When the Legends Die
When Thomas Black Bull was found, eleven years old and living alone in the wilderness, his entire life was flipped upside down. In the book When the Legends Die, the young boy was forced to convert to new ways and new identities, unfamiliar and new to him. His past, origins, and true identities were chopped off, and chained to the bottom of the forgotten sea in his mind. In the process he lost a companion, the bear, and himself, as he was shuffled and controlled throughout his life. People covered and masked his true innerself and not until later in his life did he find it again. Hal Borland uses the symbols of the bear, horses, and names, to show how society disguises, effaces, erases, annihilates, and destroys true identities. The horses symbolize all the people of society who have shoved aside Thomas identity. For example, he begins to take revenge for himself on the horses: He wasnt riding a bronco. He was riding a hurt, a hate (121). In this case these animals represent all the people in his life who have taken advantage of him and cut off his identity. Benny Grayback, Blue Elk, Red Dillon and others are what Tom sees himself riding as he tortures, maims, and kills the broncos, all representatives of society taking over a
persons individuality . He rides, hurts and hates because these persons of the community effaced the roots of his soul, and this is the only way Tom can control part of his life. In addition, his anger festers and he hitches the name the devil-killer: He rode for revenge, and nobody was quite sure why. He was a devil killer, and nobody worried or wondered who was the real devil he was trying to kill (148). This further proves how communities mask, deface, or erase identities. The devil Thomas quests to murder is the society he faces, which stole his true self, and this revenge will be taken out on the broncos. As a result of this process, he becomes so devastated that he seeks vengeance, and since the horses represent the society in his past, he journeys to murder them. Furthermore, Toms rides were more than just that: He was riding for the ride, for the punishment he could give a horse (147). This quote illustrates the symbol of the horse as society shoving aside a persons identity. He is not riding to win; he is riding for revenge, for control, in an attempt to kill the past. Toms past are the people who aided in chaining down his true innerself. He longs to kill them in his memory for what they have done. The bear represents an identity being wrenched apart from its owner by society. For example, when Benny Grayback tore Thomas apart from the cub, Benny caught the boy by the shoulder before he could run to the bear, which was bawling and snapping at the chain (55). The cub was a part of Bears Brothers roots which started at the core of his innerself, in the days when he first met the she-bear while Bessie was alive. Between the bear and Thomas there is an unrelenting closeness, but society still attempts to rip them away from one another. Mr. Grayback, representing the community,
Some common words found in the essay are:
Bears Brothers, Legends Die, Dillon Tom, Furthermore Toms, Black Bull, Hal Borland, Killer Thomas, Ute Thomas, Benny Grayback, Black Death-, black bull, thomas black, thomas black bull, benny grayback, bear horses names, true identities, lost companion, bear horses, true innerself, true identity, horses names, name thomas black, annihilates destroys,
Approximate Word count = 1215
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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