What prompted the boys to return the horse- Family values

or fear of being caught and punished? Give reasons in

support of your answer.

-: It is evident from the portrayal of both the boys, that they

certainly did not want to return the horse. For Aram, he still
had a long time to learn to ride the horse, whereas, for
Mourad, the fun of riding the horse was menial but rather
his love for the horse and their moments together outgrew
selfish indulgence. Though they still returned it anyway.
This begs the question of their sudden change of mind.

The story itself partially leans into this debate by illustrating

the interaction of both the boys and the real owner of the
horse, that is, John Byro. John, in the depiction, blindly
states that it was not his horse even after investigating it
and even checking his teeth, concluding that if he didn't
know the parents of Aram and Mourad he would have
definitely sworn that it was his horse. After this interaction,
the next day the horse was returned by the boys.

This conversation between John and the lads induces

reasons which are ambiguous behind the returning of the
horse. Some may feel that the boys realised the grave
mistake they did of not only stealing the horse but also
being the stigma of their honest community even when
they were not caught. Others may perceive that they
returned the horse to not get caught and consecutively be
punished in the near future. Few may also feel that the
boys felt obligated to return the horse after the exchange
or even felt sorry for the poor John Byro.

In my opinion, Mourad would have not stolen the horse in

the first place if he would have been afraid of being caught
or punished. Aram too was not scared of the same and was
reluctant to return it. So, in my interpretation of the story,
Aram and Mourad's decision to return the horse was
motivated by their commitment to their family values. The
lads' internal sense that what they did was improper or
extremely dishonourable in their community triggered as a
result of John Byro's naive faith in them. Thus, to uphold
their community’s integrity they returned the horse. Also,
the realisation of their place in their family and society
being at risk due to the stealing, they decided to return the
horse.

What positive and negative values do you find in Uncle

Khosrove and Mourad?

-: Uncle Khosrove and Mourad are two dynamic characters

of the story, who are framed in an irritated and troubled
light to project personalities of people who are angry with
the slight turnaround of events. Both are shown with a
temperament of different dimensions but are basically
extremely irritable.

Uncle Khosrove, who is considered the part of the crazy

streak of the author’s family, was in a way narcissistic, with
him being only concerned about his own fulfilment of
needs without care of the outside world, even his family. He
did not care for the fire in his home, nor did he offer help or
console John Byro.

Though unconventional in his ways, Uncle Khosrove’s idea

of living carefree without whining is much applicable to
people troubled with anxiety and overthinking. He was ill
tempered but clearly was not burdened with worldly
difficulties.
On the other hand, Mourad was carefree of the surrounding
world, in a manner unlike Uncle Khosrove. He found
happiness in pure nature, rather than humans. His trust
was towards animals, which is evident from the love
towards the horse, Vazire and him helping the bird with the
broken wing.

Though Mourad was upfront and open towards nature, it

led him to do socially unacceptable acts, primarily stealing.
It was not good of him to steal John’s horse for whatever
reason he had thought in his mind.

Therefore, both Mourad and Uncle Khosrove were

characters of utmost importance in framing the story and
both projected positive and negative values.

Despite identifying his horse, what made John Byro believe

that the horse that the boys were riding was ‘My Heart’ – a
twin of his stolen horse. What light does the incident throw
on his character?

-: John Byro was a minor but focal character in the plot,

whose presence was significant in the turning of the boys,
Aram and Mourad. There are two facets to his belief that
Vazire(My Heart) was not his horse, rather a twin to his.
John checked the horse but then too, denied that it was his
horse. The two facets being Blind Trust and/or
Insightfulness.
Essentially, Byro was encircled by the trust of an honest
community of the Garoghlanian tribe. When he met the
boys with his horse, he initially investigated the horse but
still did not claim his right over it due to his blind trust that
the boys could not steal or do any such act while belonging
to an honest and trustworthy community. He did not even
second guess his decision.
It may also be interpreted that John did recognise his horse
but did not acknowledge this. He may have also deduced
that the boys stole the horse, but to make them learn a
lesson and to also uphold the dignity of the boys’
community, he denied that Vazire was his horse.
In all, the possibility of his denial being blind trust is more
compared to the possibility of it being his insightfulness.
This shows that John, above all, was himself a trustworthy
person, but was naive. His characteristics are portrayed in
the light that generous and kind people are the ones from
whom it is stolen. Though stereotypical, this depiction is
the closest to reality in the story.
John Byro may be designated as the only emotional
character in the story, second to Mourad, if we entertain the
possibility of his blind trust. This is due to the illustration of
his grieving, conviction over the Garoghlanian tribe’s
honesty and his unconditional trust towards them. He may
be naive, but his trust in the tribe shows his deep trust in
humanity as well. The grieving over the loss of his horse
also displays his affection and admiration for animals.

You will probably agree that this story does not have
breathless adventure and exciting action. What in your
opinion makes it interesting?

-: A story is a mirror of the writer’s mind and the illustration

of what he wants to convey. A story is a lens for the
reader(audience) to contemplate the bridge of happiness,
hope, sadness, anxiety, overthinking, grief and love.

