformed deer. He put it in the truck and returned back to Pueblo to show it to the old men of the village. He reached home at night.
Joey “his friend” joined him at first, he and other neighbours got horrified when they saw the devil deer. Cruz was taken to the house and deformed deer was taken by the old men of the village to burn it rather than to eat it. They wanted to perform a ritual to be free from the sin that Cruz committed by killing the deer inside the fence of Los Alamos Laboratory.
Short Questions
1. Why were the pueblo people happy when the deer season came?
Pueblo people were happy when the deer season came because it was the season when they could provide a good meal to their family by hunting deer.
2. Who were Cruz and Joe? Where were they planning to go and why?
Cruz and Joey were friends. They were planning to go to a faraway place called “Dark Ridge” for hunting. They were sure that they would get bucks for hunting.
3. Why was it difficult to hunt near the fence? Explain.
It was difficult to hunt near the fence because it was rumoured that the fence had an electric circuit and Lab guards might arrest them.
4. What happened when Cruz fired the rifle to kill the deer?
The sound of the rifle echoed down the ridge. Nearby, a black crow cried in surprise and rose in the air. The wind moaned in the treetops. The chill in the air made Cruz shiver when he fired the rifle.
5. Describe the situation when Cruz reached home after hunting.
It was completely dark, Cruz was not happy after killing it. Joe joined Cruz. He was shocked by the look of devil deer. Neighbours were surprised and stunned because of the sin committed by Cruz.
6. What does the story say about ecology and human life?
Ecology and human life are interrelated to one another but because of human’s needs and greed, it has imbalanced the ecosystem. Wildlife has been badly affected by the barbarian activities of human beings. The writer wants to say that we should preserve wildlife and nature if we want to live peacefully in the biosphere.
7. In what sense was the deer devil? Or justify the title of the story.
The deer in the story turned out to be a devil because it was deformed by the effects of the chemicals of the Los Alamos Laboratory. It walked inside the fence off of the lab. It was not in its proper shape. It looked strange and totally different.
8. Who is the main character of the story? Draw the character sketch of him.
The central character of the story is the young, energetic, enthusiastic person Cruz. He is the main character because the whole story “Devil Deer” revolves around him. From the beginning till the end, he dominates the story. He is seen as a person of strong willpower, dedicated and hardworking fellow. He is a responsible member of his family. He tolerates hardships to perform his duty towards his family. He gets success over his plan even though it turns out to be futile in the end.
Critical Appreciation
Devil Deer is a short story written by Rudolfo Anaya, an American novelist, educator and author. This story was published in the Arellano Journal in 1992. The story shows the culture, tradition and way of living of the people of pueblo. People of villages are obliged to earn a living by connecting them with nature. Every year they go hunting for animals from the forest, especially deer. They unknowingly kill many wild animals, as a result, the population of deer is decreasing every year. Every next time they have to go deep in the forest to hunt. Cruz and Joe are friends in the story. They also make plans for hunting together but later Cruz himself does so because of the leg injury of Joe.
Cruz shoots a big buck inside the “Los Alamos Laboratory” fence but doesn’t feel happy because he notices that the deer was deformed by the impure air and chemicals of the laboratory. He feels that he is also going to be attacked by an unknown/incurable disease. The incident killing deer and Cruz’s discontentment denote that we human beings vandalize nature and the natural world for survival or for personal benefit so we break the balance in the ecosystem and put human life in threat just as Cruz did in the story.
