If you were a horse...
"Why do you wish I were a horse when you are overcome by the urge to be rid of me?"
His father suddently frowned and answered in a grave tone:
"You don't understand these things. There are situations where killing a horse is a necessary, useful action.
"But I'm not a horse."
"I know. I know. That's why I sometimes wish that God had created you a horse."
-Taken from "If You Were A Horse" by Ghassan Kanafani.
Of all the short stories we were assigned to read for today, I particularly enjoyed "If You Were A Horse" by Ghassan Kanafani. The kind of short stories I love are the short stories that hook you right in the very beginning, and the line "IF YOU WERE A HORSE I WOULD PUT A BULLET through your brain." really got my attention :).
The story is about a son and a father, and the father tells the son on a regular basis that if he were a horse, he'd kill him. The son, having heard this for his entire life, is quite confused about the whole thing and doesn't understand why his father wants to kill him, and also doesn't understand why it has to be a horse.
The story develops and the son delves into his father's past. The son discovers that the father used to love horses. People would tell the father to kill horses, but he would not. One day, a horse with a reddish-brown spot was born, and the father's boss/friend told the father to immediately kill that horse, or the foal will kill someone dear to you. The father chose to ignore the superstition. Years later, the horse with the spot was responsible for the death of the father's wife.
Turns out, the son has a birthmark that greatly resembles that spot on the horse, and the father is absolutely terrified of his son. At the midpoint of the story, the father needs to have a complex surgery, and his son (being the best doctor in the area) is about to perform surgery when his father has a fit and wouldn't allow him to do it, because he's afraid that the son will kill him. Instead, the son lets a less qualified doctor take care of it. As the son heads home, he realizes the error in his ways in letting a poor doctor take over, and runs back regardless of what his father thinks of him.
I thought it was a wonderful little story, and I'm eager to hear everyone's comments about all the other stories. See you all in class!
-Dan
posted by Dbrim at
8:55 AM
4 Comments:
Great horse picture -- it might be a bit tricky to find one with the right birthmark.
I wonder where the legend came from that such a horse was dangerous and should be killed as a colt.
I just occurred to me that both of the "mistakes" made in the story were acts of kindness...
I wasn't able to read this story yet but John commented on it and from the sound of it "If you were a horse..." sounds like a really good story. I love the line you posted in the beginning
"But I'm not a horse."
"I know. I know. That's why I sometimes wish that God had created you a horse."
That's just funny to me.
Do you think the father died??
I loved this story, and I definitely couldn't stop reading it after that line about putting a bullet in his brain. It was quite sad to me, since the father was so reserved and really missed out on that father/son relationship. And in the end, it is that fear of his son that ultimately kills him. I liked how you put an excerpt from the story in there, too. Gives you a good perspective on the story.
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