Kaleb's+EC-+When+the+Legends+Die

= //When the Legends Die// By Hal Borland =

A Quick Description:
Thomas Black Bull, a Ute Indian, is torn between his heritage and modern American traditions as he grows up in the early 1900s.

A Synopsis:
When Tom was just a small boy, he and his parents were forced to move to the wilderness from their town because his father was implicated in a murder. While growing up in the hills, Tom's father is killed by an avalanche and his mother, Bessie, dies a few years later. At this point, Tom has reached his teens and has also befriended a bear, which was a cub at the time of their first encounter. Living alone, a fellow Ute tribesman convinces Tom to enroll in the Ute reservation school (to learn some basic background information on the Ute, click here). However, Tom is not pleased with the school as they do have problems with his friend, the bear, and because it is trying to "Americanize" the Ute. Finally, fed up with the school, odd jobs, and the fact that the school released his bear, Tom runs away to live with Red Dillon, who is involved with rodeos. Tom soon becomes a rodeo star; he even makes the professional circuit and performs in New York. Through his many journeys, injuries, and conquests, Tom deals with love, death, friendship, and tries to balance to very different cultures.

What kind of book is it?
//When the Legends Die// could probably be classified under two categories: Native American Fiction and Western. It can be categorized as the former because the main character is a Native American struggling to find himself. On the other hand, it could be classified as the latter as well because of the plot, which has a lot to do with the rodeo and horses. The novel was written in third person omniscient.

This Novel is __Outstanding!!!__
Hal Borland's //When the Legends Die// is outstanding in so many ways. Borland found the right words for every explanation and description, letting the reader know exactly what is happening. He also keeps the story moving, there are no boring parts to be found. An example of this from the novel is at the very beginning, **"'What does she say?' the sheriff asked. 'She says he is not here, she says we should look.' The sheriff and the sawmill man went inside. She sat waiting. She asked Blue Elk, 'Why do you want my man? What happened?' 'He killed a man'" (Borland 5).** He jumps right in by starting the story with a murder. He also made it outstanding by not saying anymore than needed and by changing the setting with frequency. The setting changed from town, to wilderness, to a school, to another town, to a ranch, to another town, to a several large cities, and on and on. The times also changed, from one decade to the next. Perhaps the most impressive feat of Borland's novel is the main character: Thomas Black Bull. Borland allows the reader to really know Tom, to know his feelings and his problems. He also gives the reader Tom's complete history; the reader knows Tom from the time he was a baby up until the time in which novel ends. The reader is almost able to grow with Tom; the reader knows his entire history and can feel why it is so important when the narrator says, **"Then he remembered and the whole pattern fell into place. Blue Elk, Benny Grayback, Rowena Ellis, Red Dillon—they had trapped him, every one of them, had tried to run his life, make him do things their way. And now Mary Redmond" (Borland 236).** It is important because the reader knows what each of those people have done to Tom and how they have caused him to struggle more. There is also so much emotion that the reader feels for Tom: they are both sad and glad for him. From cover to cover, //When the Legends Die// will keep readers captivated from cover to cover and leave no room for complaints. It is for sure on my top ten list.

Hal Borland's Biographical Information:
Hal Borland was an American author best known for //When the Legends Die.// Born in Nebraska in 1900, his family moved to Colorado when he was five where he first came into contact with the Ute Indian Tribe. He had many different jobs in the field of publishing after college. He worked with various newspapers and publishers until the 1960s when he first began writing fiction. He published two works before he published //When the Legends Die// in 1963. He continued writing both fiction and non-fiction through the 1960s and into the 1970s. He died in 1978 in Connecticut. //When the Legends Die// was made into a movie ( //See// the //When the Legends Die// Movie Trailer) and also translated into several languages (//sparknotes).//

Links in the text:
-Ute Indians

Other relevant links:
-My other wikipage about //The Sea of Grass//, by Conrad Richter -To get more background on the author from the source I used, click here.