“The Horned Toad”
‘Your little Juan is safe with God, my son’ she [great-grandmother] comforted.” (pg. 4, paragraph 8). The realistic short story, “The Horned Toad”, written by Gerald Haslam, is awe-inspiring. In “The Horned Toad”, taking place in the mid 1940’s, in Oildale, California, a young boy learns how to be a companion with his great-grandmother. The narrator finds a horned toad that changes his perspective about his great-grandmother. In life, sometimes people have to close their eyes and then open them again to understand the true values in each other.
At first, the narrator and his great-grandmother despised each other, but then, they began to understand the true values in one another. One example was when the narrator returned from school and attempted to avoid his great-grandmother. “… One afternoon I returned from school and saw Grandma perched on the porch as usual, so I started to walk around the house to avoid her sharp, mostly incomprehensible tongue…” (pg. 2, paragraph 8). Another example was when the narrator asked his great-grandmother for a piece of candy and she told him that he should buy his own. “Oh, you wan’ some candy. Go to the story an’ buy some…’ (pg. 3, paragraph 4). For now, the narrator and his great-grandmother have a rough relationship. But soon, this will change because of one thing: the horned toad.
The author, Gerald Haslam, uses the horned toad as the symbol to reveal the theme. The author uses the horned toad to reveal the character’s traits when the narrator’s great-grandmother told her grandson that the horned toad must be returned to where he originally came from. ‘We must return him [the horned toad] to his own place’ (pg. 4, paragraph 8). When Juan died, the narrator and his great-grandmother visited the toad’s grave on a regular basis. “… We kept the horned toad’s death a secret, and we visited his small grave frequently…” (pg. 4, paragraph 8). After the death of the horned toad, the narrator and his great-grandmother learned to bond even more with each other.
By the end of the story, the narrator learned to have a whole new perspective towards people, mainly his great-grandmother. The narrator learned this important lesson when he began to spend more time with his great-grandmother. “… Frequently I [the narrator] would accompany Grandma to the lot where she would explain that no fodder could grow there…” (pg. 3, paragraph 12). Another detail was when the narrator stopped trying to hide from his great-grandmother after his day of school ended. “… No more did I [the narrator] sneak around the house to avoid Grandma after school…” (pg. 3, paragraph 11). These quotes show that as the narrator spent more quality time with his great-grandmother, he learned to recognize her true heart.
Trying to understand a person for who they are, people must open their eyes and close them again to recognize the real attributes in people. This theme is important because people must not harass each other until they have experienced what that person has been through. Some people do not desire to learn about others until they suffer the same difficulties themselves. Many people take everything for granted. As a result, people must appreciate what they have before it’s gone.
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