One’s a Heifer by Sinclair Ross Essay Example

On rust cook-stove were two big, steaming pots of bran. Next to the stove stood a grindstone, then a white iron bed covered with blankets and horse coats.”

6) Every time Vickers mentions his loneliness, he refers to the lack of friends in his life, a certain woman’s in particular. Although he denies that he has any feelings for this woman that he refers back to, he keeps bringing her up in the conversations.

7) The reader gets some very strong feelings from the initial barn scene with Vickers. Ross describes it as though the “darkness hovered vast and sinister” and “it seemed to hold its breath and watch and listen”. The lantern does not seem to do much good here. The boy knows there is something hidden behind the door but he does not know what, and the darkness is keeping him “rooted against his will.”

8) “In the corner squatted a live owl with a broken wing.” This statement adds to the eeriness of Arthur Vickers and his house. To keep a wounded owl is cruel, the boy probably thought that the best thing would have been for it to be put down or repaired but no, the owl just sits there. Also, it symbolizes that he needs a woman’s touch to keep everything in order.

9) In his dreams, the boy cannot seem to catch up to his calves. The first reason is because they are in an immense snow drift that is too big and deep to get out of, and then he dreams that they are harnessed up to a large grindstone just going in circles

and again, not being able to catch up to his lost calves.

10) Arthur never married the girl who came to his house because he said she was stupid. “She was so dumb that when we played checkers she forgot whether she was red or black.” He seems to talk about her quite a bit, saying the he is lonely, and yet he does not want to marry this girl who was totally willing to marry him.

11) The reason that Vickers gives as to why he does not want the boy to peer into the stall is that first, it’s just a harness room and there is nothing to see in there. Second, he claims that there is a hole in the floor and that a horse fell through it so it was not a smart idea to take the chance of falling through it as well.

12) The reader and the boy are finally convinced that Vickers is completely crazy and somewhat evil when arrives back home again. Arthur tried so hard to keep the boy away from the last stall on the left, coming up with excuses, watching him diligently….and yet, the calves arrived back him shortly after the boy went to look for them. If the calves were not in the stall, then one must beg the question: what was in the stall?