Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses
In All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy reveals the limitations of a romantic ideology in the real world. Through his protagonist, John Grady Cole, the author offers three main examples of a man’s attempt to live a romantic life in the face of hostile reality: a failed relationship with an unattainable woman; a romantic and outdated relationship with nature; and an idealistic decision to live as an old-fashioned cowboy in an increasingly modern world. In his compassionate description of John Grady, McCarthy seems to endorse these romantic ideals. At the same time, the author makes clear the harsh reality and disappointments of John Grady’s chosen way of life.
When John Grady leaves Texas at the age of 16, he seems to have a plan. He wants to become a cowboy and have a close relationship with nature. John Grady’s character is hopelessly romantic; he takes action without caring about repercussions. In All the Pretty Horses, John Grady falls in love with people or things that are unable to love him back at the same level. Whether it’s his relationship with Alejandra, or his love for horses, it seems as though he is obsessed with these unattainable relationships.
When John Grady meets Alejandra, he sets himself up for a situation that provokes conflict. This doesn’t seem to bother him, since John Grady is not content to live a life without risk. If anything, it may be that John Grady falls in love with Alejandra because of the potential conflict with her father, the powerful Don Hector. He finds conflict more appealing than harmony because it conforms to his ideal of the dangerous West. When John Grady tells his friend, Rawlins, about his first meeting with Alejandra, the author use...
... middle of paper ...
....
McCarthy’s novel is not about a boy trying to find his place in society, but about a boy trying to find himself and who he really is apart from society. John Grady begins the story with no answers, and at the end he still doesn’t have a clue. There is no resolution for him; there are only more questions, conflicts, and misunderstandings. I think that McCarthy’s point is that to live romantically is to live without cause, without real hope, and ultimately without love. Despite the author’s obvious compassion for John Grady and his idealism, he shows us through romantically descriptive writing that a romantic lifestyle cannot work in this world. The book ends with John Grady riding out into the sunset, having learned nothing, with no place to go. Until the character learns how to compromise with society and give up his romanticism, his life will have no purpose.
Michael Pollan, an American author, journalist, activist, and professor of journalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism (Michael Pollan), writes in his book In Defense of Food, the dangers of nutritionism and how to escape the Western diet and subsequently most of the chronic diseases the diet imparts. In the chapter “Nutritionism Defined” Pollan defines the term nutritionism. Pollan’s main assertion being how the ideology of nutritionism defines food as the sum of its nutrients, and from this viewpoint Pollan goes on to write how nutritionism divides food into two categories, with each macronutrient divided against each other as either bad or good nutrients, in a bid for focus of our food fears and enthusiasms. Finally, Pollan concludes that with the relentless focus nutritionism places on nutrients and their interplay distinctions between foods become irrelevant and abandoned.
So finally he is back from where he started – the life influenced by those around him. Soon he found himself playing the ball accordingly. He recognizes that in contrast to his idea of seeing himself as an independent and unique identity is a myth in the real world. Nevertheless, in the end John Grady is still headed west (p.302), just as he does at the beginning (p.5). Does he still hope for better pastures further west of Mexico?
Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough traces the early life of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. McCullough examines Theodore's love of the outdoors, his health problems, and his family relations. He also discusses Theodore's time at Harvard University, his first marriage, and his entrance into politics. These experiences helped shape and influence Roosevelt's later years, as President of the United States and other political positions.
He is expressing his opinion to his audience in the hopes that they will recognize this and try to change how the world is; Cormac McCarthy is hoping that someone will decide that they need to become more just, and thus begin to bring justice back into the world. Throughout the novel Cormac McCarthy is expressing his idea that justice no longer exists, which he views as a problem, through having John Grady search for justice yet never find it. Not only are we presented with the issue at hand but we are also presented with the solution; be a just person and bring back the justice that is lacking in the world today. He shows us this solution when he has John Grady search for the true owner of Blevins horse even though the judge has labelled the horse as
The times are changing and he's unwilling to give up the past. The world is becoming modernized and people like him, cowboys and ranchers, are slowly disappearing. He runs away from home because he desires to find peace within himself as well as a place where he can feel he belongs. Here begins the adventure of John Grady and his best friend Lacey Rawlins. It is important to note here the means of travel. The story is taking place after World War II, a time when cars are fairly common, yet these boys decide to go on horseback, like in the fading old days. This is just another concept of how they are unwilling to give up a fading past. When they first begin their journey, the boys are having a good time. In a sense they?re two buddies on a road trip with no real motive. Rawlins even mentions, ?You know what?I could get used to this life.? Then they meet Blevins, the foil in the plot that veers the two boys of their course and also has plays a role in the lasting change of their personality. Their meeting with him gives an insight into Grady?s character. Rawlins is against letting Blevins come along with them, but because of John?s kind nature he ends up allowing Blevins to come. It?s because of this kindness and sense of morality, he gets into trouble later on.
