The Light in the Forest
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| Author(s) | Conrad Richter |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Adventure, Historic, Young adult, Coming of age |
| Publisher | Vintage Books |
| Publication date | 1953 |
| Pages | 180 |
| ISBN | 1-4000-7788-5 |
| OCLC Number | 56570540 |
The Light in the Forest is a novel first published in 1953 by U.S. author Conrad Richter. Though it is a work of fiction and primarily features fictional characters, the novel incorporates several real people with facts from U.S. history.
A 1958 feature film adaptation of the same name was produced by Walt Disney Productions and starred Fess Parker, Joanne Dru, James MacArthur and Wendell Corey.
The film's song title was written by Lawrence Edward Watkin, Paul J. Smith and Hazel "Gil" George.
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[edit] Synopsis
A young boy, from a Pennsylvanian Colony in America is taken hostage during a raid by a Lenni Lenape tribe during territorial wars. None of the Pennsylvanian men rescue him, and he is adopted by tribesman Cuyloga into the Indian society and rechristened "True Son". Believing himself to be of Indian blood, he hates the colonists, and eleven years later American military men come to return him to his colonial home. His Indian father reluctantly gives him back to the colonists, in exchange for the return of some Indian lands. His cousin and his friend (Half Arrow and Little Crane) accompany him on his journey to the new settlement, but soon they must leave him before they venture too far out of Indian territory. True Son returns to his colony of origin and finds it hard to communicate with his English speaking family.
His family tries to reconnect with their lost son, but he refuses to have any part in the English colony. His Aunt Kate remarks upon the objects that seem to be randomly missing from their places. Later, we find out True Son has been stealing various items for his journey back to the Indians. Little Crane was killed the previous night by his white racist Uncle Wilse, and he and Half Arrow go to scalp his uncle. His uncle fights back and calls for help, and True Son and Half Arrow forget their attempt and begin their trek back. True Son and Half Arrow return home, and inform Cuyloga of the murder. Little Crane's family rallies a group to go raid the settlement to avenge Little Crane. All the men of the tribe go, as do True Son and Half Arrow. The tribe makes plans to ambush a boat. True Son was to tell them when to ambush the boat. True Son, instead, told the people on the boat that they were to be ambushed, thus betraying his Indian family and tribe. The tribe then forces him to go back to his white family. In the end it is Cuyloga who brings him back to the territory line and tells him that from that point on they will separate and become enemies, if they happen to see each other again they will treat each other like enemies and not like father and son.
[edit] Main Characters
[edit] True Son
True Son (John Cameron Butler) is the story's main protagonist. He was kidnapped by the Lenape from his home in Pennsylvania when he was four. He was then raised by his adopted Indian father, Cuyloga. Cuyloga trained True Son for 11 years with lessons of strength and patience, with fire and freezing water tactics, until he was fifteen. At that age, he was forced to go back to his real white family.
[edit] Cuyloga
Cuyloga is True Son’s adoptive father and firmly believed that he had transformed True Son into an Indian. Cuyloga is described as a wisest and the strongest father. He is the one who took True Son away from his white family.
[edit] Del Hardy
Del Hardy is a young soldier charged with ensuring True Son’s return to his adopted family’s home. He is also a translator. Like True Son, Del spent part of his youth living among the Lenape. While he is distrustful of Indians as a group he is empathetic toward True Son and allows his Indian companions to accompany him on part of the journey to his white family
[edit] Half Arrow
Half Arrow is True Son's favorite Indian cousin. He accompanies him to Fort Pitt. He later comes to Paxton in search of True Son and together they return to the Lenape village in Ohio.
[edit] Uncle Wilse
Uncle Wilse (Wilson Owens) is True Son's White uncle. An nice and caring white supremacist, he is well known as a member of the Paxton Boys, a group notorious for having massacred the Susquehannock Indians, also known as Conestoga or Conestogo. True Son hates Wilse for his involvement in the massacre, while Wilse believes that True Son has been brainwashed by the Lenape and cannot be trusted.
[edit] Historical context
While The Light in the Forest is a work of fiction it references several historical persons, places, situations and events. The Tuscarawas River, along which lay True Son’s Lenape village, runs through northeastern Ohio. It meets the Walhonding River to form the Muskingum River near Coshocton. (“The Forks of the Muskingum” are mentioned frequently in the novel.) The Muskingum in turn meets the Ohio River near Marietta, Ohio. Fort Pitt stood at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. A British post, it replaced the French Fort Duquesne in 1758. The ferry that takes True Son, Harry Butler, and Del Hardy across the Susquehanna River is likely Harris’ Ferry, which later gave rise to the city of Harrisburg. Fort Hunter is now operated as a period museum north of the city. In one portion of the novel a Black slave tells True Son and Gordie about Kittatinny, Second, and Stony (or Short) Mountain. These are easily recognizable as Blue, Second and Third Mountains, north of present-day Harrisburg. The narrative provides an accurate description of the craggy crest of the latter.
The Native American place name “Peshtank or Paxton” remains in the names of Dauphin County’s Upper, Middle, and Lower Paxton Townships, as well as in the borough of Paxtang. However, the “Paxton Township” referenced in the novel once included all but the southernmost portion of present-day Dauphin County, as well as part of present-day Lebanon County. When the narrative speaks of “the two townships” the second is almost certainly Derry Township, to the south of Paxton.
John Elder (1706–1792), known as "the Fighting Parson," became the pastor of Paxton Presbyterian Church, located in present-day Paxtang, in 1738. The church was founded in 1732; the present structure, built in 1740, is the oldest Presbyterian church still in use in Pennsylvania and would have been standing at the time of the events portrayed in ‘’The Light in the Forest’’. Elder’s family was from County Antrim, Ireland, and he was a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. John followed his father, Robert, to America in about 1735. The novel mentions Elder as being pastor of the “Derry Church.” While the unincorporated town of Hershey, in Derry Township, was previously known as Derry Church, Elder’s pastorate at the church in Paxtang is unquestioned.
Elder was in fact a leader of the Paxton Boys, a vigilante group formed to protect White settlers from Indian attack. The Paxton Boys are perhaps best known for having massacred a group of Susquehannock Indians who had been placed in protective custody in a jail in Lancaster. The massacre was carried out as vengeance for an attack on White settlers by an entirely different group of Indians.
Henry Bouquet (1719–1765) was a prominent British Army officer in the French and Indian War and Pontiac's War. In autumn 1764 he became commander of Fort Pitt. In October of that year his army reached the Tuscarawas, the site of True Son’s fictional village, and representatives of several Native groups game to him to sue for peace. The return of White captives described in ‘’The Light in the Forest’’ was a traumatic experience for many captives, particularly those who had been “adopted” while very young and who remembered no other way of live than with the Native Americans. Many captives managed to return to their Indian families and many others were never exchanged at all. However, Bouquet managed to return approximately 200 former captives to settlements back east. Bouquet died suddenly, shortly after the events depicted in the novel.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- http://bookstove.com/drama/light-in-the-forest/ (An essay about this book)
