The Light In The Forest Analysis

How Richter’s Childhood Affected His Writing

Authors often reveal their biases through their writing. In The Light In The Forest, Author Conrad Richter, the author shows bias towards the Indian culture over the white culture in the plot events of the novel. Richter favors some parts of the Indian culture, dislikes some aspects of the white culture, and was affected in his beliefs by his childhood. First, Richter seems to favor the Indian culture over the white culture in the area of their view of religion. One reason is that, in the novel, True Son, the main character, talks about the Indian form of religion. True Son says that the Great Spirit would much rather be out in the forest that he created than in a stuffy building, so the Indian

One reason is their clothing style. True Son complains about the new white clothes. he calls the clothes tight and describes the shoes “half hollowed logs” (Richter,47). This shows that Richter does not like white clothing. Another reason is that throughout the book, the Indian characters make jokes about the white people, while the white not so much(Richter,19). This shows that Richter does not like the Whites as much as the Indians. Finally, Richter’s childhood could have influenced him in his bias. As a child, Richter wanted to be free. This probably influenced his bias towards the Indian culture because they were more free than the white people (Richter,96). Also, all of Richter's relatives were pastors, but he did not want to become one because he did not like that type of religion. This probably led to his favoring of the Indian form of religion, which was much more open than the white form (Richter,48). These are some ways Richter’s childhood affected his writing. In conclusion, Richters Childhood affected his writing through favoring the Indian culture over the white culture. This shows in the various plot events of the story and through the characters’