26 pages • 52 minutes read
The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse
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Character Analysis
Aram
Aram, a nine-year-old boy, is the protagonist of the story, and the story is told from his point of view. Although he narrates as an older version of himself, looking back on the story of the white horse (“One day back there in the good old days when I was nine” [1]), his narrative maintains the wide-eyed perspective of a child: “[T]he world was full of every imaginable kind of magnificence, and life was still a delightful and mysterious dream” (1). Aram is open to the magic of the natural world, the sudden appearance of the beautiful white horse, and the escapades of his “crazy” cousin Mourad. He experiences a youthful joy in the illicit early morning rides in the countryside near his home: “The air was new and lovely to breathe. The feel of the horse running was wonderful” (4). Aram, because of his youth, is also prone to speaking in hyperbole. According to Aram, his family is the most poverty-stricken family as well as the most honest “ever.” Aram also recalls that they had been the wealthiest family in what they “liked to think was the world” (2). In his youth, he is also prone to black-and-white thinking: He isn’t able to articulate the ambiguities involved in what it means for Mourad to ride the “stolen” horse. Aram flips back and forth between certainty that Mourad committed a theft and justifying the horse as not stolen. First, he states that he “refused to believe that he [his cousin Mourad] had stolen it,” and a moment later, he asks Mourad, “Where did you steal this horse?” (3). Also, because the story is told from a child’s point of view, there is very little direct commentary on the immigrant experience; rather, Saroyan’s message is relayed through dialogue and Aram’s seemingly incidental comments.
Mourad
Mourad is Aram’s older cousin, another main character in the story, whom everyone (aside from Aram) deems “unstable.” Mourad is said to have inherited the “craziness” of his uncle Khosrove; according to Aram, this is an inheritance of the spirit. Mourad makes off with his neighbor’s horse, hides it in a barn, and rides it early each morning. He shows up with the horse at Aram’s window in the early morning hours. When he takes Aram for his first ride, he sings (or roars, as Aram describes it) loudly. In many ways, Mourad’s character is paradoxical. He admits that he lies: “Are you telling the truth?” Aram asks, and he replies, “Of course not” (7). However, he also rejects the idea that he stole the horse, asking, “Are you inviting a member of the Garoghlanian family to steal? The horse must go back to its true owner” (9). Thus, he is characterized as both a thief and an honest person. He is unrestrained but also a linear thinker.
Mourad also has a gentle wisdom about him, which is evident in the way that he interacts with animals. He heals a broken-winged robin, and he tames the wild horse. Dogs don’t bark when he enters their territory. He also deals with John Byro in a level-headed and tactful way when the man sees the boys riding his horse. Finally, he returns the horse promptly after the meeting with John Byro, probably realizing that he will no longer be able to keep their rides and the horse’s hiding place a secret. Although Mourad breaks with conventional notions of how people behave, which results in him having the label of “crazy,” in many ways he is depicted as a calm and gentle-hearted character.
Khosrove
Khosrove is Aram’s uncle. According to Aram’s mother, he is broken-hearted: “It is simply that he is homesick and such a large man” (9). He laments the loss of his Armenian homeland when speaking with John Byro: “What is the loss of a horse? Haven’t we all lost the homeland? What is this crying over a horse?” (8). He deals with his sadness by being loud and irritable, cutting anyone off who tries to speak, yelling, “It is no harm; pay no attention to it” (4). His angry outbursts are a response to the tragedy of his immigrant experience. Although this quirky behavior appears angry and abrasive, even nihilistic, and even though it stems from deep sadness and loss, Khosrove nevertheless demonstrates wisdom with his pronouncements. In the end, after John Byro’s horse is returned, Khosrove pronounces, “Quiet, man, quiet. Your horse has been returned. Pay no attention to it” (12). He implies that it doesn’t matter who stole the horse or what happened to it while it was missing: The fact that the horse is back and that the situation was resolved peacefully is what actually matters.
John Byro
John Byro is a farmer and neighbor of Aram’s family, “an Assyrian, who,” Aram reports, “out of loneliness had learned to speak Armenian” (8). Being a fellow immigrant in Fresno, he wants to talk to neighbors who share similar experiences. Once again, Aram’s observation speaks to the loneliness and isolation of the immigrant experience and the impulse to form community. John Byro is also the owner of the horse that Mourad is keeping and training. Throughout the narrative, he visits Aram’s home. At the first visit, he complains that his horse was stolen. Sometime later, he stops by the house to report that the horse was returned. Although empirical evidence clearly points to the fact that Mourad took his horse, John Byro refuses to accuse the boys, allowing them to save face and providing them an opportunity to make restitution without damaging their relationship with him or their family’s reputation. Although he clearly recognizes his horse, he doesn’t accuse the boys of theft. Rather, his tactful response to them reflects his need for connection with his fellow immigrant neighbors, his understanding of the importance of the concept of familial honor, and his willingness to extend mercy for the sake of salvaging peaceful relationships in a community built on mutual need.
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