How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"A boy ain't a boy too long" (2.4)
Jody doesn't get to be a boy too long—this whole story takes place the year he turns 12—but he still gets to be a boy a lot longer than Penny did, or than a lot of his peers did. Think about that next time you whine about having to take the trash out.
Quote #2
"Leave him build his flutter-mills. The day'll come, he'll not even care to" (2.24)
For "build flutter-mills," substitute "play LEGO Lord of the Rings," and you'll get a pretty good idea of what Jody spends his time doing. The difference is that flutter-mills lose their appeal after a while, but LEGO Lord of the Rings just keeps on giving.
Quote #3
"'Pore boy,' he said, 'has got to grow up and learn women—'" (11.240)
Women. Can't live with 'em, can't grow up without 'em. Seriously, though: this is all very funny ha ha, but it's also kind of true: for a lot of people, learning to interact with the opposite sex is one of the hardest, more potentially heart-breaking things about growing up.
Quote #4
"Then, with his bear meat behind him, he felt bold again, and mature" (20.221)
Nothing like a backpack full of bear meat to give you that grown-up swagger. Okay, not that we know much about that. But we do remember how it felt the first time our mom sent us to the grocery store by ourselves: pretty darn grown up. Helping out your family is about as mature as it gets
Quote #5
"It gave Jody a strange feeling to have his father admit that he could not handle anything alone" (23.53)
By the end of the book, Jody feels he can handle the farm alone. But let's be honest: we're talking about a twelve-year-old. He might feel grown-up, but we're not convinced he has the physical maturity to handle an entire farm.
Quote #6
"Behind him's the fawn. Before him's the buck" (29.14)
This is Penny talking about Flag, but he might as well be talking about Jody. In the 21st century we'd call him a tween: more than a boy but still a little less than a man. He's still got a few more animals to kills before.
Quote #7
"They cain't make me do it" (32.4)
Oh, cain't they? Maybe not, but they cain accidentally set things up so that Jody makes himself kill Flag. It's a good thing this part of Jody's breakdown doesn't last long, because "You can't make me do it" is about the silliest, most immature thing you can say.
Quote #8
"It seemed to him that if he found it, he would discover with it all the other things that had vanished" (33.83)
"It" here is the flutter-mill, and "all the other things" are Jody's childhood and innocence. So, yeah, this is a big moment. (Spoiler: he doesn't find it.)
Quote #9
"When I was a child, I spake as a child" (33.111)
Allusion alert: this is the first half of a super-famous excerpt from Corinthians in the Christian New Testament. The second half? "When I became a man, I put away childish things." At the end of The Yearling, Jody realizes it's time to put away childish things, like flutter-mills, and running away, and pet deer. Gee, adulthood sounds really boring.