Response Paragraphs to "The Horse and His Boy"

In C.S. Lewis’s “The Horse and His Boy”, Shasta, a supposed fisherman’s son, meets a talking Narnian horse named Bree.  Shasta discovers that he is not the son of the fisherman, and is actually of Narnian decent, just like the horse.  Both the horse and Shasta are tired of their masters and decide that they will run away, to the magical land of Narnia in the North, where they are both originally from.   They flee silently in the night, Shasta riding on Bree’s back.  On the way, they meet some challenges that almost prevent them from escaping to Narnia. Throughout the story, Bree is a good friend to Shasta and is very trustworthy.  If I were given the choice to bring one character into my life, I would choose Bree.

I liked Bree because of his personality.  He is very kind and outgoing.  He seems to understand everyone else’s problems and helps them to work them out.  Although he is very kind, he also doesn’t tolerate any “junk”.  When someone else is talking, and someone interrupts, he always stops them and tells them their place.  This is a good example of that: “‘And I sealed the letter and hid it in my bosom.’ ‘But what about the letter?’ asked Shasta.  ‘Be quiet, youngster,’ said Bree. ‘You’re spoiling the story.  She’ll tell us all about the letter in the right place.  Go on, Tarkheena.’” I have always liked and looked up to people who are kind but firm.  Someone can’t just nice and then let everyone get away with what they want.  Bree’s personality really helps me to think about how I live my life.  I want to be just like Bree.  Sometimes I am too shy to say something about someone doing wrong, hurting someone, etc.  Bree teaches me that I need to step it up, and that I have to put people in their place sometimes, when it is necessary.  He also helps me learn how to be a better friend to others, and how I should treat them.

On a different note, I don’t like a few characters in the story.  Here is one that I dislike the most:  In the story, my least favorite character is the fisherman who claims to be Shasta’s father.  One day, Shasta overhears his “father” and a rich person talking.  The rich person wants to by Shasta as his slave.  The fisherman then tells him that Shasta is his son and that there should be a high price for him.  The rich person points out that Shasta is actually from Narnia, and therefore he is not the fisherman’s son, so he will not pay as much for him. Here is where he does so: “‘He who attempts to deceive the judicious is already baring his own back for the scourge.  Do not load your aged mouth with falsehoods.  This boy is manifestly no son of yours, for your cheek is as dark as mine but the boy is fair and white like the accursed but beautiful barbarians who inhabit the remote Narnia.’” This makes me mad.  The fisherman lied to the rich man about Shasta being his son just to get him to pay more.  Even if Shasta wasn’t his son, how could someone who had raised a child as a slave and had the child work for them all their life not care in the slightest about the child, but only about money.  This makes me think about humans today.  We don’t care for anything we have.  If someone offers us something better, we always go for it, no matter what, or who we hurt by taking it.  I am also guilty of doing this.  Sometimes I get so absorbed in what I am doing that I forget that there are others around me and I drowned them out.  I will forget my friends and family, and live in my own little world.  The story of Shasta and his “father” is meant to help us remember not to take things, and other people for granted.