Horses Of The Night Analysis

Horses of the Night ­­ Second Response Horses of the Night by Margaret Laurence is the short story that I wrote my second response on. This story is about Chris, a young man who has massive, but unattainable, goals in his life. However, it’s told through the voice of young Vanessa, who sees the world as a child in the beginning, and only later grows up to understand the hopelessness that also exists. When Vanessa is six years old, Chris arrives at her home to attend high school in their town. Vanessa’s grandfather pays for his expenses, which leads to some ungraceful comments towards Chris. However, Chris completely ignores this, which leads to the idea that he lives in a delusional state. In the end, Chris is unable to go to university after high school.
This shows how many unreachable dreams he has, but he doesn’t stop trying. He even makes up excuses for these attempts. “Ever thought what it would be like to be a traveller, Vanessa?” He makes it seem as if he’s going to do something really exciting and fun, when really he just ends up being a salesman, selling vacuums. This may not be a bad thing, but too much hope leads to denial. Chris ends up in the middle of World War II, which causes him to have a mental breakdown, because he cannot tolerate violence. The short story
Horses of the Night is about how a human may alter his or her mental composure by escaping into fantasy during difficult circumstances. This is shown through the life of Chris. He is one of those people who, in a flight or fight situation, will choose the option of flight. Growing up during the Great Depression was hard for Chris, and he eventually
Horses of the Night ­ Second Response
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Chris also didn't have anyone to share his feelings with, which left his depression boiling up inside of him without any way out. Most of the time he kept his pain hidden inside of himself. “...let’s learn to be a little tougher, and not let on, eh? It’s necessary.” He tried to find a confidant in Vanessa, however, as she herself says, the gap between their ages was too large. “He was twenty­one. The distance between us was still too great.” This is an example of how Vanessa felt insecure about talking to Chris, because he was just so much older. And, because of having no one to talk to since he didn’t talk to his family and wasn’t understood by
Vanessa, he drifted further and further into his fantasy world. Although no one could see it,
Chris needed serious help, and no one understood that. Even Vanessa, who had gotten very close to Chris, couldn’t realize that until later on. He became more and more depressed, until he finally cracked under all of the pressure on his brain. The horses in this story are a very significant symbol. They are portrayed repeatedly throughout the film. They are first foreshadowed when Chris tells Vanessa about a ranch