Analysis Of All The Pretty Horses And The Name Of God Is Mercy

All The Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy, follows a trio of teenage boys who are making their way from Texas to Mexico, the hardships they face along the way, and what they encounter once they get there. The dynamic between these, loosely titled friends, is an interesting one that changes throughout the book based on how the characters themselves change. With wildly contrasting personalities but the similar goal, the relationships between the boys are both strained and cordial throughout the novel. John Grady, although being the leader of the pack, is a man of little words and a lot of actions. Like the famous saying goes, opposites attract, this is true for the relationship that John Grady shares with Lacey Rawlins. Rawlins is more of

Through this situation, Blevin caused conflict and hardship for Rawlin and John Grady, but he allowed John Grady to live the dream. Without the situation, John Grady would not have encountered darkness and suffering, which forced him to grow. The prison, as reality’s rejection, allows John Grady to express ideal qualities of a cowboy. Ironically, these qualities come out because of contrast: prison emphasizes his desire to be unfettered, the threat of his life emphasizes his laid back approach, his confinement emphasizes his nomadic desires, and the lack of concern about a jail brawl stab emphasizes his carefree attitude. Conflict results in darkness, allowing John Grady to live his dream.

Although John fell victim to Don Hector’s betrayal, he still felt the need to explain himself. He wanted the happiness he felt when he joined the ranch to last longer. John wanted to mend the patch with Don Hector and meet Alejandra again. However, when he arrived at the ranch,Don Hector and Alejandra already left. Instead, he found Senora Alfonsa, Alejandra’s great-aunt. Senora Alfonsa bailed the boys out of prison “because of Alejandra [and in return] she wont see [him] again”. Although Alejandra helped persuade her aunt to bail the boys out of prison, her decision created false hope for John. John believed that his old life would return to him once he left prison. But he showed up to the ranch to find everyone left him. He could no longer rely on anyone, which twisted the many knives that people left in his body. Everyone around John betrayed and hurt John to the point that he became numb to the

Both to the reader and to the characters. Blevins was a thirteen-year-old runaway who followed John Grady Cole and Rawlins to Mexico. He was ultra-hypersensitive to mockery, insult, and anything impinging on his dignity. After separating from John Grady and Rawlins, Blevins worked for a German family until he earned enough money to journey back to the town where “his” horse and gun were stolen. After stalking the thief for a few days, Blevins “... walked up behind him and snatched it out of his belt.” (McCarthy 159). After that, Blevins tries to run away, but gets into a brawl, and ends up killing one person. Consequently, The captain, bribed by the brother of the child Blevins killed, shoots him. John Grady and Rawlins are shocked, but show no empathy for Blevins at the time, instead fearing for their own lives. But Blevins, in an ironic way, saves John Grady and Rawlins lives in the prison. With the money Blevins gives to John Grady, John Grady is able to buy a knife, which is particularly useful in saving his life when he is attacked by a “cuchillero,” or a fighter with a knife. Additionally, the death of Blevins helps pull John Grady and Rawlins back into reality. They realize then that much of Mexico is a corrupt, cruel, and lawless place. It seems like the horses are the only pretty things in Mexico. John Grady and Blevins now know that they must go back to the United States. Finally, the death of Blevins causes John

In the Novel “All The Pretty Horses” by author Cormac McCarthy, the book develops the ideas about how imagination affects an individual’s willingness to embrace or reject an uncertain future. The people in John Grady's life affect his future in certain ways, the decisions he makes based on the opinions of his peers, to the death of loved ones.

“I knew that what I was seeking to discover was a thing I'd always known. That all courage was a form of constancy. That it was always himself that the coward abandoned first. After this all other betrayals came easily.” (Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses) Humans are fallen, they have a tendency to be self centered and for one to take themselves out of their own body and see themselves, in the way they think and process images and words is

Syntax in All the Pretty Horses varies and has quite an impact on the novel. The sentences are predominately simple, as like most dialogue. However, the descriptions of the setting and other objects in the story are complex. Sentences vary in size from short or long, with rarely medium length sentences. Dialogue tends to be short, with phrases or single sentences. There are long pieces of dialogue. The language used is not very formal. Fragments are used within the story, like on page 161, with just the word, “Dogs.” There are some rhetorical questions throughout the novel, such as, “And what did she have to give in return?,” with John Grady already knowing the answer. There is some parallel structure in the story, with a person close

Everyone has a different way to deal with overwhelming situations. It can be more difficult for people with mental illness to cope with the hardships of life. For instance, in “Horses of the Night,” the character of Chris has dissociative symptoms that can be linked to his depression. Margaret Laurence’s short story tells the story of Chris, a young teenager who moves to from a small farm to the town of Manawaka in order to go to high school. The story is told by his younger cousin, Vanessa. As she grows up, she learns that Chris is depressed. The author uses the theme of fantasy to show that he does not cope well with reality. The horses, Shallow Creek, and the children are symbols that show us the fantasy that Chris lives in.

In Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses, the concept of understanding sacrifice to establish a greater moral good is central to the main characters and their developed values. Specifically, McCarthy incorporates a great sacrifice of young love made by John Crady Cole’s love interest, Alejandra. Alejandra strategically surrenders her promising relationship with John Grady in order to accomplish a greater agenda: bailing him out of jail therefore, assuring the forbiddance of their of their future union. In this instance, the sacrifice of love and union reveals the character’s deeper values rooted in moral obligation. This passionate act of love exemplifies Alejandra’s strength and selflessness, while also displaying a deeper understanding to the overall meaning of the book by highlighting how valuable friendships and relationships come at a great cost.

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.

John Grady Cole, the last in a long line of west Texas ranchers, is, at sixteen, poised on the sorrowful, painful edge of manhood. When he realizes the only life he has ever known is disappearing into the past and that cowboys are as doomed as the Comanche who came before them, he leaves on a dangerous and harrowing journey into the beautiful and utterly foreign world that is Mexico. In the guise of a classic Western, All the Pretty Horses is at its heart a lyrical and elegiac coming-of-age story about love, friendship, and loyalty that will leave John Grady, and the reader, changed forever. When his mother decides to sell the cattle ranch he has grown up working, John Grady Cole and his friend Lacey Rawlins

Humans enjoy choices. Whether that choice is putting on a coat in the morning or choosing to participate in an exhilarating activity like skydiving, every decision starts with the idea of free will. The question of free will essentially asks who is in charge of our choices. While the origin of fate and free will remain a mystery, these ideas can be traced back for centuries and found in our daily lives: in our code of ethics, politics, and religions. Kurt Vonnegut wrestles with the coexistence of fate and free will, ultimately arguing fate dominants.

John Grady pays for the things he feels passionate for and loves with his blood and those of others. The nights John Grady and Alejandra sleep together in the dead of the night she draws blood “with her teeth where he held the heel of his hand against her mouth that she not cry out” (142). The blood he bleeds is the love he holds for her. If they were to be careless and get caught, Alfonsa would surely kick him out of la Purisama and Don Hector would feel betrayed by the three of them with no warning. When Blevins’ reckless actions gives the captain no choice but to punish him. John Grady and Rawlins do not see Blevins die but they hear where the “pistol shot came from beyond the ebony trees” (178). Blevins’s death allows John Grady to continue his journey instead of having a similar fate. While at the prison John Grady purchases a knife for safety. A fight nearly kills John Grady as a “red boutonniere blossoming on the left pocket of his blue workshirt there spurted a thin fan of bright arterial blood” (201). Here he unwillingly pays for the experience of life with his own blood. The price for his life is that of

7.) In the novel, a main character that disliked another character in the story was Rawlins. He loathed the young kid Belvins, who accompanied John Grady and Rawlins on their journey to Mexico. Rawlins was not a fan of Belvin’s because he was simply threatened by him, and he believed that Belvins was all trouble. He had a bigger horse, more ambition, and could do many things better than Rawlins even though he was so much younger. For example, in one particular scene, Rawlins is talking about how good of a “shot” he has. Belvins commented on Rawlins claim stating that he has a great shot, in fact the best one in town. Flustered after hearing enough from Belvins, Rawlins asks him to prove his shot by shooting a hole through his wallet. Agreeing, Belvins shoots a hole right through the center of Rawlins wallet when it is thrown into the air. This specific event shuts Rawlins up for the rest of the night.

John Grady rides with his dad for the last time and says goodbye to him. His dad also tells him that his mom has tried to bring the family away from the rural town and to California, however his dad fails to adapt the new lifestyle and brings the family back to San Angelo. Before John Grady and his friend Rawlins make their mind to left San Angelo for Mexico, John Grady also meets his ex-girlfriend Mary Catherine Barnett. Soon, they go on their journey. They finally live the life that the two boys has wanted - the life of a cowboy. After a few days on the way South, they discover that someone is following them. They switch names and figure out that it is a thirteen