What Liesel Thinks Of Horses Summary

As adults, the perception of a child is one very different from our own. The perception we have from the situations we have experienced and the upbringing we have endured also differ vastly. This is very apparent in the story “What Liesel Thinks of Horses”. The perceptions of the things an individual holds dear may not be what others see and in the eyes of a child with a unique life this is more apparent than ever.

The struggle Liesel faces when regarding horses is a momentous one that she must debate thoroughly throughout the story. Her idea of a horse has been manipulated and distorted through the stories she has heard from others about their own experiences. Only having other people’s experiences to base her opinion off of and none of her

own makes the decision rough. Her perception is only through the eyes of others of most of what the world is about and if she struggles so ferociously with the idea of whether or not she likes horses imagine how she must take on other hard decisions. However, she has made some decision before but mostly based off of what others do and say.
Her perception of horses as I said is a struggle that stems from the experiences of others.

She does not want to like horses because they have hurt two of the few people around her. We are aware of Katie’s incident with horses when Liesel reflects, “Katie’s hand is scarred all over, from a horse bite” (Ruskovich 168). And, we learn Pig Iron had his struggles when Liesel mentions, “Pig Iron got bucked off and got his ankles crushed. Then he had to go and marry Ruth” (Ruskovich 170). However, there are good things about horses that she learns from others. Like Pig Iron and his horse Candy who he loved dearly. Also, Liesel takes particular interest in the girls at school who like horses and all of the qualities that they seem to share and notices she shares very few qualities with them but still enjoys drawing horses and thinking about them. She also knows deep down she would trade her dog just to own a pony. This whole inner debate about horses makes it very clear that something so small, such as an opinion of horses, can be so important from the perception of a

child.
She has made decisions before about various people and objects much more easily than with horses because the stories she has heard are not as diverse in viewpoints. Such as her opinion of Ellis. All she knows about this man is that he tried to hurt her friend Pig Iron and now he lives somewhere out in the unknown with a chunk bitten out of his arm. She does not like him and is afraid of him because of the one thing she’s knows about him. I believe as a child she has this perception of him so easily, because she does not think to contemplate all the other aspects of the story or of this man’s life. He did one thing she did not like and now she does not like him. She also has a strong opinion of Cora, Katie’s best friend, we know this from when she remembers looking through bracelets of Katie’s to find the hair Cora promised was woven into them and when she does not find them decides, “She feels disgust at the thought of Cora. This is a secret she will keep” (Ruskovich 171). This one thing she knows about her is what determines her perception of her and that is all she thinks of her. Although, she does some snooping to come to her conclusion about Cora she still comes to her decision despite whether she truly knows the person and their situation or not.
Death is a reoccurring theme in her thoughts throughout the story.

The first time we see this we read, “But Liesel can’t picture the dead girl any other way, and she can’t look at Katie without thinking of the dead girl” (Ruskovich 168). She thinks about this and the fact that she does not know this person however she must put a face to her and when doing so almost convinces herself this person is Katie or is not her own person at all. Then, we see an occurrence of death again with this line, “Then she sees, on a golden chain around his neck . . . the bent nail that killed Candy, the horse that he loved most” (Ruskovich 169). The reflection of the death of the horse not only reveals to us more of Liesel’s mixed emotions about horses but also gives us better insight to her perception of Pig Iron and his experiences in relation to her own. Then, to add to our knowledge of Pig Iron and their relationship with one another she reflects “a little wooden camel that she found by Joe’s grave—Pig Iron’s son’s grave” (Ruskovich 171). Then, she thinks about his dead son and reflects, “She is pretty sure that Joe grew up. Joe lives in the Back Woods, too. He’s got a wife. Was it their kid who died then? She tries to remember better . . . but the boy eating moths is the only way that she can picture it” (Ruskovich 171). Once, again she is considering death and is second guessing herself on the reality of it. She then thinks about herself and her own death whether the people surrounding

her will care or not and if Piranha, Pig Iron’s dog, will eat her body or not. A child’s perception of death is clearly different from an adult point of view because their knowledge and view of the world is much smaller so they may question deaths existence all together such as Liesel has. They also contemplate very imaginative questions such as if a dog would eat her body, but ignore the very common obvious concerns like if her mother will be okay or if she will be upset or miss her.
Her perception as a child in her own unique situation is different than that of an adults in a different situation, because her perception as a child greatly influences her focus on the small things in life. She focuses on how a Sunday feels to her as compared to a Saturday or a weekday. Many adults may not think about the days like this. We are busy with our lives, our tasks, and our responsibilities and may not have the time to think about what day it is at all, none the less exactly how it feels to experience that particular day. She also focuses on spelling and specifically teaching the spelling of the longest word in the alphabet. She finds this to be so important and even thinks it will be the key to unlock everything for Pig Iron even if it is not actually important to anyone else. Katie even states, “You know he can read, right?” (Ruskovich 172). Letting Liesel know she is not really influencing anything. Dwelling on small things like how Sunday feels, or spelling a long word, or lipstick, or hair in bracelets is something that it seems children tend to do much more than adults. Her perception of these small things is so much more acute and important as opposed to the things that adults think about in their daily lives. We must think about food, bills, errands, our jobs, and so on and do not have time for these seemingly insignificant details. This I think, the very small details, are what separates the perception that children have of the world from that of an adults. We see this when Katie is blunt about the reality of Liesel’s spelling lessons, when her mother must take the phone call she has received and become preoccupied with this task, and when Pig Iron can’t always just play pretend with a little girl, he must also struggle with his internal problems and defend his wife. Liesel just sees things from her narrower, childlike, and somewhat self-centered perspective and that can’t always be the case for adults.
At the end of the story she decides that she must make a choice. She must choose what perception she has and what she really feels and thinks about horses. Overall though, she must realize that many decisions will be made in life and they will be difficult ones and her perception as a child must transition into that of an adult. I think she is beginning to see this and make changes accordingly. My reason for this is based in her final statement and decision on what she thinks of horses when she exclaims “Horses! . . . Are basically! . . . Elk” (Ruskovich 175). This means that she has made a decision of what she thinks based off of her own experiences and prior knowledge rather than basing off of the experiences of others. This is because she has already formed her own opinion of elk. She makes this clear in these thoughts, “Liesel doesn’t like elk. She doesn’t like the word “elk.” She doesn’t like how elk look. She basically thinks that elk are creeps” (Ruskovich 167). These feelings may also be influenced by the fact that the only gift her father ever gave her has images of elk on it. This could easily give her a reason to dislike them. So, therefor she has made a decision about elks based on her own experience with her father and personal impression of an elk. She decides that making a decision about horses should be based off of how she feels and what she experiences. The answer is simple because she has decided to make it a simple decision and this shows her transition from a childlike perception into a different one. Therefore, showing the contrast between a child’s unique perception and a changing, maturing one.