Honesty

The author explores the relativity of honesty and integrity by writing "The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse" from Aram's nine-year-old first person perspective. At the start of the story, when Aram sees his cousin outside his window with a horse, he wonders if he is dreaming. The only way his cousin could have acquired the animal is by stealing it, because "every branch of [the boys'] family was living in the most amazing and comical poverty" (2). While their family's poverty is fabled, Aram goes on to explain that: "Most important of all, though, we were famous for our honesty" (2). So even if Mourad could not have afforded to buy the horse, Aram was reluctant to believe his cousin would have broken their familial codes and taken "advantage of anybody in the world, let alone steal" (3). However, Aram's conviction that Mourad has not broken a crime...