What is the theme of the story a horse and two goats?
What is the theme of the story a horse and two goats?
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The themes of the story are:-
1) Culture Clash- The American man speaks English and thereby expects Muni to also speak it. This is a thought of a privileged class. Belonging to a poor family, Muni does not have the luxury to learn English and hence, is unable to understand what the businessman was telling him. This culture clash results in both men not understanding each other and trying to express themselves to sign language and pointing at random objects. Despite trying to understand the language the conversation leads to misunderstanding. While Muni believed that the man was going to buy his goats, the man was actually buying the horse statue.
2) Materialism versus spiritualism- the horses and the two goats reflects materialism and spiritualism respectively. The horse statue is a symbol of materialism as despite having a strong value to the villagers, the American ends up buying it. The goats are the hopes of Muni- a sign of hope and peace. Muni had no intention of selling the statue but due to the language barrier, he ended up selling it to the American man. The American man is representation of all materialistic values in the world as he’s only concerned with business and not with culture and tradition. Muni, on the other hand, represent spiritualism as he reminisces the past and lives on simple little things which makes his life hard but survivable.
3) poverty and wealth- Muni is the representation of poverty whereas the American businessman is the representation of wealth. Even being burdened, Muni leads a simple life by reminiscing the past and taking his goats out to graze. The American businessman, despite being wealthy, is after the horse statue which he knew was a great importance to the villages. The American man’s mentality is that of a privileged one whereas the mentality of poor Muni was that of respect for his own culture and tradition.
A Horse and Two Goats Summary in English