The novel, “When the Legends Die” is about the life of Thomas Black Bull. He is a Native Ute and the son of Bessie and George. His parents died when he was young. Specifically, an avalanche killed his father, and his mother fell sick and died. Because of this, Tom is forced to live alone in the wilderness and becomes close to the animals. He is especially fond of a cub of a bear and considers him his best friend and brother. He even calls himself the “bear’s brother (Borland 113).” From the novel, many may wonder whether Tom is the hero or the anti-hero, as such, this paper explains retrospectively why Tom is the hero in the novel.
According to me, Tom is the hero. His character is different from all other heroes. However, this does not make him a weakling. He proves to be a strong and independent person in the community. Because of this, many people in his society have the opportunity to look up to him, but they hesitate and choose not to because he is a young Indian boy. They fail to see that Tom is capable of doing just as much as the grown men in the story more or even better. The author says, “Time, he thought, was like the onions he had just peeled. Layer on layer, and to get down to the heart of things you let the layers peel off, one by one (Bolard 185)” to show his life has not been easy as he grows up. Just like onion cause tears as one peels them off, he passed through difficult times with pains, especially because he becomes an orphan at an early age. He is forced by circumstances to bury them himself before his fifteenth birthday. As if this is not enough, he has to leave in deplorable conditions. He even separated from his best friend -the bear. Nothing can hurt him or set him back like many heroes. He is so determined to follow his heart and do what he loves, and he succeeds in this. The author says, “you get up off the ground and back in the saddle, and you ride the bronco to a standstill, and the fear with it” (Bolard 161). The author uses this phrase to explain that despite Tom’s fears, he needed to fearlessly face life with determination and make the best out of it.
Thomas Black Bull manages to survive all the problems he faces as a kid. When he leaves in the wilderness, Blue Elk manages to trick him to go to the school that is of local reservation. There, the teachers do not like him at all, and they treat him badly. “they had trapped him, every one of them, had tried to run his life, make him do things their way” (Borland 214). Akin to the schoolteachers, the employers he gets afterwards also mistreat him. They want to control his life and make it even bitter. In fact, they do this because they cannot understand why he is not able to complete the tasks delegated to him, particularly, because he keeps recidivating to his old ways and desires. No one makes him feel welcomed. Despite of this, he survives as a hero would.
In conclusion, Thomas is the hero in Har Borland’s novel. He faces too many problems, setbacks and lack of support but does not give up or fail because of them. Because of his persistence and determination to find him, he succeeds like a hero and can find what he looks for when he goes back to the mountains.
Work Cited
Borland, Hal. “When the Legends Die”. New York: Open Road Integrated Media, 1963. Internet resource.
