Unit 8
Devil Deer by Rudolfo Anaya
Summary
Rudolfo Anaya wrote "Devil Deer," a story about hunting culture in Pueblo, a community in America, where a hunter kills a deformed deer due to ecological deterioration caused by humans.
The story takes place during the deer season in autumn, a tradition that has been around for a long time. However, due to many hunters, the deer population has been decreasing yearly. Cruz plans to go hunting with his friend Joe, but Joe can't go because he broke his leg. Cruz goes to the Black Ridge where the Los Alamos Laboratory is located. Despite the danger of hunting in that area, Cruz spends the night there with a fetish stone bear in his bag. In his dream, a deformed bear tells him to leave.
The next morning, Cruz hears something breathing in agony and sees a deformed and blind buck inside the Tech Fence Area of the Los Alamos Laboratory. Cruz fires at the buck, and it follows him before he kills it. He takes the buck home to show his people, but they call it a devil deer and prepare to burn it.
The medicine men perform a cleansing ceremony for Cruz and pray for him. The deformed buck was trapped inside the laboratory fences and became deformed due to harmful radiation, lasers, atom smashers, and vibrations.
The story highlights how ecological deterioration caused by human activities, such as the activities in the Los Alamos Laboratory, can have a negative impact on the natural environment and the animals that inhabit it.
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