What message does The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse convey?

The primary message of the story, The Summer of the Beautiful Horse, is that despite social or economic challenges, there are some truths which are absolute and should be practiced under and all conditioned.  It is undeniable that the story is set within a family that is poor.  Their poverty is not used as a crutch or something that limits the emotional quotient of the boys or the people in the community.  The boys' love for the horse is genuine and sincere, not motivated out of some ulterior motive of greed or economic want.  Their love for the animal is quite authentic.  When they return the horse, they have a genuine understanding that they need to return what is not theirs.  They are not motivated by anything else other than the highly human reaction of wanting to make right what is wrong.  The reaction of the horse's owner, John Byro, is also very real and valid.  He knows very well the boys have taken the horse, but gives multiple opportunities for the boys to recognize the consequences of their action.  Ironically enough, the owner shows a sense of charity and good will and this benefits him, as the horse is much more manageable and well conditioned as a result of the boys' work with the horse.  In the final analysis, when we examine the encounter of the boys, the horse, and the owner, there is a trend that while economic hardships are a strong factor in how we behave, they are not a determinant one.  There is a realm of human action that can lie outside the strictly causal world of economics.  The setting of the story seems to be Depression time California, which makes the economic reading even more intriguing.

What message does The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse convey?

The horse represents several things to the boys in Saroyan's story.  The first would be a sense of indescribable beauty.  The boys are mesmerized by the presence of the horse and do recognize it for its universal sense of beauty.  This is something that allows them to understand that while it was wrong to steal the horse, it might be comprehensible that they did so.  The boys' life is one of struggle, both emotional and material.  The horse represents a brief moment of escape from this setting, a moment of transcending their condition of what is into one of what can or could be.  At the same time, the horse represents a moment of redemption for the boys.  Their return of the horse, and its acknowledgment by John Byro of the good deed done, helps them to experience a moment of humanity and dignity.  Byro understands that the boys did wrong, but when they returned the horse back to them, it was a moment where the true nature of the boys and their sense of dignity was acknowledged and reciprocated through Byro's actions.

What does the white horse symbolize in "The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse"?

The short story "The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse" by William Saroyan is narrated by a nine-year-old boy named Aram, who is a member of the Armenian Garoghlanian tribe. All of the branches of the Garoghlanian family are poor, but they are renowned for their honesty.

At four o'clock one morning, Aram's cousin Mourad taps on his window and reveals that he has a magnificent white horse. The boys take turns riding it. Mourad rides well, while Aram continually falls off. Learning to ride the white horse properly becomes the most important thing in the world to Aram, so much so that he conspires with his cousin to keep the stolen horse hidden.

One day while the boys are out riding, they meet the horse's owner, John Byro. He, of course, recognizes his horse immediately but does not accuse the boys of theft. Instead, he waits for them to return it voluntarily.

To Aram, the horse symbolizes the essence of his highest hopes and aspirations. These longings appear to be unattainable to him because his family is so poor. More than anything, he wants to learn to ride the horse well. That's why he is willing to compromise his family's honor and justify the theft by thinking that if he and his cousin don't sell it, it isn't really stealing. Because of his great longing, Aram even convinces his cousin that they should keep the horse longer. Byro has the insight to realize what the horse represents to Aram, and that's why he doesn't accuse the boys when he meets them. He knows that ultimately, Aram and Mourad are honorable and will return the horse by themselves.

Although the horse symbolizes Aram's hopes and aspirations, Aram is unable to ride it because his conscience does not give him peace. Mourad, on the other hand, rides easily because his conscience does not seem to bother him.

What does the white horse symbolize in "The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse"?

The white horse can symbolize social and economic privilege. The boys are framed as having committed a wrong by stealing the beautiful white horse. However, the white horse can easily symbolize the riches of the upper class, and the riches of the upper class are only obtained by exploiting the work and suffering of the lower class. The boys live their lives of poverty and oppression. When they take the white horse, they experience a taste of freedom and the easy joys that come with being born into wealth and social prestige. However, the boys also come to realize that they can't escape their suffering so easily—the horse itself can't liberate them from the poverty they were born into.