They Shoot Horses Don T They, By Horace Mccoy

“They Shoot Horses Don’t They” written by Horace McCoy expresses two significant views on life during the Great Depression. This novel is about Robert and Gloria’s struggle to live during the times of hardship after their failure to pursue in life. Robert, the narrator of the novel, is a young boy who hopes to become a film director. After many failed attempts at pursuing his aspired profession, his strong and tough personality reflects his view on fighting for his life and become a filmmaker. On the other hand, Gloria, the other main character in the novel, takes the pessimistic approach on life and had many failed attempts at suicide. By analyzing these two very diverse outlooks we can see discover the background of the lives of both Robert
and Gloria and many new approaches to these character’s lives. From the very start of the novel we are introduced to the narrator, Robert. One day while walking down the street he meets Gloria. Gloria is a side actress who ultimately convinces Robert to be her partner in a dance competition. This dance competition took place by the pier in a dance hall over the ocean. These people dream to win the contest so they can receive $1,000. Each contestant and their partner must dance straight for months with some occasional ten minute breaks to do anything they needed to do. This included showering, eating and sleeping. While this may sound terrible many people were drawn to this because of the guarantee of food and shelter. For Robert staying in this competition may be a chance for him to be discovered by a movie star or filmmaker. Although Robert was rejected the chance to become a filmmaker he continued to live life to the fullest and doesn’t give up. Through out the book we see that Robert slowly becomes pessimistic as a result of Gloria’s negative attitude.
Every little moment of sunlight that Robert can get is amazing for him. “Gloria and I walked down by the the master of ceremonies platform. It was nice down there about the time of afternoon. There was a big triangle of sunshine that came through the double window above the bar. It only lasted about ten minutes but during those ten minutes I moved slowly about that in it…I told myself, I’m going to spend the rest of my life in the sun” (page 36). The light was one of Robert’s main sources of life and energy. In the beginning of the novel we see that Robert reflects the optimistic attitude towards life, while Gloria represents pessimism and is nihilistic. From the very first time Robert met Gloria by the bus station she was always negative. As we study her negativity we can see that perhaps her negativity was a result of her fear of life. Being raised during the Great Depression, Gloria had a dull childhood. Gloria thinks of life as a “merry- go- round.” Gloria says,” this whole business is a merry- go- round. When we get put of here we’re right back where we started. We’ve been eating and sleeping. Well, what’s the good of that when you’re just postponing something that’s bound to happen?” (Page 65). She says that there is no point to live because all life is at the end, is a cycle that just leads to death. She also adds that sleeping, eating and fighting to live are only delaying death. We can see that Robert reflects the modernist concept that men are stronger than women. While Robert keeps fighting to stay alive and still has hope of becoming a filmmaker, Gloria tries to commit suicide and doesn’t care to stay alive. We can see that Gloria isn’t even strong enough to kill herself which resulted in her many failed attempts at suicide. The view that Gloria believes she will be happier when she dies causes her to not be able to kill herself. Life in her eyes is a rotation of negativity, so the notion of dying, escaping her problems and being happier is scary to her and she is unable to do anything to change that. In the novel we have see many references made to nature.
Nature in this book can be a symbol of rebirth. Gloria takes all these references to nature and turns them negative. Gloria believes that there is no meaning to life and thus she might be scared to view life as positive or meaningful. Robert loved the park and went there often to escape his rough life. He says, “I was glad she wanted to go to the park. It was always nice there. It was a fine place.” On the contrary, Gloria states, “Let’s go sit in the park and hate a bunch of people” (page 9). Much of Gloria’s pessimistic view on life can be a result of her hardships when she was a young child. Gloria grew up with her aunt and uncle who abused her, which led her to often living and sleeping with men just to have a place of shelter. Another example of nature and how it connects to the awful lives of these people is the notion that the dance contest took place on the pier over the ocean. Robert states, “I used to love the Pacific Ocean: its name, its size, its colour, its smell- I used to sit for hours looking at it, wondering about the ships that had sailed and never returned… But not any more” (Page 16). Robert used to love the ocean and everything about it. Now that he has met Gloria, she has influenced him and and he no longer enjoys the beauty of it. Robert is now in this dance competition where he is struggling and only gets very few minutes to see the sunlight which he
loves.