Effective Use of Dialogue in All the Pretty Horses Essay

In the beginning of All the Pretty Horses McCarthy describes Rawlins as a childhood friend, and the young boys adventure to Mexico in hope of an adventure. Then the innocence shifts with the maturity of both the characters, as John Grady Cole finds a girl and Rawlins finally starts making decisions for himself and decides to go home the the United States because of the trouble that John Grady put him in. Maia Y. Rodriguez agrees in their paper Relocating the Cowboy: American Privilege in "All the Pretty Horses ". The article describes parts of the book that relate to western life and the American cowboy ideal, one of the most important features being the idea of a Bildungsroman or a growing up story, and Rodriguez proves the impact in All the Pretty

Riding horses can be used in many spectacular ways. Horses can be used for therapy with special needs children. Horses can help ease soldier’s minds. Riding horses helps with emotional issues, diminish post-traumatic stress disorders, and allow children with special needs to have fun.

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

These two cowboys have no use for an extraneous kid with a showy horse, and Rawlins makes that clear to him, but they do not deliberately run Blevins off. John Grady recognizes the beginnings of a relationship, and he does not refuse. “We aint seen the last of his skinny ass” (41), he reflects as they continue, abandoning Blevins in the dust. His words are not resentful nor does he appear aggravated. Blevins’ eventual inclusion reflects the nonchalant attitude John Grady maintains throughout the beginning of his journey.

Handful’s two strong character qualities is her witty attitude and intelligence. “If he called your name, you felt like it would fly straight to heaven and hit God between the eyes” (Kidd 161). Kidd gave Handful a witty attitude for comic relief. This novel is about the very harsh time during slavery. When the novel becomes remorseful, Handful comes in and makes a funny remark. A few moments after Handful said this funny remark,

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

In All the Pretty Horses, in order for Cormac McCarthy to tell her story uses many literary devices; circular movement, imagery, and polysyndeton. McCarthy gives her readers a glance at John Grady Cole’s lifestyle - heartbreak, his culture, and the death of loved ones. The parallelism allows us, as the reader, to increase our understanding of the protagonist’s journey.

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

“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

Realizing that he is fighting a losing battle, John Grady decides to chase his idealized imaginings, thereby subtly shifting the focus from his lack of control over the fate of the ranch to his assumption of control over his own fate. He then rides down south to Mexico with his companion - Rawlins. Their journey from San Angelo to Mexico seems to be accomplished flawlessly and easily. “I could get used to this life,” commented Rawlins on the imminent accomplishment of their dream – a care free life. Initially Grady, in accordance to cowboy notions, succeeds in implementing his passive personality. Firstly deserts his home land without proper goodbyes to anybody and secondly he was even contemplating on killing Blevins the first time they met (p.41). However, his passive demeanor opens to scrutiny of being spurious, when he eventually goes to an extent of putting his (Grady) own life at stake in the name of love for Blevins. He continues to diverge away from an independent, rough and tough cowboy personality to a sympathetic and caring father, when he starts acting like a father to Blevins.

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

Finally, it appears that Carver does not give an adequate description of his characters. The male and the female characters in this story are flat, stock characters. Because Carver relies on commonly held gender-based stereotypes this helps the reader to create his or her own image of the characters. The need for physical or psychological description is not necessary. For example, the woman?s opening statement, ?I?m glad you?re leaving! I?m glad you?re leaving! Do you hear?? (265), illustrates that she is a stereotypical, emotional female, who is out of control. Furthermore, the man?s refusal to acknowledge her illustrates a stereotypical male response to conflict. It shows that he considers her unworthy of a response. As if the same fight has occurred many times before and he knows there is no sense in replaying this scene again. The story escalates to a

Austen has set out to save the rising art form of the novel. In this address to the reader she glorifies what a novel should be: the unrestrained expression of words conveying the wide range of raw human emotion. This veneration of the novel is necessary to the development of Catherine's fiction-loving character as it justifies the narrator's right to remain fond of this flawed heroine.

This bitterness and sarcasm is revealed as strong characteristics of the narrator. Throughout the majority of the story, the narrator continues shows his distaste for any "happy" situation. Much like the hyphenated asides, Carver implements fragmented sentences behind description, to show the narrator pausing for a moment of color commentary.

A conventionally romantic novel usually focuses on the relationship between a physically attractive man and woman. The hero and heroine usually meet early in the story and fall in love at first sight. The two lovers may, more often than not, have to overcome obstacles in order to be together, but in the end, it seems that love conquers all. Pride and Prejudice does fall into this 'romance' category; it's often considered the most romantic novel of all time. But there are certainly elements of this novel that drive completely against the cliches of a conventional romance novel, and this essay will attempt to pinpoint those 'elements', and argue whether or