Foreshadowing?

Back in chapters 9 and 10, there were some very weird endings. In chapter 9, the plot was with the wolfers and The Englishman's boy. It ends with " only darker and dimmer, and that the rider on the pale horse was again one of their party, the unlucky, the cursed thriteenth." ( Vanderhaeghe, 96) This made me think that maybe it was foreshadowing something bad to happen to the group. Nothing really bad happened except for the wolfers not finding their horses. In chapter 10, the quote "It is only for an instant, but I believe I have glimpsed Damon Ira Chance alone, in the vast marble desert of a ballroom, standing upright on a chair, in the dark." ( Vanderhaeghe, 111) This made me think that he was going to hang himself. I was waiting as I read to hear it, that maybe his production was going bad and he hung himself. Maybe this was foreshadowing his death in later chapters.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this was one of the best books i have ever read. I love westerns and to read a book with one plot about the wild west and then a parallel plot about the Hollywood western, this book was amazing. I loved the two main characters in it. The Englishman's boy and Harry Vincent were great. I love everything about the West. I wish i could go back in time and see what it was like at first hand. One thing that left me hanging was that it made me wonder if the Englishman's boy was Shorty McAdoo. It never says the boys name. In 1873, if the Englishman was just a boy then 50 years later, in 1923 he would of been an old man, just like McAdoo. Now McAdoo knows these stories of the west and the Englishman's boy was there at first hand. So it makes some sence that he could of been Shorty McAdoo. Overall this was a great book, in some chapters i just had to keep reading, I was happy with the end and I recommend The Englishman's Boy for all you readers.

Similes

There are a huge amount of simile's in The Englishman's Boy. Alot of these simile's have breakage imagery. Here are some of my favorite ones. " Bull strains to rise, great hump and shoulders pitching, wrentching himself up to totter on three legs, fractured foreleg flapping like a broken branch only held together by a shred of bark." ( Vanderhaeghe, 117) This was when Hardwick found a buffalo and was toying with it. He has no respect for animals and the poor buffalo is dieing a slow, painful death.
" Something cracks. hard and sharp like fracturing bone, and Fitz sways with the old man slumped unconsious in his fists. He's snapped the old mans neck, like a dry brittle stick broken over a knee". (Vanderhaeghe, 321) This was when Fitz stopped Shorty McAdoo from talking to Chance. Fitz has an enormous amount of strengh and was treating McAdoo like a rag doll.

Blind Imagery

In the Englishman's boy there was alot of power imagery, but I also found some blind imagery. This book revolves around power and I focused on it for my essay. But I would like to go off and talk about some blind. The Englishman's boy, Vincent and Shorty McAdoo were all blind, not physicaly but mentaly. Vincent is too blind to see that he is caught up in corruption until the end. He gets out of it quickly and continues on with his life. But McAdoo never saw this whole movie production coming. He just thought they were going to make a book about the truth of his stories, not the fake lies in a movie where he looks stupid. The most important character that was blind to see the truth was the Englishman's boy. He is with a bunch of savage wolfers who do not care about anything or anyone. I think this quote meant something towards the boy. " Hardwick got to his feet and spat. Unlucky horse? Blind horse is more like it. Dumb son of a bitch been riding a blind horse since yesterday and didnt know it. Blind mouse on blind horse." (Vanderhaeghe, 94) Hardwick says three blind mice before this. So if the horse is blind, Hank is blind, then i think the third is the Englishman's boy. I thought this blind imagery was more toward the boy because he could not see how bad these men were until they did something that hurt his feelings.

Comarison and Contrast of Power

The main theme shown in the Englishman’s boy was power. In the beginning Chance and Hardwick had the most power in the two different plots. I could see the contrast and comparison between the two. The Englishman’s boy and Harry Vincent, the heroes in the two plots, did not have a lot of power in the beginning. Chances and Hardwick’s power came to an end at the end of the book. Chance was killed because he was corrupt and only cared about money. Hardwick lost his power by not being able to find his horses, the Indians got away with them. The Englishman’s boy gains power by leaving Hardwick’s group and taking one of his horses. Hardwick is a very scary person but the boy overpowers him and Hardwick lets him take it. For Harry Vincent, he ends up quitting and getting out of Hollywood. He ends up in Canada where he starts over, and is happy for once, having no more control over him.

End of book

This book ends with Fine Man and Broken Horn riding with all the horses. They reach they’re camp and fulfilled they’re journey. In the two chapters where the Indians are shown, they have a lot of spiritual dreams and one of they’re dreams was to bring back many horses. I think that the Wolfers deserved having their horses stolen from them. They are shown in this book as a bunch of scum. Hardwick I think, has no heart. The slaughtering of the Assiniboine were not worth their horses. I think it was really cool how the first chapter was about the Indians and the final chapter ended with the two Indians. The plot strucute in this book was amazing. Vanderhaeghe put this book in the perfect order of the different plots.

End of Corruption

Another very important scene it when McAdoo and Wylie approach Chance. McAdoo just wants to talk to Chance. Fitz stops McAdoo and they get into a fight. Fitz ends up cracking something on McAdoo’s upper body. Wylie pulls out his gun and shoots Fitz square in the head. He then shoots Chance on the stomach. Then he finishes him off. This was a very powerful scene. “ The wailing of police sirens saves me. Wylie swings his head to the sound, swings back to Chance, decision written on his face. You ought of just talked to him. We would be in Canada now, happy… Wylie has dropped the gun and is gazing at the rain as it drums down harder and harder. I hear its wild thrashing on the canvas roof and, underneath that, the keening of police sirens.” ( Vanderhaeghe, 322) I could picture this clearly in my mind, Wylie shooting Chance, the rain beating down hard and the sound of police sirens. Wylie ended up going to jail, and he hung himself. This part just kept replaying in my head just as if it was on continuous loop on a movie. I never saw it coming.