My Friend Flicka

“High up on the long hill they called the Saddle Back, behind the ranch and the country road, the boy sat his horse, facing east, his eyes dazzled by the rising sun.”

The opening lines of the text emphasize the importance of the ranch, both in its beauty and in its importance to Ken. The use of the word “dazzled” connects both to Ken’s awe of the ranch and his aloof, imaginative demeanor, introducing The Clash Between Romanticism and Realism. The sun that rises is a metaphorical representation of the new summer dawning before him.

“He had been saying that for a long time. Sometimes he said it in his sleep at night. It was the first thing he had thought when he got to the ranch three days ago. He said it or thought it every time he saw his brother riding Highboy. And when he looked at his father, the longing in his eyes was for that—for a colt of his own.”

The third-person point of view, which begins by following Ken, gives the reader insight into Ken’s motivations from the start of the novel. He deeply desires a colt, introducing both the important role that Flicka will play and his willingness to do whatever he can to protect her. Additionally, the fact that Ken shows this “longing” to his father repeatedly introduces one of the novel’s central conflicts: Ken’s father’s unwillingness to grant his wish.

“Neither motherhood nor the hard living at the ranch had deprived Nell of her figure or her maidenliness […] [A]s she walked, there was a lightness about her which came partly from natural vigor and partly from the way her narrow head lifted from the shoulders to face whatever was to be faced, a danger, a storm, a loved one, a hope or a fear.”

The first description of Nell introduces one of her key characteristics: her strength. While she struggles internally with her longing for home, she is also dedicated and committed to her husband, her children, and life on the ranch. This introduction foreshadows the important role that she will play, both physically and emotionally, in the development of both Ken and her husband.