“The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse” is a short story written by the Armenian-American writer William Saroyan. The story is set against the backdrop of the Great Depression and explores themes of family, trust, honour, and innocence. Here’s a brief summary: The story revolves around two Armenian boys – Aram, the 9-year-old narrator, and…
“The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse” by William Saroyan addresses several themes. Here’s a breakdown of the primary themes present in the story: 1. Innocence and Youth: Aram, as a young boy, is a symbol of innocence in the story. His immediate trust in his cousin Mourad and his romanticized idea of riding the…
Mourad was a young boy of thirteen. He belonged to the Garoghlanian family of Armenia. Their whole tribe was poverty-stricken. In spite of abject poverty, their family was famous for honesty. Mourad was quite adventurous and had a crazy streak in him. He enjoyed being alive more than anybody else. Mourad loved horse riding. He…
The story begins with Aram being woken up in the middle of the night by Mourad, who excitedly invites Aram to come outside. To Aram’s surprise and delight, Mourad is sitting atop a beautiful white horse. Mourad, knowing how much Aram loves horses, allows him to ride it. They ride the horse throughout the summer,…
Uncle Khosrove and cousin Mourad have one very important point in common–their craziness. Mourad was considered the natural descendant of uncle Khosrove in this respect. They both are dominating in nature. Both use pet words and phrases and roar aloud to quieten the hearer. While uncle Khosrove says, “It is no harm, pay no attention…
Aram, in the story ‘The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse’ being the narrator plays the role of a commentator also. He not only narrates the various adventures, incidents and actions but also provides useful information regarding the main characters and their behaviour. He seems to be the fulcrum on which the whole story rests….
One summer morning the narrator’s cousin Mourad came to his house. He was riding a beautiful white horse. The narrator wondered how Mourad managed to get the horse. They were living in poverty. They didn’t have enough money to provide themselves with two square meals. So, there was no question of Mourad’s having money to…
The incidents related to uncle Khosrove are quite amusing. The repetition of his pet catch phrase, “It is no harm. Pay no attention to it,” causes humour whenever it is used in an incongruous context. For example, his own son Aram ran eight blocks to the barber shop where Khasrove was having his moustache trimmed…
It was summer. Early one morning the narrator’s cousin Mourad came to his house. He was sitting on a beautiful white horse. He invited the narrator to enjoy a ride. The narrator got ready and leaped onto the horse behind Mourad. In less than three minutes they were in the open. The horse began to…