Summary And Symbolism In Horses Of The Nigh

veryone feels the need to escape once in a while. To escape means to try to get away from the everyday trauma’s that occur. In the story Horses of the Nigh” by Margaret Lawrence, the character Chris constantly escapes reality. The author is suggesting that the effect of escaping from the reality of life too a great extent, can lead to dire consequences. The need to escape reality is shown through symbols. Certain symbols can emphasize the need of the character, Chris, to escape from the reality of his life. First, the children in the story emphasize Chris’ need to escape from reality. Vanessa and his sister’s children symbolize the innocence in Chris. This is illustrated by his love of children. He does the same things as they do;
The saddle has the markings “Chris-Cross” inscribed on it. This emphasizes the true nature of his reality. This can be shown by his descriptions to his cousin, Vanessa, about his “ranch” in Shallow Creek: the lake which is more like an inland sea, the house that is made out of trees, and the trees growing so tall with the leaves firm and green. Chris makes it sound as if he is living in a land of pure paradise. However, this turns out to be a great illusion. This is shown when Vanessa visited the ranch later on to find it to be an elderly shack made out of poles and chinked with mud, the numerous flies that would swarm about the food so it is incredibly hard to distinguish what food their was, and the supposedly fantastic lake that turns out to be a no shore, stretched, deep, and green-grey lake that goes beyond human sight. It is hardly the ranch that Chris previously describes it to be. Just as the saddle’s name, Chris Cross, which shows that Chris is living in the world of make believe. The reality of the poor life that he lives in is just too much for him to bear so he makes up a fantasy world not only to impress Vanessa; but, also in an attempt to keep him from falling into the pits of despair. For the reality of his life is truly the cross of Chris’ hopes and dreams. For the wonderful ranch he describes to Vanessa is a dream that he wishes to be true; but, the hard cross of that is the reality that his life at home, in Shallow Creek, is truly the green-grey lake that is by his