Free Essays - Circular Life in When the Legends Die :: When Legends Die Essays

Circular Life(When The Legends Die) When the Legends Die, by Hal Borland, is a novel in which traces the life of Tom Black bastard from a young Indian boy to an older, mature adult. Thus meaning When the Legends Die is a bildungsroman. A bildungsroman is a novel in which the protagonist from line to the end matures, and in a classic bildungsroman, undergoes a spiritual crisis. His life is filled with many obstacles and affected by many people overbearingly and negatively. end-to-end the story he overcomes these obstacles and lives through the people. His attitude is affected with the presence of the other characters. Soon after the death of Toms father, George Black Bull, Tom is left field to be the man of the family. Bessie states to Tom after burying his father, Now you are the man.(29) That one statement has a lot of meaning. On one hand it doer he has to provide for him and his mom. By hunting for food to help him and his mom stay alive and survive. Then he has to be able t o catch abundant to eventually save for winter. Then, during the winter, his mom dies from sickness. He brings her up to where his father was buried and buries his mom right next to his father, singing the song for going away. Bessie was a positive influence to Tom, she had taught him how to live cook, sing the old songs, and doing things in the old way. On the other hand she was negative, because everyone else in the story was starting to live in the in the raw ways and adapting to it, while she did not even teach Tom anything about the new ways. With the lack of his mother now, he has no one to live with, billing for, except for himself, but without an adult in his life. But now he is now forced to choose his own choice and learn from them since he has no one to help him through life. For his mother, was not only his caretaker but also his teacher and mentor for maintenance in the old ways. Soon after living alone for a while on the mountain, he is tricked into going to a rese rvation school. Then from there, he escapes then returns and ends up being an aid for a sheepherder. Within a short a period of time, he is taken in the hands of Red Dillon.