Redness and blood is often connected to religious imagery. In All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, the spirituality of blood connects man with the landscape, horse, history, and his destiny. Thomas C. Foster’s How to read Literature Like a Professor makes reference to the bible in chapter 6. The Bible states that wine is often symbolized for the blood of Christ and is thought to be a spiritual cleanser. At the end of Part III, after John Grady had lost a lot of blood while staying in Saltillo Prison, he continues his journey back to Don Hector’s ranch after being spiritually cleansed. Chapter one sets the scene of the main character, John Grady Cole, attending his grandfather's funeral. In the evening, Grady notices that “the sun sat…
Much of Larry Murtry’s work is an ongoing examination of the current Texas, both urban and rural .Much of the remaining works, such Lonesome Dove, is an attempt to understand the frontier past. Lonesome Dove is an epic story about a journey of two former Texas rangers who decided to move their cattle from Texas to Montana. Along their way, they encounter many problems and the jou4rney ends with numerous injuries. Therefore this paper aims to examine the story in the novel from the beginning of the journey up to the end.…
All the Pretty Horses is the first volume of The Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy and it is a tale about two cowboys who decide to leave their hometown in search of a new life in Mexico. The two young men, John Grady Cole and Lacey Rawlins, are close friends that live in San Angelo, Texas; they decide to travel south on horseback.…
In “All the Pretty Horses” written by Cormac McCarthy the main characters have developed a secret relationship that they attempt to keep a secret from their parents. After Alejandra’s aunt exposed them their relationship began to crumble in the eyes of Alejandra. The fall of this relationship and in “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant” written by W. D. Wetherell are very different for many reasons. The first difference is how the relationships ended. This is shown when Alejandra says, “I cannot do what you ask.…
Discuss the notion that the setting is a distinctive voice contributing to the last effectiveness of the story. Include specific reference to the set text and at least one other text of your own choosing.…
In Cormac McCarthy’s novel All the Pretty Horses, the setting is used to represent the main characters transformation over time from one terrain to another. The limitedness of the Texan terrain scattered with barbed wire restrictions identifies the restlessness that motivates John Grady’s brevity in the region at the beginning of the novel. Meanwhile, the Mexican wilderness that John Grady Cole’s sets out for comes to epitomize how the vast territory of fenceless space shapes his experiences as they outline his true character. The result is recognition of the parallel between open terrain and his character, each one exemplifying one another and in the end explains the enlightenment he struggles for.…
The novel begins at the funeral of a young boy’s grandfather in the year 1949. The boy is introduced as sixteen-year-old John Grady Cole who lives in San Angelo, Texas. John Grady is not close with his father but he meets with him and his father gives him a special saddle. Also, John Grady tries to buy the family ranch from his mother but she refuses. (IM)-John Grady decides he does not have anymore use in Texas so he and his friend Rawlins plan to run away. The boys leave and ride south into Mexico. Along the way they meet a young boy who looks around thirteen but says that he is older. He also claims that his name is Jimmy Blevins. It is obvious that he lies a lot so Rawlins does not trust him and keeps telling John Grady that they should…
“The Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers, and the Rush to Colorado” Written by Elliott West. I chose to write about this book because of the large range of events and transitions that occurred throughout the American West that the author includes in the text. Elliot West highlights the struggles that many endured while trying to create better circumstances for not only themselves but also their families by moving to the west. He chronicles the adaptations that many white settlers arriving in the west faced in order to be able to make a living for themselves. But another reason why I found the book interesting was because of the way Elliot West provided perspective for each side of the struggle over the American West. He gives us the Native American view of what was happening at the time, which I found valuable because a lot of the time the Native American perspective is not heard.…
In the novel All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy illustrates the coming-of-age protagonist, John Grady Cole, who impulsively decides to travel to Mexico in search of an adventurous lifestyle. Although a teenager, John Grady Cole reveals rather matured behaviors towards his fellow companions, but he preserves the notion that he has control over everything. This very attitude backfires in severe consequences, in which John Grady Cole is essentially powerless. Subsequently, his ideals of cowboy life confronts the reality of adulthood because John Grady Cole loses his most prized attribute -- the child-like belief of…
In the novel All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy society is based on its economic constitution, common ideologies and social class structure. During the colonial era, the west was viewed as a place of opportunity filled with riches and prolific western civilization dating back to the late 1800’s.But as the years progressed, a shift in economic stability was underway as once wealthy westerners lost their profits and struggled to maintain their ranches. The ranch at which John Grady Cole resided waned in profits and became a financial burden, so Cole’s mother sold the ranch to lift that burden and because of this, Cole leaves Texas to embark on his new adventure to get away from the economical dilemma. Economics plays a main…
Within the novel All The Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy attempts to associate the appeal of the Wild West in comparison to its reality. A prevalent idea that concludes the book on a slightly somber note appears in the form of John Grady’s character going into the western plains. As the narrative comes to a close, it is the diction and imagery that ultimately show how John Grady lets the story end with his departure into his life as a cowboy, having completely bended into this unique lifestyle and having lost a piece of himself along with it.…
The book All the Pretty Horses is a western drama about teenage cowboys as they transition from adolescence into manhood. The author, Cormac McCarthy, structures the book using echo words and parallel structure that links dialogue exchanges and makes the scenes flow smoothly. McCarthy is a master of this sort of repetition and uses this structure throughout the entire book. There are many examples of this used throughout the book, but the author primarily focuses on the interpersonal relationships, diversity, and change.…
In both tales, the main characters interact with other cultures but, in very different ways. The typical American Western highlights a cowboy who is superior to other cultures. The romanticized American cowboy has no respect for any culture other than his own. Ethan shows this disrespect and hate early in the film by shooting the eyes out of a dead Native American so that he will have to wander between the worlds of life and death, never able to go to the heavens. Ethan hunts and slaughters many "savage" and "evil" Native Americans throughout the film. "The Searchers" romanticizes the American West myth of the righteous cowboy. All the Pretty Horses challenges this role of the American cowboy with the novel's main character: John Grady Cole. John Grady is not in search of bloodshed. Instead, John Grady is looking for a life that vanishes with the turn of the twentieth century. He is looking for a life of ranching, horses, and peacefulness. John Grady contradicts the romanticized "racist" cowboy, by valuing justice, responsibility, and loyalty. Cole treats other cultures with respect and trust. John meets the Hector family and comes to befriend them. In contrast to Ethan's treatment of the Native Americans, John Grady Cole treats the Hector family as equals, despite the difference in cultural backgrounds. Conflicting with the romanticized American cowboy, Cole treats other cultures with acceptance. When…
In this story we meet Hugh Hitchcock who is the main character, his friends Rascal and Law McGinty who like him worked for another friend called Charlie that owned the W ranch. This were the old days, in which being a rancher and cattle owner, was one of the few ways to get wealthy and every cowboy knew how to become one if they really wanted to. It wasn’t until the big corporations and bankers got involved in the beef market that the cowboys like Hugh Hitchcock and his friends were prohibited to own cattle at first and slowly stripped down from the things they had long considered birthrights, lowering their wages to an unsubstantial amount and suffer exploitation by being forced to work long hours, pushing them far enough to a breaking point that made them organize and eventually go on strike to face the new evil that human greed had brought over them.…
In All the Pretty Horses, John Grady is a good example of a character that satisfies the role of the ‘typical’ cowboy. His character demonstrates facets of the cowboy myth Hobsbawm writes about in his article. Hobsbawm describes the physical characteristics of a cowboy to be “the lanky, tall Aryan”, this fits the description we get of John Grady.…