Significance of the Title

The title The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse is both literal and richly suggestive. Literally, it names the one summer of Aram's childhood when the magnificent white horse entered his life. The word "summer" evokes the warmth, freedom and golden nostalgia of childhood — a single, unforgettable season remembered years later. "Beautiful white horse" points to the object that sets the whole story in motion: the horse Aram longs for, the horse Mourad rides at dawn, and the horse whose return finally tests and proves the family's honour. The colour white hints at purity and innocence — the innocence of the boys' love for the horse, and the unstained hones …