The Light In The Forest True Son Conflicts

In the novel, “The Light in the Forest” by Conrad Richter, True Son suffers from an identity crisis. True Son was born to a white family and given the name John Butler. When he was four years old, he was taken captive by the Lenni Lenape natives and raised by them. After an agreement between the Native Americans and the whites, True Son, along with all the other white captives, had to be returned to the white people. Once he made his return to his white family is when his crisis began. The novel illustrates True Son's struggle with his dual identity as a white-raised Native American and the tension it creates between both cultural groups, ultimately causing him to become an enemy to both and leaving him to question where his true loyalty and sense of self lies.

True Son’s struggle with his identity is obvious in his own conflict between his two cultural devotions. He was raised as a member of the Lenni Lenape tribe and

His family made many strong efforts for True Son to adapt to white society, but True Son resisted and had difficulty finding a place where he felt he could belong. In both the Native American and white societies he was viewed by the people as an outsider. In the white society, they saw him as uncivilized because of his native upbringing, but still made the attempt to connect. In Native American society, they might see him as a traitor for simply returning to his white family, although he had no choice because of the agreement.True Son’s identity struggle becomes more complicated due to his interaction with the people around him. He often has conflicts with his white family, especially his father, who is making strong efforts to adapt him to white culture. All of this is happening while True Son still feels that connection with his Native American heritage and is struggling to balance out his loyalty to them and his love towards his white