I was flipping through a copy of “Bambi” tonight – I work at a tutoring clinic, and the copy belongs to one of the students – and I noticed that one of the most important events in the Bambi story just WASN’T THERE!
In this copy of the story, Bambi’s mother … well, she’s just kind of written out. Bambi gets lost one day, and then one of the bucks shows up and tells Bambi that his mom isn’t around anymore and he’ll have to stand on his own. What’s up with that? It’s as if Bambi’s mother was sucked into a spaceship by aliens or something. She just goes POOF.
What’s up with that? I’m not saying that all children’s literature is supposed to have a body count, but Bambi’s mother is supposed to get shot by a hunter, isn’t she? That wasn’t just an invention of the movie, was it?
Could well be that it was. Salten appeared to be trying to tell the story of the life cycle of a male deer, and, IIRC, was attempting to make it as true-to-life as he could. Perhaps a zoologist Doper could let us know if a doe typically removes herself from her male offspring’s orbit when the buck becomes able to care for himself.
I do recall that one of the deer wound up on somebody’s wall. I think he lost his natural fear of humans by accepting food from some kids living near the edge of the forest, so when the hunters came along, he didn’t run away.
As I remember, it was Gobo, Faline’s brother; he’d been found by a man as a fawn and taken home as a pet, and then released back to the woods when he was grown. Having no fear of humans, Gobo bounded out to meet the hunters, and of course got shot.
I don’t remember the death of Bambi’s mother in the book at all.
I remember it very well. I was about nine, walking home from lunch and reading, and I was devastated to read the part where his mother was killed. I remember whimpering into my tomato soup and not touching my grilled cheese, and my mother kept asking what was wrong until I finally broke down, sobbing “they killed Bambi’s mother! And I know it’s stupid, and it’s just a story, but it makes me so sad!” My mother, very relieved that I hadn’t been molested on the way home, very gently explained to me that it was perfectly fine to get upset over things in a book. I remember every detail of that experience with crystal clarity, even though it was 42 years ago, because it meant a lot to me. So if it ain’t in the book now, you’re reading an abridged moment.
Now excuse me, I gotta go call my mother and tell her I love her.
The novel was first translated from the original German for an American readership by one Whittaker Chambers. Chambers later became famous as the former Communist spy who accused Alger Hiss of espionage, and hid microfilm documenting that fact in a hollowed pumpkin on his Maryland farm.
Holy Og. Kudos to your mother, big, big kudos, for telling you that was OK. So many parents will call their kids silly for getting upset over a book. I think that’s ridiculous. I never understood why having empathy for the characters is a bad thing.
[hijack]Isn’t it odd how something so small can affect you in such a big way? I remember reading Charlotte’s Web when I was very small. My mom was all prepared to have the big “death” talk with me when I was done. I finished and she asked me what I thought of it. I mentioned that Charlotte died but I wasn’t upset. Then I read the Ramona book where Picky-Picky, Ramona’s big orange cat, died and I cried for days. I also used to cry unconsolably whenever Snoopy and Woodstock got seperated.[/hijack]
I’ll be glad to, Anaamika. I haven’t had a chance to get out of the office and call yet, and I’ve been choked up about this memory for the past 7 hours. What an amazingly beautiful and bonding moment it was for us. Glad I didn’t get snarked on for sharing!
The scene where Bambi’s mother gets killed involves the forest being surrounded by hunters and the animals panicking. Bambi is cared for by a doe named Old Nettla after his mother dies. (That scene gave me nightmares, by the way–when I was 38!) Bambi is only looked after by the Old Stag when he himself is shot and wounded several chapters later.
