Cormac Mccarthy All The Pretty Horses Analysis

Evil Can Change Everything

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

an order given by Alejandra’s father, whom is the father of the woman John is deeply in love with. Eventually, they are released in result of a deal made by Alejandra and her aunt that stated that she would not go near him if she let them be released.Moreover, Blevins has gone to the next life. They will come across more and more trouble and wickedness. Through this, McCarthy eloquently proves the reader that evil can dominate and control even the lives of those who do not wish to welcome it .
McCarthy begins with foreshadowing ,forewarning the reader that something inevitable is going to occur.

For instance in,when Rawlins uttered to John that “Somethin bad is gonn happen [sic], it demonstrates that Rawlins has a feeling that there is something wicked on its way. “I knew it’d come to this. From the time I first [saw] him”.[sic](McCarthy 159) This foreshadowing puts the story at a higher level and it creates a suspense that the rest of the story doesn’t contain, and shows that Rawlins knew from the first moment he saw Blevins, that he was poison. This device helps him build anticipation of what will come later in the story. This is a path towards the climax of the story. John and Rawling have not yet seen what is to come. They will soon face iniquitous people who will destroy them . Without this device, the reader wouldn't have anticipated anything and McCarthy might have lost the

reader.
In addition to McCarthy using foreshadowing, he also utilizes situational irony ,creating an unexpected turning point in the story. Blevins finally reveals the truth , signifying that he is not who he portrays to be when he first met John Grady and Rawlins. Blevins has committed murder and supposedly stolen a horse. Blevins knew after they got him , they were hunting John and Rawlins due to their involvement with him. For instance , when John Grady tells Rawlins that “He’s killed three men “.John and his cousin( Rawlins) are tortured “like the moon that burned cold”(McCarthy 141 ) Because of what Blevins has done, they end up paying the price themselves as well. Everywhere they go evil follows and it will take possession of those around them . It gives a sense to the reader that nothing is over yet and that Rawlins and John are still not done with him . Alejandra was the reason why he was let out of prison. He doesn’t have her love,but he has his freedom. He has lost mostly everything and John doesn’t know what else he will lose now.
Furthermore, throughout his creative peace, McCarthy incorporates personification in his novel to demonstrate that evil roams everywhere, an evil that has not only possessed Blevins but has killed him. “You didn’t have to kill him “said John Grady to the [prideful captain]. This shows that John Grady thinks the captain is foolish and he knows he did it because of his pride and benefit . The captain is a malignant parasite that ordered the death of Blevins “from beyond the ebony trees”. The captain does not approve defiance or anyone being above him. He does as he wishes because there is no one to limit him or stop him. He is a wicked man with no morals or remorse. He is remorseless towards Blevins death signaling that he is proud of what he has done. (McCarthy 178)John and Rawlins trusted Blevins in a way ,but that trust was broken the moment they were handcuffed. For them Blevins was a curse upon them,but yet they still wouldn’t have wished for his death. They didn’t want things to turn out the way they unfortunately did . For example, when John vocalizes that:
If there is evil in the car he knows that to destroy the car is to accomplish nothing. Because he knows where good and evil have their home. [Evil ]cannot be tainted, you see. Or a man. Even a man. But who is the one? We know there are qualities to a thing. Where did he get it? How did he come to claim it.No. Evil is a true thing in Mexico. It goes about on its own legs. Maybe some day it will come to visit you. Maybe it already has. Maybe.(McCarthy 194)
Without this device, the reader wouldn’t be able to clearly see the anger and disappointment John Grady felt. Rawlins believes that Blevins led the police to find them and capture them like animals.John Grady and Rawlins are no longer a pair of two. Blevins clarifies what really happened and why he did what he did ,but how can they believe him after everything they have been through because of him? Blevins doesn't exactly acknowledge the severity of his actions and just wishes to get it over with and he believes he can get out of easily,but John Grady and Rawlins know that he might be killed .They have now been separated due to the sequence of all these miserable sequence of events.
Although McCarthy begins the story with a feeling of normalcy, in the end it is anything but normal. All in all, McCarthy successfully implements devices to further illustrate and introduce important elements in the story. Cormac McCarthy has a splendid form of writing this novel . It is not an ending many would wish for ,but it’s nefarious beings are gone for good. The story begins with the burial of his grandfather and ends with the funeral of his grandmother. It is not only them who are buried , but his past and hopes to achieve the many things he never did. Evil has fed off him. This book is as if one is present there and going through the journey they are. The journey of pain, torment,romance, family, blood ,misery, sorrow ,and violence. In the end, John Grady “holds out his hands to steady himself [from ] the world that was rushing away and seemed to care nothing for the old, nothing for the young or rich or poor or dark or pale or he or she . Nothing for their struggles,nothing for their names. Nothing for the living or the dead”(McCarthy 301). John Grady accomplished nothing in the end. He does everything to keep Blevin’s horse and has nowhere and no one to go to . Rawlins has left him and John Grady has lost everything.” “He rode with the sun coppering his face and the red wind blowing west with birds chittering among him [with their ] long shadows passing in tandem like the shadow of a single being. Passed and paled into the darkening land, the world to come”(McCarthy 302) A world where nothing is attained, where even evil is smelt .