A young man, unable to show any feeling other than that long-practiced hatred acting out his suppressed emotions in violence whenever he is not locked up, unable to escape the voices now talking in his head more and more often, just as they were once talking in Lazlo’s.Īnd a young woman with long red hair. Putting to practice the one lesson he has learned from Lazlo, the boys’ schizophrenic leader in the first such institution Lazlo who heard voices and who has taught him that the one thing that counts is to hate “them” (the grown-ups, those that stand for authority and society as a whole) with a worse hate than they have for him. (Or was that an early delusion?) An adolescent, locked up in juvenile homes, boarding schools, prisons and other institutions, abused by a priest, neglected, ignored, and locking himself off against the outside world in response. A loner who, then and there, decides to become “a true son of the forest,” as his mother in a dream apparition has told him to be. Refusing to believe she is dead, clinging to the idea that she was buried alive while she was sleeping, digging a hole into the ground near her grave in order to speak to her. There's one important difference however: In the beginning, he had two families willing to fight for him now, neither family wants him, and his life is in danger in both cultures.A boy, robbed off his mother’s love at the age of ten. At the end of the novel, True Son is back where he started, approaching the white side of the forest. True Son's father steps in and spares his son's life, but he banishes True Son from the tribe and his Indian family forever. Outraged, the Indians hold a trial to determine True Son's fate. Posing as a lost white boy, he succeeds in getting the boat to come toward him but is unable to carry through with the plan. Hoping to ambush a boatload of whites, the Indians ask True Son to be a decoy. However, Little Crane's family is determined to avenge his death and calls for war. The boys return to their Indian home, and True Son receives a warm welcome. True Son and Half Arrow vow revenge, but their plans are thwarted before they can finish killing the man. Unfortunately, Little Crane, who accompanied Half Arrow, has been killed by True Son's white uncle, Wilse Owens, one of the Paxton Boys. While recovering from a life-threatening illness, True Son hears his Indian cousin and best friend, Half Arrow, calling to him. The only white person he is able to connect with in any way is his little brother, Gordie. The entire time he lives in Paxton, he dreams of returning to his Indian family. True Son/Johnny tries to run away, but he's caught and returned. True Son/Johnny distrusts white men, however, and is particularly upset to be among members of the Paxton Boys, a group of men known for massacring Indians. Johnny's white family is appalled at the Indian ways that he has adopted and tries to get him to return to his white, Christian upbringing. True Son/Johnny immediately dislikes his white father, whom he considers small and weak compared to his Indian father, Cuyloga. The expedition arrives in Pennsylvania, and True Son meets his white father and learns that his birth name is John Cameron Butler his white family refers to him as Johnny. True Son fights against going, but his Indian father releases him to an army expedition that includes a guide nicknamed Del, who had once lived among the Indians and spoke their language. After eleven years with his Indian family, he is told that he must return to his white family because of a newly signed treaty. At the start of the story, True Son, a white boy whom Lenni Lenape Indians captured at age four and later adopted as one of their own, is in turmoil.
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