When the Legends Die, by Hal Borland, is a novel in which traces the life of Tom Black Bull from a young Indian boy to an older, mature adult. Thus meaning When the Legends Die is a bildungsroman. A bildungsroman is a novel in which the protagonist from beginning to the end matures, and in a classic bildungsroman, undergoes a spiritual crisis. His life is filled with many obstacles and affected by many people positively and negatively. Throughout the story he overcomes these obstacles and lives through the people. His attitude is affected with the presence of the other characters.

Soon after the death of Tom's father, George Black Bull, Tom is left to be the man of the family. Bessie states to Tom after burying his father, "'Now you are the man.'"(29) That one statement has a lot of meaning. On one hand it means he has to provide for him and his mom. By hunting for food to help him and his mom stay alive and survive. Then he has to be able to catch enough to eventually save for winter. Then, during the winter, his mom dies from sickness. He brings her up to where his father was buried and buries his mom right next to his father, singing the song for going away. Bessie

was a positive influence to Tom, she had taught him how to live: cook, sing the old songs, and doing things in the old way. On the other hand she was negative, because everyone else in the story was starting to live in the new ways and adapting to it, while she did not even teach Tom anything about the new ways. With the lack of his mother now, he has no one to live with, care for, except for himself, but without an adult in his life. But now he is now forced to choose his own choice and learn from them since he has no one to help him through life. For his mother, was not only his caretaker but also his teacher and mentor for living in the old ways.

Tom is back to having no one to lead him and help him make decisions. He is back to supporting himself and choosing what to do. Tom is able to do what he wants to do, without anyone to hold him back. He does not want anyone to lead his life for him. But he needed the lessons from his mom and Red to be able not to repeat mistakes and what to do in what situation. But that does not mean he is set for any situation. In the end he returns after having a spiritual crisis in which he gets seriously injured from a hard blow. In which he then returns to his old ways in living how he did as a kid, in the ol

Some common words found in the essay are:
Red Dillon, Bessie Tom, Tom Tom, Legends Die, Bull Indian, red dillon, Hal Borland, Bull Tom, legends die, Black Bull, black bull, teaches tom, spiritual crisis,
Approximate Word count = 854
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)