The theme of the poem, “Names of Horses” is the circle of life and how the author feels about animal labor. The poem has the story of this horse and a man’s life in this small poem perfectly aligned from the beginning to the end. Donald hall showed us a connection between the man and the horse; not just labor uses but the love between the two. The seasons go by and the author doesn’t hesitate to add more description to paint a picture of the lives they share. The author states in the poem, “When you were old and lame, when your shoulders hurt bending to graze, one October the man, who fed you and kept you, and harnessed you every morning, led you through corn stubble to sandy ground above Eagle Pond, and dug a hole beside you where you stood
McCarthy simply stresses imagery, setting, and conflict all of which show that effortless decisions can lead to great outcomes.
Kim Addonizio’s “First Poem for You” portrays a speaker who contemplates the state of their romantic relationship though reflections of their partner’s tattoos. Addressing their partner, the speaker ambivalence towards the merits of the relationship, the speaker unhappily remains with their partner. Through the usage of contrasting visual and kinesthetic imagery, the speaker revels the reasons of their inability to embrace the relationship and showcases the extent of their paralysis. Exploring this theme, the poem discusses how inner conflicts can be powerful paralyzers.
In the novel All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, the author shows how important the roles of the horses are in the story and how they relate to John Grady, the protagonist of the novel. The horse has played an important role in the development of America. It has been a form of transportation, easy muscle, and companionship. In the Wild West, it was an essential resource for a cowboy to do his daily chores. McCarthy describes horses as spiritual and as resembling the human soul; meaning that horses came in many different forms. Horses are pretty, ugly, wild, tame, etc. in the story, they have so many different descriptions and different types of personality that they appear to resemble humans. In the story, John Grady is able to communicate with horses beyond a level normal people could. He could look into a horse's eyes and be able to see into its heart; because of this distinct relationship Grady is able to compare the world of horses to the world of humans. Throughout the novel, he learns that what he thinks of men and about his romantic idea of living in the world is completely false and wrong. Therefore, McCarthy's title shows that life can be full of change; and, at times, it can be cruel and ironic. Because of this, McCarthy's title shows how much a perspective can change when a man goes on an adventure and experiences things he did not experience before. Meaning that, McCarthy wanted readers to think before they read the book that life is pretty and easy, but after they read the book he wants the readers to know that life is not always how it seems.
Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses, is an incredulous story with no happy ending, where no one attains what they were attempting to achieve in the end. The story begins with a flat tone, but eventually grows to be suspenseful .[It] is set in a world of comparative [regularity], which is not to say it is any less dominated by evil ,any more controlled by rationality , logic or a divine purpose, than that of its predecessors.”(McCarthy) John and Rawlins are seventeen year olds, who have left their hometown to seek a better life,but what John doesn't know is that things will only turn for the worse. Both individuals come across a boy named Blevins ,who will be a very important character throughout the novel. As the story progresses, John will be faced with many poisonous encounters . John will face evil and evil will face him in the wake of the resurfacing of the heinous crimes that Blevins has committed, which leads them to being arrested and tortured atrociously. From having everything he will go to having nothing. Nothing.. This was
The Mother is among a family of four who lives on a small farm and takes immense pride in what interests her, however her passion does not particularly lie in her two children; James and David; nor in her husband and their interests; but instead lies within her chickens. Though chickens bring the most joy to the Mother, they are not the sole animals that live on the farm. The animal that draws the most interest from the father, James and David is their horse, Scott. At a young age, Scott was used as a working mule for the family and grew up alongside the Father and two Sons. To the father, Scott was like one of his own sons, and to James and David, Scott was like their brother; but according to the Mother, “He’s been worthless these last few years”(Macleod, 267). Ever since Scott was young, he was a burden on the Mother’s lifestyle; she never took a liking to the horse even when he served as a source of profit for the family. The Mother had never appreciated the sentimental value that Scott possessed because he had never been a particular interest to her. Once Scott had aged and was no longer able...
in G.K. Chesterton's compelling poem, The Ballad of the White Horse. During a time when the
The symbolism of the color black in literature, has a strong connotation that involves intricate depths and brings realization to the surface. In All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, Alejandra embodies the characteristics of black, including mystery, power, and unintentional cruelty. Within the context of each passage and action of this character, the color black has a more complex and intricate meaning. McCarthy’s use of characterization, imagery, and point of view reveals the importance of symbolism and how it effects themes such as Romanticism versus Realism, and Masculinity versus Femininity.
