An Analysis Of Cormac Mccarthy's All The Pretty Horses

The adult life is something that John Grady Cole would most certainly believe to be like scraping a cheese grater against his head for the entire day. John Grady is a wandering cowboy, never looking to end his adventurous life and settle for a nine-to-five. Summing up one of his final adventures, John Grady said, “That it was good that God kept the truths of life from the young as they were starting out or else they’d have no heart to start at all”(pg. 284). Before leaving his family ranch, John Grady only saw the dream of the perfect ranch in Mexico, and did not consider any obstacles that would prevent him from arriving there. As such, John Grady lived the true cowboy life and fell in love with the beauty on horseback, yet their relationship

was ended and the dream started to fade away. The cowboy was then taken to prison and forced to endure a young boy’s death for no apparent reason. The true reality of adulthood made itself more present. Finally, in an attempt to rescue his own horse, John Grady was shot in the leg. The fantasy that he created the day he decided to leave his farm was never to be. If he knew how his trip turned out before it even started, he would have never gone. In this way, this quote was true for John Grady’s own experience: God did shelter him and prevent him from knowing about the true reality of adult life. The novel in its entirely is very discouraging and negative. McCarthy depicts a terrible chain of events for a young cowboy, and does not let him ride off into the sunset with the girl. The true cowboy life is something that young boys should not know, for then the sense of spirit and adventure is taken away from them entirely.

Cormac McCarthy wrote All the Pretty Horses in a way that represents the west even more than just vivid descriptions of the plains and farms.

Although it seems far-fetched, something as peculiar as punctuation can actually be connected to setting and character. In a western novel, the higher-education of the Ivy League schools will not determine if a cowboy is able to win a gun fight, or escape on horseback faster than a pursuer. Being book smart is not needed in the wild west. John Grady is sixteen years old and roaming the country as a cowboy, so obviously he has not attempted to learn in school. McCarthy writes the novel in a way that a character living as a cowboy would: with as little punctuation as possible. The lack of quotations, apostrophes, and commas serves a purpose. A cowboy writes about his many exciting adventures too fast for his hand to catch up. A cowboy would not go back and proofread. A cowboy is not concerned about having correct punctuation. Furthermore, visualizing your character beyond appearance and attitude and writing as the character would creates a diary-like novel, enhancing the western world. A cowboy would not stow his typewriter on his horse—a diary and pencil would work much better. Besides the lack of punctuation, McCarthy also writes with many examples of polysyndeton. When narrating the journey, the extended sentences with many conjunctions serves a purpose. An arduous journey in the heat of the desert is reflected by the rolling sentences that never end, where the reader can almost feel the monotony. Additionally, the novel is one that is full of adventure and unpredictable situations. As the story becomes intense and the reader is quickly reading the words, the lack of punctuation speeds up the exciting parts. No commas to stop the flow of the events, no periods to end the

scene.

Pictures are worth a thousand words. Often stated, this is true. Viewing a picture of a beautiful scene of nature in a far-away country makes someone feel as if they have actually visited. But a picture will never compare to actually experiencing something. The same principle can be applied to literature. It is an amazing feat for an author to describe a setting in wonderful detail, and make the reader feel as if he or she is actually living it. However, words can not compare to being in a particular setting in person. Actually visiting the Anne Frank house, or actually roaming the plains of Mexico are far superior to reading about it. Because of this, authors must suffice. Cormac McCarthy, in his novel All the Pretty Horses, uses language as a way to create a more vivid setting. In this book, the main character travels into northern Mexico originally starting in Texas. Often there are words and short phrases in Spanish that are not translated to English. If the reader is supposed to be living in the world of vaqueros and haciendas, why would he expect to hear cowboys and farms? There would be scarce English in this world, and this is something that McCarthy wanted the reader to experience as well. Furthermore, in this novel, there are many simple nouns that are in Spanish, such as “hacendado” and “charro”. McCarthy refers to characters as these words instead of their actual names. By failing to translate, this adds more complexity into the characters themselves. To the English reader, “hacendado” is much more interesting that “the farmer”, and creates an even more convincing setting. Transitioning to the more complex phrases in Spanish, such as, “Quisiera hablar con el señor Pérez”(pg. 190), most English readers will not understand this. In this way, McCarthy expects that this is the case, which creates a sense of superiority in that he does not cater to the “Ugly American” and translate for him. The characters of John Grady and Lacey Rawlins respect the Mexican culture by speaking Spanish, so by failing to translate, McCarthy also respects the culture.