![]() ![]() Directed by Harold Schuster, with music composed by Alfred Newman, and cinematography by Dewey Wrigley. A movie made from the novel, 1,2 released in 1943 (not rated), by 20th Century Fox. Mary O'Hara wrote two sequels: Thunderhead (1943) and Green Grass of Wyoming (1946).Ģ. In total, the novel tells a wholesome and heartwarming story of a young boy's coming of age. the McLaughlin's maroon Studebaker) but a reader would hardly notice. This setting is colored a bit from the 1920s or 1930s time period (e.g. The McLaughlin's Goose Bar Ranch is set between Laramie (where the boys attend school in the winter) and Cheyenne, and close to the Lincoln Highway, that great transcontinental artery. Mary O'Hara draws the mountainous countryside from her own life in Wyoming: the cliffs, the greengrass, the wind and storms, the heat and dust. The landscapes of the novel are both real and fantastic. In the end, both horse and boy nearly die, but Ken definitely matures and Flicka turns into the perfect friend for him. Ken, meanwhile, is working hard to prove himself to his father. But Ken slowly nurses the filly back to health, conquers her fear of him, and she eventually appears to be on the road to a good life. She is badly injured trying to escape and Rob becomes even more disgusted with his son for choosing such a worthless, untrainable animal. At first, things seem very grim when Flicka manages to break her way out of the stable through a glass window after she is first captured and brought in from the range. When Rob finally allows Ken to choose any yearling on the ranch for his own, of course the boy falls in love with one of Rocket's offspring, a golden filly he names Flicka, which Gus, the ranch hand, tells him means "little girl" in Swedish.Īlthough Flicka is beautiful, it remains to be seen whether she will be a good horse or take after her loco mother. However, she is the fastest horse on the ranch, and Rob has kept her, hoping she would pass on her speed, despite her frequent violent outbursts and dangerous smashes through barbed-wire. ![]() One, named Rocket, is crazy and breaks through fences, refuses to be handled. A handful of these mares are the offspring of Rob's former polo pony, Gypsy, and a wild albino stallion. On the ranch there is a band of brood mares, watched over by the stallion, Banner. However, Nell convinces Rob that maybe giving Ken a colt will teach him to be responsible and help him grow up a little. Howard has a horse, Highboy, that he has trained himself and can ride around the ranch, but Rob doesn't think Ken has shown enough responsibility to deserve the same. I want him to be mine- all my own." He dreams about his perfect dream horse all the time. He explains to Nell, "Oh Mother, it isn't just the riding. ![]() Ken's greatest desire in life is to have a horse of his own. She believes that he is fundamentally different from both Rob and Howard and must be raised differently. From Boston, a graduate of Bryn Mawr College, transported to the rough life out West after her marriage to Rob, Nell sees that her younger son is still very young and has much to learn about life. The only person who seemed to be on Ken's side was his mother, Nell. ![]() Howard enjoyed making Ken's life difficult, too. There had not been similar problems with Ken's older brother, Howard, who always got good marks in school, followed instructions, and never wasted a whole day staring off into space. The relationship between the strict, practical, former Army Captain and his young, dreamy, forgetful son had never been tranquil and Rob had just about given up hope that Ken would ever amount to anything. He has just failed the fifth grade and his father, Rob McLaughlin, is even more exasperated with him than usual. The book centers on ten-year-old Ken McLaughlin during one summer on his family's ranch in Wyoming. The original edition included illustrations by John Steuart Curry. This famous children's story has been translated into several languages and continues to be reprinted. A classic novel by Mary O'Hara, first published in 1941 by Lippincott Press, Philadelphia. ![]()
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