At the beginning of the story Horses of the Night, Chris, who lives at Shallow Creek with a poor living condition, is introduced as a distant cousin of the narrator Vanessa. Since there is no high schools at Shallow Creek and as Chris’s dream of becoming a civil engineer, these two facts push him to seek for new opportunities in Manawaka. Though he is still undertaking various inconveniences and hopelessness while he studies in Manawaka, such as Grandfather Connor’s disdain sights toward him and lacking of financial support, he acts indifferently to respond to Grandfather Connor’s attitudes and speaks out his “great expectations” with assurance, as if his future of
In the book All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, symbolism is shown in multiple different ways. Symbolism is the usage of symbols to represent ideas and qualities. When reading the book, in the beginning these symbols do not tend to stand out, but as the plot continues symbols are found everywhere. Multiple symbols are used throughout the story like horses, blood and water. Some more less-noticeable symbols are dust, religion, and sunsets.
In the poem, the reader finds themselves trapped in the harsh and unrelenting landscape of drought stricken Australia, only to be witness to the sheer relentlessness and devastation of the drought that is readily consuming the land. It is a witnessing that quickly becomes a warning, one repeatedly reinforced and capitalised on by the loud and strange cries of a dingo. Throughout the poem, Wright clearly outlines the importance of life and the harsh yet fragile reality of nature, by including many depictions of dead or dying animals and plants. Towards the end of the poem the narrator finds themselves propping a dead horse outside the gate of the ‘thirty mile dry’ in hope of warning people not to come this way, or they too, will face a horrible demise at the hands of the relentless
In ‘horse,’ the speaker describes a horse being betrayed and then killed in a small town in Texas. The first two stanzas described the horse thundering towards outstretched hands being attracted to a field of corn but instead it is attacked by a group of white teenage boys who leave it mutilated. The sheriff of the town does not do anything because he believes that it is in their nature to do so. In the last stanzas the Mexican owner puts the horse out of his misery and someone tries to pay him for the damage. His people are disappointed because they believe that money could not make up for the death of the horse but, they do nothing about it. It would seem the horse in the poem is meant to represent the Mexican culture and how it is being eradicated by the dominant white society in the United States.
These stories have both symbolism of horse and contemporary American culture integrated into the Native American ways. This is expressed through the modernism in some of these poems. For example, 3 A.M is a poem about two Indians waiting at the Albuquerque airport for a flight. Also shown is the stigma the flight attendant has for these to Indian people and why they are at the airport looking for a flight. Also mentioned is how they remember a friend I assume named Simon took a yellow cab out of Albuquerque, which cost him twenty-five dollars. The way American culture shines through this poem is interesting because the stigma we have for the Native people is that they do not fly on airplanes and they do not take cabs. Also they do not use forms of currency like dollar bills. However this stigma is wrong and you see this through this poem and for me I see it through the eyes of the flight attendant.
In Kurt Vonnegut’s two short stories, ‘All the Kings Horses’ and ‘Manned Missiles’, he tried to reflect on the actual international backdrops of the time the stories were based on, in two different ways. While both stories reflected on the events that took place during the Cold War, the author managed to portray the actors involved the United States and Russia, in different ways in order to show the historical implications the stories had, and how it could be related back to that time period. Even though the stories had certain similarities like the actors involved and the time period it was based on, it also differed in the way the actors were portrayed and how they impacted the Cold war.
Dorothy Johnson in “A Man Called Horse” writes about a young man who was born and raised in Boston. He lives in a gracious home under his grandmothers and grandfather’s loving care. For some reason, he is discontent. He leaves home to try to find out the reason for his discontent. Upon leaving he undergoes a change in status and opinion of himself and others. He begins a wealthy young man arrogant and spoiled, becomes a captive of Crow Indians- docile and humble, and emerges a man equal to all.
In the first stanza of the poem the speaker describes the fearful dream she had. Bogan introduces the symbol of a mighty horse that embodies the fear and retribution carried from the speaker's childhood, fear and retribution that have been "kept for thirty-five years" (3). Bogan effectively uses metaphorical language as she describes the fear personified inthe horse as it "poured through his mane" (3) and the retribution as it "breathed through his nose" (4). The source of her fear is unclear, but it may be that the horse is a symbol of life that can be both beautiful and terrifying. The imagery created when the speaker tells us, "the terrible horse began / To paw at the air, and make for me with his blows" (1-2) describes a sense of entrapment as life corners her and spews forth repressed fear and retribution, emotions that must be faced.