The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse William Saroyan

William Saroyan 1908 – 1981 The son of Armenian Immigrants, Saroyan was born in Fresno, California His father, a pastor, died when Saroyan was 3 He and his siblings spent the next 5 years in an orphanage

Reunited with his mother, Saroyan was inspired to become a writer after reading some of his father’s stories He served in the military during WWII, remaining in Europe after the war He wrote, drank, and gambled until returning to the US in the 1960s

Saroyan returned to California, writing novels and screen plays for movies His screen play and novel, “The Human Comedy,” was highly successful, earning him an Academy Award for the movie Saroyan continued writing, eventually earning enough money to pay off his debts and see a degree of success

Saroyan married, and had two children He died of cancer, and half of his ashes are buried in Fresno with the second half in Armenia

His Work Saroyan’s work deals with the goodness of humanity and the value of life His work is often based on the history of his family He wrote and directed many plays Saroyan refused a Pulitzer Prize in 1940, stating that the winning play was no better than any of his others

Literary Terms Diction – A writer’s choice of words which are usually distinctive when reflecting on their body of work Symbol – Something in a literary work that maintains its own meaning while at the same time standing for something other than itself

Lesson Focuses Notice how the author’s view of life is different from yours based on his background Notice word choices he makes (diction) Identify the symbol in the story, and determine what it may mean

The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse, page 128 The story deals with his beloved Armenian family and how they found joy even in adversity It takes place during the Great Depression Armenians were deported from Turkey after WWI, and they missed their homeland and freedom

Style: Brief and to the point with dreamlike qualities Theme: Ethical Standards Unusual element: No quotation marks used in dialogue

Class Work Read the story, paying attention to the various Focus Points Literary Critique, page 133, #s 1-7 Journal Workshop, Page 134, # 1