SOURCE: Shaw, Patrick W. “Steinbeck's The Red Pony (1945).” In A New Study Guide to Steinbeck's Major Works, with Critical Explications, edited by Tetsumaro Hayashi, pp. 186-205. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1993.

In the following essay, Shaw relates the origins and offers a thematic and stylistic analysis of the four stories that comprise The Red Pony.

I. Background

The Red Pony consists of four short stories, each originally published independently over a period of approximately five years. “The Gift,” which tells of the red pony, was published in the North American Review in November 1933. “The Great Mountains” was published in the same journal the following month. The third story, “The Promise,” was published in Harper's magazine in October 1937. “The Leader of the People” was not published in America until 1938, in The Long Valley, a collection of Steinbeck's short stories. It had previously been published in the English magazine...