We all want to be that person everyone likes, the compassionate one, the one that is always caring about other people more than themselves. In The Red Pony by John Steinbeck, Billy Buck is a man who has been caring for the innocent, the helpless, the hopeless, the unhappy. Jody Tiflin is a boy who just wants approval from his father but will be shut down to where Jody is forced to look at the only other man in his life, Billy Buck. But maybe Jody’s father, Carl Tiflin, just wants the best for his son. In this case, Carl is a cruel, selfish man that is responsible for his animals and job but not to his son. Because Carl is a mean man, Billy Buck takes pity on Jody. This act shows the compassionate man that Billy Buck is. He is responsible and