The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse Summary Class 11 English

The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse" is a short story by William Saroyan, published within the collection My Name is Aram. It relates the tale of two boys named Aram and Mourad who live in a fictionally impoverished tribe known as the Garoghlanian tribe. Two impoverished Armenian lads tell an intriguing adventure narrative in this tale. It is written from first person prespective i.e., of Aram.

About the Author

William Saroyan was an Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer who was born on August 31, 1908 and died on May 18, 1981. In 1940, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and for the movie The Human Comedy, he earned the Academy Award for Best Story in 1943. His initial 240-page treatment was rejected by the studio, so he transformed it into a book called The Human Comedy. One of the greatest authors of the 20th century is thought to be Saroyan.

Characters In The Story

Aram

The story is told through Aram's perspective. The Garoghlanian family resides in the San Joaquin Valley of California, and he is a nine-year-old Armenian child who is a part of that family. The reason Aram is perplexed as to why Mourad possesses the white horse in the first place is because the Garoghlanians are too honest to steal and are unable to purchase goods like horses. He's spent his entire life wanting to ride a horse, and because of this want, he continues to ride a horse that isn't his own and defends Mourad's behaviour.

Mourad

Aram's cousin Mourad, age 13, is related to him. His family thinks he is "crazy" and got the "crazy streak" from his uncle Khosrove. Aram respects him still for his propensity for working well with animals and his horseback riding skills. Aram is finally allowed to ride the horse as well by Mourad because he is aware of Aram's desire to ride one in the future. Mourad "borrows" the horse from John Byro alone and hides it in a barn for more than a month.

Uncle Khosrove

The "crazy" uncle of Aram and Mourad is Khosrove. Despite the fact that Mourad is not a direct descendant of his, he is regarded as "the father of [Mourad's] spirit." He is a tall man who speaks loudly, angrily, and constantly. Khosrove is known for commanding people to "pay no attention" and to cease talking; he did this even as his residence was on fire.

John Byro

The Garoghlanian family has a friend named John Byro who is an Assyrian farmer. When Byro visits their home and reports that his horse has been stolen to Aram's mother, Aram learns that Byro is the legitimate proprietor of the white horse. Without the horse, Byro would have needed to trek 10 miles on a painful leg to reach to Aram's house. Though he is aware of Aram and Mourad's horse's apparent similarity to his stolen one, he ultimately decides to trust his "heart" over his "eyes" and refrain from accusing them of stealing. The boys release the horse to him because of his confidence in them.

Summary of the Story

Aram and Mourad are from an impoverished garoghlanian family that has a longstanding reputation for integrity dating back to the late 11th century. Aram's cousin once showed him a lovely white horse and offered him for a ride while Aram was still sound asleep. They were unable to purchase a horse because of their poverty. Aram had doubts about his cousin stealing the horse.

Both of them have a yearning to ride a horse, but they are unable to purchase one, therefore they are aware that they cannot satiate their desire. In this family, Mourad was regarded as the most insane member. As soon as he reclined on the horse, he started to yell, sing, and feel the gentle breeze.

Finally, Aram requests to ride by himself. Mourad responded very astutely by saying that if the horse would permit it, he could take a chance. He was riding and having joy all by himself every morning when Aram found out that he had stolen the horse a month earlier.

In response to Aram's shouts of "Vazire run" and heel-kicking, the horse took off running. To his amazement, five minutes after Mourad had taken him to an irrigation canal, he was completely drenched. Despite Mourad's suggestion that he kick into the horse's muscles, the animal did not move the second time, much to their amazement. Instead, the horse vaulted over seven branches before Aram fell. They both looked in various directions for the horse. For a period of two weeks, they did this every morning.

One day, John Byro visited Aram at his home to speak with his uncle Khosrove, an irritable and obnoxious man that shouted at virtually everything. Informing him of his lost horse, which he had purchased for $60, Byro, a big man with a kind heart, spoke to him. He had to travel 10 miles to get to their house since he couldn't find his horse for a month. He was yelled at by Khosrove, who yelled back, "It won't hurt, don't pay attention to it."

Byro was irritated by his demeanor and continued on his own. Aram approached Mourad and informed him of Byro's lost horse. He also pleaded with him to hold off on returning the animal until he had acquired riding skills. The learning process would take a year, according to Mourad. He retorted passionately, saying that these individuals could not be thieves because their clan is renowned for its honesty and promising to return the horse in six months.

They ran across farmer John Byro one morning while they were returning the horse to the stable. Byro was heading into town. He politely requested if he might examine the horse and see inside his mouth. After looking at the horse, the farmer enquired as to his name. They call it My Heart, said Mourad in response. He had a good feeling that this was the horse that had been taken from him several weeks before.

However, because the family is renowned for their morals, he would not refer to it as the stolen horse but rather as the identical twin of his own horse. The horse that had been taken and returned was displayed to the narrator's mother by John Byro when he visited their home that afternoon. He was taken aback to discover the horse to be not only stronger than before, but also more well-mannered. Uncle Khosrov yelled at him to be quiet as he grew agitated. He noticed that his horse was back and repeated his favourite saying: "Pay no attention to it".

The horse was brought to John Byro's vineyard the next morning by the boys, who then stored it in the barn. They left after Mourad encircled the horse with his arms and caressed it while pressing his nose into its muzzle. The horse had been returned to Aram's mother that afternoon, and John Byro had informed her of it. He also mentioned that the horse had become stronger and improved in temperament. The identical conversation from Uncle Khosrove was yelled once more: "Your horse has returned; pay no attention to it."

The Central Theme Of The Story

The main focus of this lovely work is on the difficulties presented by customs and deeply held beliefs. The Garoghlanian tribe has long been renowned for its honesty, and the more senior members of the poor tribe still uphold this reputation, but the future generations are not yet prepared to carry on this tradition. As a matter of fact, there were already members of the family with enigmatic personalities, such as Mourad and Aram, who questioned their conventional morals in favour of taking pleasure in the world's luxuries.

Moral Lesson of the Story

The plot centres on two cousins who wish to ride horses but are unable to afford to do so because they come from a low-income clan. They satisfy their yearning by robbing Byro's barn of a stunning horse. Every morning, Mourad bikes it entirely in the mountains. As a result of watching this, Aram too desires to retain the horse until he masters riding.

However, as soon as they both met John Byro and witnessed his agony over losing a stunning white horse, their consciences were severely shaken. The very next morning, they returned their horse, and Mourad gave the animal a pat on the nose. And John Byro took no action against them because he was moved by their generosity. Instead of accusing them of being thieves and making them feel bad in front of everyone, he very deftly told them that he was giving back his horse to Aram's mother and was pleased that the animal had grown to be kind and courageous. The young mind's ambition and optimistic outlook were clear to him.