The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse

What is the significance of the white horse? What does it symbolize for each of the characters?

How does the immigrant experience affect Aram and Mourad? What observations does Aram make about being an immigrant? What is the significance of these observations?

What internal struggles does Aram deal with throughout the story? When and how are his struggles evident in the story?

What does Aram think it means to steal? What does he think honesty means? Does Aram come to firm conclusions about stealing or honesty at any point in the story? Do you think the author makes any conclusions about the nature of honesty?

How does the author use sense (sight, smell, etc.) in the story? In particular, how does the author contrast what Aram and John Byro sense physically about the horse with the stories they tell themselves about the horse? What do these contrasts indicate? How are Aram and John Byro’s experiences the same? How are they different?

How does Saroyan use oxymoron, paradox, and hyperbole in the story? How do these literary devices contribute to the plot and the theme?

What prompts Mourad’s impulsive behaviors? Do he and the other adults in the story behave in accordance with what they know to be true? If not, what prompts them to behave in ways that are contrary to empirical evidence?

At the end of the story, Mourad and Aram return the horse, and John Byro finds that the horse is more well-behaved than ever. If Mourad helped John Byro by taming his wild horse, then can keeping the horse for the summer actually be considered stealing?