Class XI NCERT English Supplementary Reader The Summer of The Beautiful White Horse by William Saroyan Introduction Theme and Sub-theme About the Author Gist of the Lesson Literary Aspects Special Topics: One's actions reflect as collective identity, Genocides Reflective Musings

1. ENGLISH ART INTEGRATION
PROJECT
By William Saroyan
"The Summer Of The Beautiful White Horse"
Submitted By:
Harshath M XIA806
Ilamparithi M XIA807
Ishir Gupta XIA808
Jayaraman B XIA809
R S Kavinraj XIA810

2. 03 Introduction
04 Theme and Sub-theme
06 About the Author
07 Gist of the Lesson
09 Literary Aspects
10 Special Topic
13 Reflective Musings
CONTENTS

3. A BRIEF INTRODUCTION
• “The Summer Of The Beautiful White Horse” is
a short story written by William Saroyan as a
part of the collection “My Name is Aram”
published in 1940.
• It is set in California, USA.
• It follows the story of two boys, Aram and
Mourad, in their adventures.
• It deals with the concept of a collective identity
and of one's morality and conscience.
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4. THE THEME
THE CONFLICT BETWEEN FEELING AND REASON:
• Aram and Mourad are caught between what they feel and what
they know.When Aram first sees Mourad riding the white
horse, he knows that Mourad must have stolen it, as his family is
too poor to afford a horse.Yet he feels that this cannot be the
case, for his family is always honest. As Aram greatly desires to
ride the horse, he begins to make justifications for why they are
not stealing, knowing that he cannot go against his family’s
honest reputation.
• When the boys meet John Byro near the end of the story, Byro
refuses to accuse them of theft and decides to “believe with his
eyes instead of his heart.” He chooses faith over reason and lets
the boys go.The fact that Mourad tells Byro that the horse’s
name is “My Heart” is symbolic: the boys justify their keeping
and riding the horse with their hearts and not with reason.
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5. THE THEME
THE IMPORTANCE OF CHARACTER AND
REPUTATION:
• The Garoghlanians pride themselves on and are well known for
their honesty.Though they live in extreme poverty, they do not
steal, valuing honesty over wealth and their reputation over
whatever they might gain through stealing. Aram and Mourad,
for the most part, remain loyal to this reputation: while they do
temporarily take a horse that doesn’t belong to them,When
their guilt from John Byro’s comments about their family’s honest
reputation causes them to rethink their justifications, they
immediately return the horse.
• In the end, Aram and Mourad’s honesty in returning the horse is
rewarded; Byro’s own gentleness of character pays off too.
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6. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
• William Saroyan, an Armenian-American novelist, playwright
and short story writer
• Born on August 31, 1908 in Fresno, California to Armenian
immigrants from The Ottoman Empire
• Inspired to become a writer by the works of his father
• Stories based on his experiences among the Armenian-
American fruit growers of the San Joaquin Valley
• Released his first stories at the end of the 1920s
• My Name is Aram – stories about a young boy and the colorful
characters of his immigrant family
• Translated into many languages, international bestseller
Notable Awards he has received:
• The Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940
• The Academy Award for Best Story in 1943, etc.,
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7. 20XX
Presentation title 7
GIST OF THE LESSON
• The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse tells the story of two
Armenian boys, Aram, a 9-year-old boy, and Mourad, Aram’s 13-year-
old cousin, who belong to the Garoghlanian tribe, which have been
famous for their honesty for eleven centuries.
• The story commences with the visit of Mourad at Aram’s house in the
morning at 4. Mourad was riding a beautiful white horse, which
astonished Aram. Aram couldn’t believe his eyes.
• As they were poverty-stricken, he couldn’t believe that the horse was
their own. He was trying to figure out if the horse had been stolen by
his cousin. Mourad had come to invite him for a ride-along.
• They rode on the horse in the old countryside of the area where they
lived – Walnut Avenue. Aram got to know that Mourad had stolen the
horse a month ago and was riding it every morning.
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8. 20XX
Presentation title 8
GIST OF THE LESSON
• Mourad had a way with everything, especially horses. He knew how to handle every type
of animal and also humans. Every morning for two weeks, they would take the horse for a
ride and then hide it again.
• One day, John Byro came to Aram’s house to talk to his uncle Khosrove who was an irritated
and loud man who shouted at almost everything. Byro told him about his missing horse
whom he bought at sixty dollars. For one month, he couldn’t find it and he walked for 10
miles to come to their house.
• One day on their way back to hide the horse to the hidden spot, they met John Byro who
was going back to the town. He talked to them and carefully examined the horse. He
admitted that the horse looked exactly like the one he had but since he knew his parents
and the honesty of their family, he didn’t believe that they had his missing horse. He
assumed it was a twin horse.
• The next morning, both of them took the horse back to Byro’s vineyard and put it in the
barn.The dogs followed them all along quietly and they left the place.
• The same afternoon, John Byro came back to his house to tell his mother about his horse
who had come back. He was happy and was astonished to see the horse’s better temper
and it was stronger than ever.
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9. LITERARY ASPECTS
IMAGERY
The places the horse
went
IRONY
Aram calling Mourad
“crazy”
Overstated irony
represented through
Uncle Khosrove
SARCASM AND
METAPHOR
Uncle Khosrove
comparing Harm and
Pain
Presentation title 9 20XX
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10. Presentation title 10 20XX
SPECIAL TOPIC
• A collective identity refers to a shared definition of a group that is formed due to the actions,
interests, and experiences of a community or group.
• This has been shown by the story in the case of the Garoghlanian tribe being known for their
honesty.
• Actions of the members of the tribe is influenced by the reputation of the tribe.
• The actions of a single individual can ruin the reputation of a group.
• Consequences to one's actions rarely leave others untouched.
“ONE’S ACTIONS REFLECT AS COLLECTIVE IDENTITY”
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11. Presentation title 11 20XX
SPECIAL TOPIC
GENOCIDES
• Genocides are acts intended to destroy whole or part of a ethnic, racial, national, or religious
group.
• The Armenian Genocide
• Armenia was a subordinate to the Ottoman empire.
• Armenians were massacred or exiled to the Syrian Desert without food or water.
• Intellectuals in Constantinople were arrested and deported.
• One of the key reasons was the fear that Armenia would try to become autonomous.
• Around 1 million Armenians died as a result.
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12. Presentation title 12 20XX
GENOCIDES
The Holocaust:
• Attempted by Nazi Germany to eradicate Jews.
• The jews were believed to be inferior and were sometimes treated like
traitors.
• They were segregated from society and sent to concentration camps
where they were killed in the gas chambers.
• Over 6 million Jews were killed.
The Holodomor:
• Yields in USSR were plummeting after 1929 due to collectivization due
to which tensions were rising.
• This caused a famine which sparked uprisings.
• Stalin was worried he may lose Ukraine and stopped transport of grains
to regions in need.
• Ukrainian intellectuals were assassinated
• Over 5 million Ukrainians died.
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13. REFLECTIVE MUSINGS
• The boys ultimately end up returning the horse back to
John Byro after meeting him.
• Whether John Byro knew if the horse was his or not is
up for debate.
• The boys ultimately succumb to their conscience and
morality which shows us how one's morality and
conscience will ultimately surface.
• The underlying theme of the story is the concept of
morality and conscience.
• The story also deals with the impacts of one's actions on
these close to them, in this case the tarnishing of the
tribe's reputation of honesty.
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The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse

14. THANK
[text pending]
YOU