...fe for oneself. McCandless primary tragic flaw being his unwillingness to form long-term relations brought him both to the happiest moment of his life, but also to his demise. McCandless never had a problem with people, but rather with the status quo of society, the idea that a man or a woman has to live inside of a coordinate plane. McCandless left home and went on his adventure simply for his own well being, he achieved both what he wanted to accomplish while learning a valuable lesson along the way. He learned that happiness must be shared, and while everyone has his or her flaws, it is important to let these go. Christopher McCandless should teach people the importance of following your dreams, and the importance of enjoying the natural serenity of life.
John Grady’s transformation from a broken family as well as abandoned by his father was unexpected. Growing up around friends who were also abandoned and no mentor or role model made his transition difficult. His love and passion for horses is strong as it was one of the few family traditions he held onto his entire life. His views on emotions and depth of relationships changed once he met Alejandra. In addition, his view on blood as a metaphorical description, to the true life force of all beings is another lesson he learned during his transformation into a young adult. In All The Pretty Horses, McCarthy uses both motifs to spread his theme throughout the novel and portray John Grady’s metamorphosis dramatically from the beginning to the end.
”(Page 137) This is when John Grady got shot when he steals back Blevins’s horse. It seems he is used to shedding blood for the things he loves. He has become so used to getting hurt that he no longer feels the
Despite their fighting families, Roseanna and Johnse Hatfield were passionate for each other. In the beginning of the novel, Roseanna says, “He's asked to me to marry him” (34). Seeing that they loved and ran away together, emphasizes the conflict. Of course, Roseanna's baby helped to intensified the conflict as well.”We'll talk here. It isn’t that I’m not happy about the baby, Ro. How couldn’t I be? But we've got to do something. I don't want my child a wood's colt” (88). The news of the baby had Johnse frantic to get married, but the “Onliest was is if we ran off” (88), Johnse stated. The daring love between Johnse and Ro is constantly intensifying, as they want to run off
Louise Erdrich’s short story “American horse” is a literary piece written by an author whose works emphasize the American experience for a multitude of different people from a plethora of various ethnic backgrounds. While Erdrich utilizes a full arsenal of literary elements to better convey this particular story to the reader, perhaps the two most prominent are theme and point of view. At first glance this story seems to portray the struggle of a mother who has her son ripped from her arms by government authorities; however, if the reader simply steps back to analyze the larger picture, the theme becomes clear. It is important to understand the backgrounds of both the protagonist and antagonists when analyzing theme of this short story. Albetrine, who is the short story’s protagonist, is a Native American woman who characterizes her son Buddy as “the best thing that has ever happened to me”. The antagonist, are westerners who work on behalf of the United States Government. Given this dynamic, the stage is set for a clash between the two forces. The struggle between these two can be viewed as a microcosm for what has occurred throughout history between Native Americans and Caucasians. With all this in mind, the reader can see that the theme of this piece is the battle of Native Americans to maintain their culture and way of life as their homeland is invaded by Caucasians. In addition to the theme, Erdrich’s usage of the third person limited point of view helps the reader understand the short story from several different perspectives while allowing the story to maintain the ambiguity and mysteriousness that was felt by many Natives Americans as they endured similar struggles. These two literary elements help set an underlying atmos...
The first character that may have been fascinated by death is one Ms. Emily Grierson in “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner; published in 1931. “A Rose for Emily” is labeled a Southern Gothic short story (“William Faulkner”). The short story is about the aftermath of the death of Grier. The townspeople want to know why she always stayed in her house, never came outside and what the smell was that came from inside. Much to their horror and surprise, Miss Emily had killed her husband and slept next to the corpse. It all fell into place after the townspeople got inside. The reason Emily slept near a dead corpse after murdering him could stem from childhood problems or events that happened. The people in her life could have been a key co...
‘Of Mice and Men’ is based on the experiences of a migrant farmer, set in 1930’s America. The characters are also symbolized as realistic people, but influenced by the issues and circumstances based on the Wall Street crash, the American Dream and being set after WWI. I empathies for these characters for the consequences of these historical events are what to have made ‘Of Mice and Men’ a tragedy in relation to loneliness.
Wardlaw, G.M. and Smith. Contemporary Nutrition: Issues and Insights. 5th Edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill, pp 85, 2004.
Contrary to the story’s focus on horses, the movie focuses on the romance between John Grady and Alejandra as its poster has the couple with a greater presence compared to the miniscule graphic of horses shoved on the bottom; whereas the book’s cover is graced with the image of a horse and only of that horse. Of all the events that were absent from the movie, the romance scenes are the most kept intact as well as an odd addition of an onlooker dancing when John Grady finishes talking with Alejandra on the phone after being bailed out of jail. In fact, it feels like horses are more of an afterthought in this adaptation because John Grady does not put any emphasis on them as he does in the novel. While in jail, John Grady had a dream about horses, “… in the dream he was among the horses running and in the dream he himself could run with the horses …” (McCarthy 161) In the fashion of flickering images for a subliminal message, brief, flashing visions of Alejandra are injected into this dream when there were none. Romance is pushed as the main focus of the story, but it fails to make the couple fulfilling since the dynamic between John Grady and Alejandra is not developed well enough to make it
Sanderson, Jim. "Hell on horses and women: Stillwell, Beasley, Porter, and McCarthy on Texas maleness." Southwestern American Literature 35.2 (2010): 38+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.