Posted by Brianna Lumsden on June 04, 1999 at 16:06:41:
In the story, "Handling Charges" by Orth the main character Jeff has a serious disease and he is covered in scars. Jeff is at the doctors a lot and has been through many therapy sessions. At the end of the story Jeff is with his mom Tova and he wants to ride on the carousel. Jeff chooses which horse he wants to ride and asks his mom if he could go on for one more ride. While Jeff is in line for his second ride a women asks Tova which son is hers and why he has terrible burn marks on his face. Tova does not want to have the women pity her or her son, so she lies and says that she knocked over a boiling pot of water onto him. Then, "Tova got up to bear, finally, her son high on the back of the black horse that rode up and down and never away." (page 267) I think the significance of Tova bearing Jeff toward the black horse was because she felt bad that she lied about his scars and his illness to the women. When I first read the story I thought Tova was ashamed of her son and his disease, but now I feel that she was just trying to protect him and herself. She was being a caring mother not a uncaring mother. Tova did not want to burden the other women with her problems, and maybe she wanted her son to have some kind of respect and not have pity taken onto him because he has a disease. I am not really sure, but I feel that the "black" horse may symbolize Jeff and his illness. Maybe the color "black" symbolizes death and that Jeff may pass away soon because of his disease.