2. Summary
• Lady Runcie-Campbell had organised a deer drive, in which
Calum and Neil had to be beaters. However during the the
drive Calum sees the deer that has been shot and injured and
can not cope with the deer’s distress so flings himself upon
the deer, trying to comfort it. Duror then comes out of the
woods with his dogs and at first is laughing but then with
power and fury throws Calum off the deer and ruthlessly
slashes the deer’s throat, killing it. After this Lady Runcie-
Campbell decides she wants the two Cone Gatherers out of
the woods as she believes that Calum had spoiled the deer
drive, however some people do not agree with this decision.
3. Setting
• The Deer Drive takes place in a large stretch of the woods
running from one side by the road to the other by the loch.
• When Jenkins in describing the setting on page 81 he uses
word choice to foreshadow the slaughter of the deer.
• He uses the words “clawed”, “bones” and “gashed”.
• They can all be used to describe the slaughter of the deer and
have the connotations of; violence, skeleton and death.
4. Themes that are developed
• Class Conflict-
• Lady Runcie-Campbell is not pleased with the outcome of the
Deer Drive due to Calum’s actions and thinks that the sooner
the Cone Gathers leave the woods the better, however Tulloch
and Roderick both stand up to Lady Runcie-Campbell.
• This helps to develop the theme of class conflict as Lady
Runcie-Campbell is of much higher authority than both
Roderick and Tulloch and could even report Tulloch to the
district officer, but they both thought it was an unjustified
decision so question her judgement.
5. • The destruction of innocence-
• This is developed through Calum and the deer being symbols
of innocence who are both being hunted by ruthless men.
• Even though they have done nothing wrong and are both
described as being beautiful, they are thought of as vermin
and neither of them are wanted in the woods by Duror.
• This is also shown in the way that Duror slaughtered the deer,
as with power and force he easily threw Calum off the deer
and furiously and “savagely” slashed the deer’s throat.
• Therefore the killing of the deer is seen as the death of
innocence.
6. Characters that are developed
• Some characters that are developed in this
scene are;
• Duror
• Tulloch
• Roderick
7. Duror
• Duror is developed in two ways in the scene;
• One way is that it is the beginning of one of Duror’s worst fears, he
starts to lose control.
• This is shown when he cuts the deer’s throat. As he is going to kill
the deer he has so much anger and fury in him it had taken over
him and he did not know if he was killing the deer or Calum.
• We are shown this when Jenkins writes, "He seems to have
collapsed.”(page86)
• This tells us he is so overwhelmed by his emotions and thoughts he
physically collapses. Prior to this he is laughing in a “berserk joy”
but then less than a second later he is filled with anger and fury. He
is then confused when he is spoken to, talking about his wife. It was
almost as if he was having a mental breakdown.
8. • The other way Duror is developed is that after all the
confusion of the scene and he has come back to his senses
Duror finally realises why he hates Calum. He realises that he
sees himself in Calum.
• It is almost as if Calum is a reflection of Duror’s life, we see
this when Jenkins writes, “ was it’s personification.”(page88)
This tells us Duror see Calum as his life in human form. His life
is miserable, ugly and disgusting much like Calum’s
hunchback, yet his face is described as being beautiful and
this represents a time when Duror was happy and didn't hold
in all of his feelings, including his fear of losing control.
9. Tulloch
• Tulloch feels that it isn't fair that Lady Runcie-Campbell
blames Calum for spoiling the deer drive.
• So in this chapter Tulloch makes him self seem like a morally
superior figure as he stands up to Lady Runcie-Campbell even
thought she is of higher authority and could report him to the
District officer if he was to cause trouble.
• We are shown the kindness of Tullochs character when
Jenkins writes, "Though he loved them he loved justice too.”
• This shows us that even though Tulloch has a family to think
about and provide for he hates injustice and therefore is
willing to put his job at risk as he is a man of honour and does
not want the Cone Gatherers unfairly punished.
10. Roderick
• Roderick is developed by surprising us as he stands up to his
mother. Roderick likes the Cone Gatherers and thinks of them
as equals.
• Just like Tulloch he believes that Calum did not ruin the Deer
Drive and does not think it is right for them to be sent out of
the woods. After many attempts to tell her son to be quiet he
finally stands up to once and for all by saying, “You told me
yourself... never to be quiet if I saw injustice being
done.”(page 94)
• This shows us that Roderick feels his mothers decision was
unjustified and unfair, it also in a way forces Lady Runcie-
Campbell to go back and rethink her decision as she can not
be seen to make and unjustified decision.
11. Understanding of the novel as a whole
• This scene helps to add to our understanding of the novel as a
whole as we are finally shown why Duror hates Calum so
much, we also see how Duror’s internal struggles are now
becoming visible to the people around him.
• The graphic killing of the deer gives us an insight to the war
and the slaughter of innocent men. It also develops the theme
of Class Conflict in an important way as we finally see
somebody of lower class stand up for what they believe in to
somebody of higher authority.