The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse, a story taken

from the book, My Name is Aram by William Saroyan, is a
heartfelt projection of childhood serenity and fun with adult
intervention as cherry on top. It connects young memories
of childhood to the broken ones of adulthood, which
creates a path of discovery for all. The story follows Aram
and his cousin brother Mourad, who steals a white horse,
which is against the communal rules of their community.
Both of them enjoy the company of it but at last have to
return it to its rightful owner, that is John Byro, due to
certain circumstances which occur throughout the plot. The
working of the story depicts the idea of childlike
sensibilities challenging honesty. The story through its
summary looks like a classic adventure with action but it
lacks such themes. The undertone is purely of experience
of reality through fictional groundwork, which in itself
makes it engaging to a wider and mature audience.

A plot is not recognised through the inclusion of

mind-boggling action or even some kind of adventurous
aspect to it, but the things which are most genuine and
remembered is the emotionality. The story is quite built up
from this particular theme. Though not many, the few
characters are written in such a delicate manner, with
precision to display different personalities and their
sentiments. Uncle Khosrove, lacking emotional value for
others; on the contrary, Mourad, though compared to the
former, is different in his attitude, with him believing in
mother nature rather than humans. Other characters
formed or taken in through the writer’s past, are full of
varying mentality. This goes to show that the story even
without any kind of adventure or action is interesting, as
readers explore different underlying portrayals of Emotions
and even find them being close to real life, which is not
found in many reading materials today. This facet is key to
a great story and influences its engagingness. Even with
inclusion of action and similar sequences, the sentiments
will outgrow in the reader’s mind who like sentimental
additions to the plot which deals with many ideas at a time
without being burdened from them.

The writer, William Saroyan, took in account the real life

experiences of the Armenian-American community of
California, especially of his own childhood memories and
wove these threads into the character of Aram. Aram has
an interesting identity in the stories Mr. Saroyan wrote in
the book where he was the connector of heaven-hell
aspects in the narrative and also the connector of the story
and the reader. He was what started the story itself but was
ironically overshadowed by the character of Mourad. Yes,
due to the fact that Mourad had a personality which was
ambiguous for the readers, but Aram still remained the
connection of the story, and was the focal person who
learned a new lesson. The writer depicts the hardships of
the community in a closeted manner through child’s eyes
and some comedy. This historical fiction storytelling grasps
the reader’s eye in a way that they don’t realise that there
is no addition of action adventure themes, which in terms is
great for the story itself. That said, stories citing themes of
an immigrant community also create feelings of sorrow and
sadness which get destroyed due to inclusions of
unnecessary action sequences and adventurous bliss, and
thus are not requisite in such thematic portrayals.

If seen and perceived with more than just humanistic ideas,

the visual mental imagery is a driving force of this story
with the writer giving accounts in short but with such
clarity, that the reader forms a whole landscape without
even going to the place of the story’s setting. This way of
writing is extraordinary and induces depth of not only the
setting but also of the interaction of the characters to the
surrounding and to other characters. The writer here uses
his past experiences as a tool of linking the reader to the
breezes of California’s wide, beautiful glory. Thematically,
the readers travel to the place in their mind and see the
story in real time. All due to successful and deep visual
mental imagery. Not only landscapes, the words written to
describe the White Horse, and other animals, the vineyards
etcetera are meticulously arranged to display the raw and
natural form of these objects. Some places there is use of
comedic incorporation in the imagery to elevate the
conveyance of the thought or line more clearly. A reader is
thus, not only in the moment but also yearns to know what
will happen next due to an impactful use of normal words in
a sophisticated manner. It has an obvious effect of inducing
interest in the audience as it is potentially working parallel
to the storytelling.

Another thing which shows the literary mastery of the story,

and the writer is the thematic and symbolic weaving of the
story. The plot itself is so strong that it creates interest
among readers about its proceedings. With the beautiful
setting, virtuous characters, a wonderful protagonist,
inclusion of nature’s happenings and a binding agent of
morality makes this story a perfect mix of fictional realism.
The idea being that the story is so great and similar to
reality that it creates the thinking of the fictional narrative
being real. The minor arrangements of the plot with the
main working also gives volume to the narrative without
being outright long or boring. The narrative is also such
that it can be enjoyed by any age group. Children may find
the story amusing and similar to their own experiences.
Adolescents and Young Adults may be influenced by the
heartfelt freedom of Mourad and even come to terms with
the consequences of wrong action. Adults may relive their
own childhood memories and welcome the coming life with
a hug. Therefore, the writer’s clear but sophisticated,
modern but archaic, and lovely but rebellious storytelling is
groundbreaking and has a heavy impact over the plot
which in itself is sufficient, engaging, fun, interesting,
contemplative and much more.

This makes this story interesting and engaging without

action sequences and adventure. It's emotional with
underlying practicality. With a moral framework and
child-teen-adult parallels working in the background as well
as the foreground through the characters’ depiction of their
pulsating sensibilities. The Summer of the Beautiful White
Horse by William Saroyan is a heartfelt note to childhood, a
realisation of change and growing up, an illustration of
adolescent freedom, the wall between moral and immoral
grounds, a memoir of generational integrity, a confluence
of mother nature and humans, a linkage of black and white,
and a story of realistic fiction.