“’I will take one of those ponies off your hands. The black one with the white stockings in front. I will call him Little Blackie’(91).”
In horse mythology, it is said that a horse with two white forelegs is very lucky. After Mattie purchases Little Blackie, she has relatively good luck from then on, successfully venturing off with the two bounty hunters, retrieving one of her gold pieces, capturing and killing Tom Chaney and having quite a successful journey in general. It is possible that Portis is foreshadowing Mattie’s good luck when he mentions Little Blackie’s white forelegs. The color white also symbolizes innocents and cleanliness, which is what Mattie has when she leaves home. Once she has witnessed death and has participated in the help of murder, Little Blackie dies. Portis may have represented Mattie’s innocents with the horses white legs.
Better term than "horse mythology?" I know what you mean and I think there's a better way to phrase it -- do a little hunting and gathering.
ReplyDeletecheck "innocents"
I like how you find meaning in those legs.
Check grammar all through this.
It is said that a horse with two white forelegs is very lucky. After Mattie purchases Little Blackie, she has relatively good luck from then on, successfully venturing off with the two bounty hunters, retrieving one of her gold pieces, capturing and killing Tom Chaney and having quite a successful journey in general. It is possible that Portis is foreshadowing Mattie’s good luck when he mentions Little Blackie’s white forelegs. The color white also symbolizes pureness, cleanliness, and youthfulness. Mattie has all of these things when she leaves home. Once she has witnessed death and has participated in the help of murder and gotten her hands a bit dirty, Little Blackie dies. Portis may have represented Mattie’s innocents with the horses white legs.
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