Smoky the Cow Horse | Social Sensitivity
Probably the most troublesome part of this book is James's portrayal of the villain, whom he describes as "a halfbreed of Mexican and other blood that's darker." He repeatedly refers to the villain as "the breed." Teachers may want to point out that this book was written in a time before sensitivity to racial issues was widespread and use this as a starting point for a discussion of how sensitive or insensitive American society is to such word choices now.
The rodeo scenes in Smoky may also pose problems for some readers. James never depicts outright maltreatment in any of...
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