"The Light in the Forest" is a book written by Conrad Richter about a white boy raised by Indians in the mid1800’s. The story takes place on the frontier of America’s expansion to the west. It vividly describes the relations between the white people during that time, and the Indians.

"To be completely honest, I really didn’t like this book, and I thought it was rather pointless. It didn’t have a very powerful plot, in my opinion, and the ending was weak. On the other hand, it did explain some interesting perspectives of the Indians of that time period. This is especially important because the Americans are sometimes oblivious to others and their opinions, especially during the 1800’s. Some of the descriptions in the story of how whites are inferior to the Indians (reds) are very powerful. On the other hand, they are very hard to accept because the comment is made directly to us, and our ancestors.

"The story is about a white-born boy who, somehow, is captured by the Indians when he is young, and is converted. In the first 1/3 of the book, the boy, known as True Son to the Indians, or John Butler to his native people, is brought home from the Indian lands to live with his true family. Unfortunately, True Son does not like living among the white people because they are all anti-Indian, and they don’t treat him with respect. Also, John has forgotten how he is really supposed to live. He has nearly forgotten all of his English language, save for a few, simple words. He has also forgotten how to conduct himself.

"At the end of the story, which I need not tell you because it would spoil the rich and envious integrity of the ending, the very unexpected happens. You will have to read the story to find out!

"The Requirements for the Book Report

I enjoyed reading some parts of the book because it has a interesting topic, and I enjoy the good old fashioned conflict between the white man and the Indians. But I thought that this plot was kind of boring compared to other books about Indians vs. The White men.

My favourite character in the story was, of course, True Son. This is because he is the main character in the story, and he is the only character in which the author goes through much detail explaining. True Son’s character traits are as follows:

Brave: when you are returned to your homeland where you remember nothing, you have to be brave to deal with the situation.

Strong: you also have to be strong to cope with changing lifestyles.

Sturdy: this refers to his emotional level. He was never scared, always sure of himself and other things

Setting: The setting of this book is the mid 1800’s during the height of America’s expansion when we were taking, and forcing the Indians out of their land.

Theme: Cruelty towards Indians, and racism.

Plot: can be explained up above in detail.