Understand the Boy's Problems - Counterpoint of Debate on Mystic Horse

In the book, “Mystic Horse” by Paul Goble, a poor boy proves himself by fighting enemies, but his actions cause his horse’s death. In the beginning, the boy is excluded by other people because he is not in the hunt, yet now, he finally had the chance to prove himself by joining the war and fighting enemies. He hesitated about whether to go or not, yet after listening to the horse's suggestion, he still had the courage and went on to fight enemies. During the whole time, he followed what the horse said to do and he sure won. But later, his determination to prove himself grew, which made him want to do more. At last, he ignored the horse that wanted to stop him, and he went to fight, but though he won, the horse died. The horse’s death is caused by many factors, and some people will say wanting to prove yourself is not wrong, yet even if this is not wrong, the boy still did wrong for these reasons: His too much confidence; his distrust and ignorance to the horse; and his sudden internal changes. These are all factors that cause consequences, which shows that not everyone deserves a chance.

Always believing in yourself and being too confident will attract you to have inappropriate actions. When people see highly of themselves, they will lose the ability to judge the right or wrong of an event, only doing things that make them seem greater. According to the book, since nobody believed in the boy and he desperately wanted to prove himself, he went to fight. Though at first he hesitated and fought carefully, listening to the horse one step by step, after knowing how good he is at fighting, the boy immediately became over-confident. Leaving dangerous and carefulness behind, he just wanted to win, and most importantly, prove how good he is, causing the horse to die. A strong determination will cause some impulsive actions and it is normal, but highly measuring oneself is wrong. Though the consequence is only the horse’s death, the boy still did wrong for his too much confidence. In all, people shouldn’t be over-confident, and that is why the boy did wrong.

Untrusting others and putting your own opinion above everything else will also lead to wrong things, and it shows one’s selfishness, which is wrong. If a person doesn’t listen to others, they will fail to see another person’s perspective of the event, so they will only do things that themselves want, no matter if it’s right or wrong. In the book, the boy got great benefits when trusting the horse, but later, though the horse said not to go fight, the boy didn’t listen to it and followed his own opinion, which is to fight. As a result, since he didn’t trust the horse and did what he wanted, the horse died. Maybe absolutely trusting others shows that you are not standing firm on your position, but it is better to trust others and accept advice. To conclude, the boy did wrong for his not trusting others and stubbornly doing what he wants.

Sudden internal changes will affect their external actions, and this is mostly why people make mistakes, like the boy. For example, changing from afraid to too brave shows the person's growth on their confidence and is too believing themselves, but it will lead to impulsive actions, while changing from absolutely trusting someone to ignoring their advice shows that they started to put their ideas above others. Putting this into the story, enemies just came, and when the boy hesitated and even felt ashamed to not fight, it was the horse that encouraged him to prove himself, so the boy followed the horse’s directions, but then, he believed in himself so much, losing his mind, fighting with the enemies and causing the horse to die. Same, at first, the boy carefully followed what the horse said and got benefits, but it seems like he didn’t realize the benefits came because of the horse, for he immediately ignored the horse’s directions and stubbornly went to fight, with the same result, the horse dying. No matter which example, it shows how internal changes can strongly affect one’s actions, telling us that the boy’s greatest problem is his frequent changes.

In conclusion, the book, “Mystic Horse” by Paul Goble is about a poor boy proving himself by fighting with enemies, causing his horse to die, and even though wanting to prove yourself is not wrong, the boy still did wrong because of his too much confidence; his distrust and ignorance to the horse; and his sudden internal changes. First, after winning some enemies, the boy became more and more confident, and his eagerness to prove himself grew, which caused him to have impulsive actions. Second, he put his opinions and ideas on a too important position, ignoring others, causing him to not trust the horse but only trust himself. At last, his internal changes, like from not confident to confident, and from absolutely trusting the horse to ignoring it, is strongly affecting all his actions, and that is the main reason why the boy is wrong. Though everyone has the chance to prove themselves, including the boy, his sudden changes are wrong, and the boy doesn’t really deserve this chance, for he also let his horse die.