The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse

“I knew my cousin Mourad couldn’t have bought the horse, and if he couldn’t have bought it he must have stolen it, and I refused to believe he had stolen it.

No member of the Garoghlanian family could be any kind of a thief, let alone a horse thief.”

Nine-year-old Aram is experiencing cognitive dissonance. He knows that the family is renowned for its honesty, and he knows that his family is too poor to afford a horse. Therefore, he cannot believe his senses when his cousin Mourad arrives on a beautiful white horse that Aram knows couldn’t possibly be his.

“Well, it seemed to me stealing a horse for a ride was not the same thing as stealing something else, such as money. For all I knew, maybe it wasn’t stealing at all. If you were crazy about horses the way my cousin Mourad and I were, it wasn’t stealing. It wouldn’t become stealing until we offered to sell the horse, which of course I knew we would never do.”

In this passage, Aram justifies the theft of the horse. He differentiates Mourad’s theft of the horse from other forms of stealing (such as taking money or stealing the horse to sell it). Furthermore, he balances the theft against how much he and his cousin love horses—that if the love for horses is intense enough, taking a horse isn’t technically stealing. Ironically, in some ways, this becomes the case by the end of the story. Mourad’s love for the horse manifests in the gentle way he handles and trains it, and he delivers a much “[b]etter-tempered” (11) horse to its owner at the end of the summer. In essence, he hasn’t stolen the horse, but rather has performed a service by training it. Truth and Honesty are harder to discern, Aram is learning, when life offers more complex situations.

“It is no harm; pay no attention to it.”

This is the refrain of Aram’s boisterous uncle Khosrove. Khosrove is irritable and full of grief, presumably for having to leave Armenia, and he shouts these words at anyone who tries to speak with him. Ironically, in the end, stealing the horse did not lead to any harm—it actually leads to good. John Byro’s horse is tamed, and it is better for everyone that John Byro doesn’t accuse the boys of stealing. Khosrove’s phrase implies that if the outcome is good, it isn’t worth worrying about what happens in the interim. On a larger scale, the interim is potentially where Khosrove considers their community to be: between countries, languages, and societies. In his mind, it isn’t worth worrying about day-to-day struggles when the larger picture may be fruitful.

“Who said anything about stealing a horse?”

Mourad reacts with anger and surprise when Aram accuses him of stealing the horse. Mourad knows that he and Aram need to keep their rides a secret, and he has taken John Byro’s horse without permission—both of which indicate that he’s stolen the horse. Yet he is outraged when Aram implies that he has committed theft. This behavior corrects Aram’s blunt confrontation and reinforces gentleness as the best way to communicate with those around him in such a tense time period in their community. This reaction also speaks to the nuance involved regarding the reasons that Mourad takes the horse and the fact that he returns the horse, who had originally been wild and hard to handle and now is better behaved than ever.

“I don’t want both of us to be liars.”

Mourad says this to Aram, advising him to keep quiet about how long Mourad has been riding the horse. He doesn’t want Aram to get in trouble if they were to be discovered. His statement is paradoxical because Mourad tells Aram with certainty that he has not stolen the horse, yet in this instance he calls himself a liar.

“I have a way with a horse. I can get it to want to do anything I want it to do. Horses understand me.”

Mourad says this to Aram when explaining that he knows how to ride and control the horse. He and the horse understand each other. Mourad also has a way with dogs, he helps a hurt robin, and he deals with John Byro in a productive way. Through these actions, he proves that gentleness, when dealing with animals and humans, produces better results than force. This also establishes Mourad’s complex character identity. Though he has stolen the horse, he is a good person with good intentions.

“He was sitting under a peach tree, trying to repair the hurt wing of a young robin which could not fly. He was talking to the bird.”

One purpose of this passage is to demonstrate that Mourad has a good heart, strives to help others, and forms connections with animals. This deepens the reader’s understanding of Mourad’s character, as well as his motivations for stealing the horse and then eventually returning it.

“What? He roared. Are you inviting a member of the Garoghlanian family to steal? The horse must go back to its true owner.” 

When Mourad proclaims that they must return the horse, it contributes to Aram’s confusion. After all, Aram had accepted the fact that Mourad had stolen the horse. In fact, Mourad is prepared to lie about it in order to stay out of trouble if they were to get caught with the horse. Therefore, this quote contradicts what Aram had come to believe and Mourad’s actions, and it also contradicts the reader’s conventional notions of what it means to commit theft. Again, the actions of those around Aram feel complex and morally gray.

“Let me do the talking, my cousin Mourad said. I have a way with farmers.”

Although Mourad had clearly been worried about getting caught and was prepared to lie about it, he is calm and level-headed when they meet John Byro, the “true owner” (9) of the horse. His calm, confident demeanor (the “way” he has with animals and people) puts John Byro off guard, as does the fact that Mourad simply answers John Byro’s questions and allows him to look into the horse’s mouth without getting visibly anxious or defensive. This is what allows him to both get away with the theft and also to maintain goodwill in the community.

“My Heart, my cousin Mourad said in Armenian.” 

Mourad calls the horse “My Heart,” which is symbolic of the love and understanding he has for the horse. This hearkens back to Aram’s statement that stealing a horse isn’t truly stealing a horse if one truly loves it. Mourad never directly lies to John Byro about the horse, and here he also sends John Byro an underlying message.

“A suspicious man would believe his eyes instead of his heart.”

Just like Aram doesn’t believe his senses when the horse first shows up outside his window, John Byro can’t believe his senses over what he believes (or wants to believe) about Mourad and Aram’s family. He also experiences cognitive dissonance. His need for community, connection, and stability is so great that he is willing to overlook the evidence right in front of him.

“My cousin Mourad put his arms around the horse, pressed his nose into the horse’s nose, patted it, and then we went away.”

Mourad knows that according to societal conventions, he isn’t the “true owner” (9) of the horse, and yet he loves and understands the horse. He tells John Byro as much when Mourad answers him that the horse is named “My Heart” (10). In this passage, Mourad says goodbye to the creature that he loves and is deeply connected to. In essence, by giving up the horse, he severs himself from his heart. Such a severing is echoed in the loss of homeland that Khosrove grieves.

“‘I do not know what to think,’ he said. ‘The horse is stronger than ever. Better-tempered, too. I thank God.’”

John Byro expresses his experience of cognitive dissonance with his statement: “I do not know what to think.” On some level, he must know that Mourad stole the horse and trained it. What he feels confused about is more likely that fact that Mourad returned the stolen horse, and he does not know how to address this without breaking ties with his neighbors. In this statement, Byro lets go of any residual anger or conflict associated with the stolen horse, effectively allowing the boys to clear their consciences.