The Significance of an Individual's Perspective in "Horses of the Night" by Margaret Laurence.

How an individual looks at life makes all the difference in how it will turn out. In the story, "Horses of the Night," by Margaret Laurence, a young and innocent narrator, Vanessa, befriends the much older Chris, who deals with his problems by hiding in his own fantasy world. Chris and Vanessa are character-foils of each other, and their perspectives are represented accordingly. Vanessa's perspective keeps her grounded to reality, and Chris's is a very …

…about the world. She was not going to argue with him at the time, but we learn that she does not take his cynical view when she hesitantly says, "sometimes," when referring to his perspective of the stars. Laurence shows that as a character thinks, a character's life unfolds. Vanessa and Chris, although good friends, have very different perspectives of the world they live in, and for Chris, his negativity ends up destroying his mind.