Horses of the Night

1. Explain the final line of the story. How is it possible to be both 'ruthless' and gentle at the same time ?

2. Create a character sketch for Chris. Is he a character with whom you can sympathize ?

3. Is Vanessa a static or a dynamic character ? Explain your choice.

4. Consider the saddle as a symbol. What, in your opinion, does it represent ?

1- In the story the " Horses of the Night" Vanessa puts the tiny saddle that Chris had made for her away both gentle and ruthlessly. To put something away both ruthlessly and gently is very possible because to put it away gently could be talking about both physically storing it away gently and so no harm comes of it as well as the gentle side of Chris that once resided within the stitching of the saddle. To put the saddle away ruthlessly could be speaking of the emotions that followed when Chris gave Vanessa the saddle and how he never said he liked her and how she liked him so much, but now he had a mental break down, Vanessa feels frustrated and doesn’t care anymore and so she puts it away with no more thought about Chris.

2- Chris in the story seemed to be a polite young man, who had many big dreams from little schemes. With all these little schemes it shows that Chris is driven. Chris I believe is someone that you can sympathize with because a lot of people come from lesser family’s, as well as from the knowledge we had about the war and depression we know that it was hard on people and so we can sympathize as well in that respect.

3- Vanessa in the story is a dynamic character. Vanessa is a dynamic character because in the beginning of the story she was physically younger as well as she liked Chris and was just beginning to understand how the world worked with the depression and everything. As the story progressed so did Vanessa, she changed physically and mentally. She became an older college educated girl who began to see that Chris words were those of his dreams and fantasies and not of his real life.

4- When considering the saddle as a symbol I consider the saddle as a symbol of Chris’ dream world where his family grew up on a farm with his lovely horses Duchess and Firefly and had a well known cross stitch. The saddle can also represent the memory of Chris that had never died and how he was always full of dreams and goals.