How can the reader discover what influences Paul’s viewpoint in The Land?
Read the excerpts from The Land. [Willie] turned to my daddy. "It's my boy Mitchell done this, Mister Edward, and I know there ain't no way t' make it up t' ya if this here horse don't heal right, but I jus' 'bout t' put a strap t' Mitchell my own self 'bout what he done. I'm gonna put a strap t' him right now, matter of fact!" With that said, he positioned his whip and turned toward Mitchell. *** My daddy stopped and looked at me. "No," he said. "I'm not going to whip you, Paul. No, your punishment is that you'll never get to ride Ghost Wind again. I figure you'll remember that a whole lot longer than a whipping. You won't ride any of the other horses either, including the Appaloosa, until I say so."
Read the excerpt from The Land. After we were home, my daddy summoned Mitchell's daddy to the stables. Now, Willie Thomas was mighty good with horses, and my daddy entrusted the most prized of his horses to his care. Willie Thomas knew their ailments and how to fix most of them. He saw to their feeding, their hooving, all their care, but he didn't train or ride them. My daddy did that himself.
Read the excerpt from The Land. "You?" questioned my daddy. "Paul, you did this?" "Yes, sir," I said, looking straight at him. "I did." My daddy took a breath deep, then walked around Ghost Wind, inspecting him long and hard this time, before he came back and stood right in front of me. "Paul," he said to me, "you’re a good horseman, one of the best I’ve ever seen, and you know how to handle Ghost Wind. Now you going to stand here and tell me you rode this horse and let this happen to him?"
How does Paul influence Mitchell’s viewpoint at the end of The Land?
Read the excerpt from The Land.The way Ghost Wind had pulled back, I feared a ligament might be torn or even his leg fractured."He all right?" asked Mitchell, on his feet now.Without looking at him, I shook my head. "Don't know. We got to get him back to the barn.""Your daddy's gonna kill me," he said solemnly, yet with no fear in his voice, just a voice of matter of fact. "Course now, my daddy get t' me first, he'll do it. Don't blame him this time if he do, though, 'cause he's gonna lose his job sure once your daddy see that horse."
Read the excerpt from The Land. Willie Thomas hauled off and slapped Mitchell across the face with the back of his hand. "Don't ya get smart wit' me!" Mitchell turned his head at the impact, but he didn't fall back. It was as if he had already braced himself for the attack. "You done had somethin' t' do wit' this here stallion bein' cut up, I knows it!" Willie raved on. "You had somethin' t' do wit' it, I gets the blame, and I lose my good job! Tell me what ya done!"
A character’s viewpoint is
Read the excerpt from The Land. My daddy's voice was soft, but we knew his mind. That was his prized horse standing there bleeding, and we knew he wasn't about to take that lightly. "I asked a question," said my daddy, and his voice was still low. "I expect an answer." He looked straight at Mitchell's daddy. "Willie?" Willie Thomas eyed his son, then cleared his throat. "W-well, now, Mister Edward," he began, not looking at my daddy but at Ghost Wind instead, "th-these here two boys jus' done brought this here stallion from them woods yonder, and they done brung him back all torn up like this."
Read the excerpt fromThe Land.In the late afternoon I did the same, but all the time I was on the stallion, I was aware that Mitchell was watching me. He had appeared on the edge of the woods and had just stood there watching Ghost Wind and me as we went round and round the meadow. Finally, on one of our turns past him, he said: "S'pose you thinkin' you a real somebody 'cause you can ride that stallion."I looked down at Mitchell and stopped, knowing that despite our understanding, he was itching for a fight with me. Now, I don't know what possessed me in that moment to say the next thing I did. Maybe I was feeling guilty that because I was my daddy's son, I could ride Ghost Wind. Maybe it was that, but it wasn't out of fear I said what I said. I no longer was afraid of Mitchell. "You want to ride him?" I asked.Mitchell took a step backward. It was obvious he hadn't expected me to say that. "You know I can't ride him," he said. "Your white daddy'd kill me.""You want to ride him?" I asked again.Mitchell looked at the stallion, then at me. "So, what if I do?"
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