Out Stealing Horses

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses Nazi persecution of Jewish people and the accidental death of a child.

In literature, the natural world is often a representation of the sublime and transcendent, and Romantic traditions posit that humans’ relationships with nature flow both ways; by contrast, Per Petterson told Tree of Life Review that it is not his intent to suggest the human soul influences nature but instead that “[n]ature seeps into us, changing the way we observe life” (Stocke, Joy E. “Language Within Silence—An Interview With Norwegian Writer Per Petterson.” Tree of Life Review). In Out Stealing Horses, Trond’s connection to nature stems from his own impressions of it and the way it helps him more clearly see himself and his place in the world. Petterson suggests that people’s connection to nature exists in their observations, evidenced by Trond’s reflection that “it is as if the tinted air binds the world together and there is nothing disconnected out there. That’s a good thing to think about, but whether it is true or not is a different matter” (99). The way Trond thinks about nature gives context to his memories and illustrates his mood; he sees in nature a reflection of his own emotions, which differ greatly from past to present.