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. There are many different types of relationships based on a very vast scale. John Grady Cole has many complicated and some not-so-complicated relationships with his friends and family members. In book 1, McCarthy informs …show more content…
Another key parallel theme in the book revolves around diversity between John Grady’s homeland-the United States- and his new home in Mexico. On page 25 of book 1 it says, “The last thing his father said was that the country would never be the same” which relates to book 4 in many ways. One relation occurs on page 299 which states, “I don’t know, said John Grady…I don’t know what happens to a county.” In this scene he is reflecting on how things have changed and how there are many differences between events on his homeland in Texas and the events that occur in Mexico. A more direct relation is in book 1 when the boys (John Grady, Rawlins, and Blevins) cross the Rio Grande naked and then in book 4 when John Grady crosses Rio Grande naked-heading back to Texas. The sense of home and the countries boarder really affects John Grady and how he makes decisions based on where he is. The last key theme in the book concerns how John Grady changes during the course of the novel. In book 1 John Grady is ignorant to reality and is just looking for an adventure. On page 5 of book 1 it states, “He stood like a man come to the end of something.” This quote is ironic because it saying that John Grady is posing as a man at the end of something which is silly since it’s just the beginning of the story. The parallel event that corresponds to this occurs on page 254
Teenagers are seen as the most apathetic age group time and time again; with growing problems in today’s world concerning politics, the economy, and social issues, it’s no wonder the youth of today are they way they are. There is little to no hope for them to completely change everything for the better without help from the older generations. The youth should be able to live freely, as they choose without the restriction of older generation’s strict standards like the absolute necessity of a good reputation. Some choose to live their lives to the fullest, like John Grady from All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy. He and Alejandra risk overwhelming prejudice to be together. The passionate environment of the lake scene is reflected using
In Cormac McCarthy's All The Pretty Horses, John Grady Cole's departure of America and search for identity leads him on a tortuous journey. Sprouting in San Angelo, Texas, John Grady Cole blossoms into life on a ranch his grandfather presides over. His grandfather dies when he is just sixteen, causing him to depart America - the country he once called home - with his best friend Lacey Rawlins for Mexico, to be cowboys. As he explores the southern country, he feels that Mexico is exactly where he belongs. But, during his visit, he runs into trouble as he falls in love with a ranch owner's daughter who comes from a strictly traditional family, he is jettisoned in a moral-absent jail, and he stabs a man to death. Because Cole has nowhere else
John Grady is not your average cowboy. All the Pretty Horses is not your typical coming-of-age story. This is an honest tale. Cormac McCarthy follows John Grady as he embarks on his journey of self-discovery across the border. Armed with a few pesos in his pocket, a strong horse and a friend at his side, John Grady thinks he’s ready to take on the Wild West of Mexico. At their final steps in America, a stranger, aged thirteen, joins our heroes. This unexpected variable named Blevins challenges John Grady, testing his character and pushing him to uncomfortable limits. The dynamic of their relationship reveals John Grady’s capacity to care for others as he shelters this kid from the hardships of reality and the
In a journey across the vast untamed country of Mexico, Cormac McCarthy introduces All the Pretty Horses, a bittersweet and profoundly moving tale of love, hate, disappointments, joy, and redemption. John Grady sets out on horseback to Mexico with his best friend Lacey Rawlins in search of the cowboy lifestyle. His journey leaves John wiser but saddened, yet out of this heartbreak comes the resilience of a man who has claimed his place in the world as a true cowboy. In his journey John’s character changes and develops throughout the novel to have more of a personal relationship with the horses and Mother Nature. He changes from a young boy who knows nothing of the world
One major theme in the book is coming of age. Both Alex and Dean are pushed into situations where they must make life or death decisions on the behalf of a group of children. This forces them to leave behind all of their childish notions of how the world should
The second way the theme connects to Our Town is noticed in the middle of the book, where George and Emily are hanging out. This shows a universal quality of human existence. One piece of evidence to support this claim can be found on pages 68-69, where it says:
