The Danger of Prejudging

The novel Riding Lessons illustrates how dangerous it can be to prejudge a person when Annemarie loses all of her stable hands as well as the respect of her daughter because she makes incorrect assumptions about Luis. From the first moment that Annemarie saw Luis, she judged him. She assumed he had no big goals in life because he was 17 and working as a stable hand. When it becomes obvious that Eva is interested in Luis romantically, Annemarie uses the fact that Luis is two years older than Eva as an excuse to keep them apart. In the end, Eva and Jean-Claude criticize Annemarie for the way she has judged Luis without taking the time to get to know him.

Annemarie is critical of Luis right away when she sees him leading two horses out of the stable at the same time. She...