Girly girl vs. Tom boy

If David Michael Kaplan were to make Andy a boy in his short story, “Doe Season,” I believe things would be different for many reasons. Being a girl, Andy has a lot of pressure from her dad’s friend, his son, and her dad as well. She is a daddy’s girl and probably feels more pressure to please him than a boy might feel in her situation. The ocean intimidates Andy and even though her mom was in the water, Andy cannot find the comfort in the area her mom was in. Her father stayed closer to shore and “held his white arms above the waist-deep water as if afraid to get them wet” (514). This is one of the instances that hints at Andy’s stronger bond with her father than her mother. The pressure she feels from her father pushes her to be what she believes he wants her to be. After her father tells Mac and Charlie how good Andy is at spotting deer, there is even more pressure on her to live up to her expectations. Andy tells the boys she has spotted a deer and only “caused them to spend the morning there, cold and expectant, with nothing to show for it” (517). This is another instance building up to Andy finding her true ‘girl’ self. If Andy were a boy, she would not have had the dream about the doe she felt forced to shoot, and she would not have the guilt after shooting the doe that her dad gave her the privilege to shoot.