Though John Grady follows this template in All the Pretty Horses, love is only one aspect of his rite of passage. Before leaving San Angelo, John Grady is seen unsure of himself and in a state of perpetual blankness like most teenagers, but also is unusually possessed by a search for meaning, for fulfillment. He searches the plot of his mother's play for divine significance, looks to the landscape for answers while riding with his father for the last time, and eventually leaves his hometown not to pursue a new destination, but rather on a quest for one, for some purpose to his life. In San Angelo, his life lent itself to a vacuous limbo; his mother neither offered him guidance nor ceded him control and his father is a beaten man on his last breaths, his last relationship with a girl ended apathetically. By the end of the novel, John Grady grows up in all the capacities of a true hero he has learned to be a father to Blevins, a lover to Alejandra, and a friend to Rawlins. Most importantly, he has lost his innocence without becoming disillusioned. At the end of the novel, he is a hardened hero, but also a wise one. His spirit is no longer defined by its emptiness but by its completeness; its synthesis of the moral and amoral, the serene and
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy explores many different themes about humans and the natural world. The story’s often vacant landscapes, and barren descriptions promote an idea of isolation throughout the text. One of the only recurring motifs throughout the story that promotes a sense of life are horses. Horses clearly stick out in the otherwise depressing landscape, and McCarthy utilizes this along with other techniques to develop an overall theme to the story. This theme, that humans and the natural world are somehow interconnected, is clearly portrayed by the role that horses play in the novel.
One of the major ones I plan on writing about is the theme. All the pretty horses has quite a bit of violence in it and I think it has a lot to do with the theme. These three boys have done, really, nothing to deserve anything that they go
The main theme of the book is the ‘character’ of people in that time. How people bonded and rejected one another in a time of such hardship and demoralization. I think every character played a part in the
The Red Pony by author John Steinbeck is a very notable book for young adults. The central and recurring theme of the four stories told within this short novel is life and death. The stories also deal with conflict between old and new. Unlike most novels for young adults this book is different because John Steinbeck does not try to soften or hide old age and death, but instead presents these themes as they are in reality. The stories tell how the main character, Jody Tiflin, becomes more responsible as he deals with the disappointments and sadness, as well as the successes of real life.
Alejandra, the daughter of the Mexican Ranch owner, represents forbidden love and life. Alejandra is the daughter of the owner of the ranch in Mexico. From the first time John first lays eyes on Alejandra he stares at her with a blank, unbelieving look while she looks back with a big smile of attraction. Alejandra aunt warns John about the consequences of being seen with Alejandra and tells him to stay away from her. Despite Alejandra’s aunts request, John enter into a secrete love affair that is consummated one night in the lake at the ranch.
In the novel “All the Pretty Horses” by Cormac McCarthy, the protagonist, John Grady Cole has a sense of teenage invincibility as runs away from home and through his experiences in Mexico he transitions into a weathered man that realizes he cannot achieve his simple dream of becoming a rancher and marrying Alejandra. During his time in Mexico he is tested morally, physically and mentally when he faces companionship, heartbreak and adversaires throughout the book.
The Red Pony by John Steinbeck is a book that divided into four stories: The Gift, The Great Mountains, The Promise and The Leader of The People, each story is filled with lessons. Those lessons taught him about life, responsibility and other things would help him in the future. The stories take place between the Gabilan mountains and the Great Ones On the Tiflin family’s ranch. The red pony was born in Salinas, California, in the early 1900s. The tone of the book was mixed between Hopeful and disappointment. Moreover, the theme of the stories was family, death, coming of ages and disappointment. Jody, the main character of the book. He is a ten-year-old boy living on a ranch with his parents and a farmhand named Billy Buck. His father, who
Bang my eyes opened as I leaped out of bed. I ran at full speed to my brother's room and woke Miguel up and screamed Happy Birthday to him. We went and changed and went on our iPads before our parents woke up. It was all a hurry as we looked like buzzing bees zooming through the house, at around 10 past 9 we ran out of the house full of eager and excitement. Sitting in the car, we drove along streets, highways and whinny roads but when I though we would ever make it to the horse riding we reached. I hopped out of the car ready to get on the Horse but realised the first group wasn't back yet. The three of us played basketball, got a helmet and got ready.