Cormac McCarthy, through his two acclaimed novels, All the Pretty Horses and The Crossing, details the physical and spiritual journey of two young characters, John Grady Cole and Billy Parham, who yearn for lives on unblemished lands where they can make their own decisions, but come to realize that life’s experiences can make those decisions for you. John and Billy begin the expedition full of youthful innocence only to confront the everyday harsh realities of the modern world, realities that test their ethics, morals, and have them evaluate God’s role in everyone’s lives. They struggle to make sense and order of a world that is full of violence, betrayal, and loss. John and Billy both personally experience bloodshed (John’s jail term and Boyd’s …show more content…
This imperfect world places John Grady inside a rough “prison cell where all is silent”, and he copes with the violence and Dueña Alfonsa’s betrayal of him by “dream[ing] of horses and wildflowers”(Frye 105). McCarthy details the dreams with the imagery of landscape and wildlife (horses, plants, and wolves) that the characters crave. The dreams are able to provide a sense of security to the characters that are yearning for relief in the harsh, flawed world. John in prison has a dream “of horses in the field on a high plain where the spring rains had brought up the grass and the wildflowers… And they moved all of them in a resonance that was like music among them and they were none of them afraid… And they ran in that resonance which is the world itself which cannot be spoken but only praised”(All the Pretty Horses 161-162). John returns to a time of comfort and solace in his life, his time outdoors, when he is in unfamiliar and scary situations. Billy also encounters troubling times that lead him to dream of animals and nature. On one of Billy’s many journeys into Mexico with his brother Boyd, Billy and Boyd become separated, a separation from the last remnant of his comfortable youth. Therefore Billy begins to search for Boyd and finds him. It is during this troubling and stressful time in Billy’s life that he once again dreams of the landscape and wildlife to comfort him. He dreams about walking towards “a darkened house” where “wolves had followed him“ and Billy “knelt in the snow and reached out his arms to them and they touched his with their wild muzzles and drew away again and their breath was warm and it smelled of the earth and the heart of the earth” (Crossing 295). Billy dreams of a familiar scenario in his life and past memories, enjoyment of the outdoors, and specifically
In the book “All The Pretty Horses” by Cormac McCarthy The main character John Grady Cole spent a lot of time separated from his home and what was left of his family. Once his grandfather died John Grady made the decision to leave his ranch and head to Mexico to continue his life as a rancher. When John Grady goes to Mexico he goes through a life-changing journey in which he learns a lot about the world. When John Grady Cole leaves his home and ventures to Mexico he gains knowledge of the world, but he also leaves his past behind him and along the way looses the innocence he had before he left. The second John Grady Cole, Rawlins, and Blevins crossed the Mexican boarder they put their previous lives behind them.
To conclude, Krakauer uses three valuable techniques to capture the meaning behind Into the Wild and McCandless’s journey itself: narrative structure, epigraphs, and tone. Chris McCandless was an intelligent young man who sought adventure far from his dull stable life. He essentially went off the grid to capture what he wished for the most, which was ultimate freedom and happiness. It was like a tag on a shirt that keeps bothering the tenderness of one’s skin. It was the reason why the tag was ripped off.
In the book “Into the Wild”, John Krakauer gives an account of a man, Christopher McCandless, who decides to take a long trek across the west into Alaska, where he eventually perishes. The book “Wild”, written by Cheryl Strayed, follows her journey as a twenty-six year old woman across the Pacific Crest Trail. Throughout both stories, the characters go through intense battles with the world around them and themselves, but the stories are not completely identical. The reasons for these two people’s journeys are varied as is their outlook on life and how their journeys ended overall. Within these stories there are also hidden parallels that link the stories and create a very similar dynamic between the two.
John Grady stops at a big city called Zacatecas to speak to Alejandra one last time before traveling back to San Angelo again. Afterwards, John Grady keeps wandering. The environment is described as being dry, rocky, and barren. Near the end of the book, the land was described as, “across the open country.
The first two volumes of Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy “All the Pretty Horses,” and “The Crossing” appear at first to differ in the typical style of extreme brutality noted in Cormac McCarthy’s previous works such as “Blood Meridian”. Despite the seemingly less violent events in the two novels “All the Pretty Horses,” and “The Crossing” actually continue with the grim, and dark style habitually used by McCarthy. Not only do the novels follow the classic style of Cormac McCarthy’s works, but they take the style to a deeper and darker level. Aside from the shared style in “All the Pretty Horses,” and “The Crossing” the two novels also have a theme in common. Identity creation is present as the main theme in “All the Pretty Horses,” and “The
After all of his difficulties in Mexico, John Grady decides to return home with his belongings. He does not allow his previous surroundings of crime to change his pure heart, and although John Grady has a difficult journey home, he still is intent on finding the rightful owner of Blevins’s horse. He searches for weeks before three men claim ownership of the horse. The issue is taken to court, and after telling the full story of his journey through Mexico, John Grady is awarded the horse. Keeping a horse that does not belong to him is difficult for John Grady to do, but he is at peace with himself because he knows he did everything he could to find the horse’s owner.
Behind the Beautiful Forevers, written by Katherine Boo, is about residents of Annawadi, a slum in Mumbai, India. These slums of Mumbai force kids to grow up faster than anywhere else on the planet. Forcing kids to work as soon as they can walk, and press them into tough situations. The book details the lives of the female slumlord, Asha, and her daughter Manju. Asha is part of the corrupt system of government, and wants her daughter to be just like her when she grows up.
Main characters of films and short stories are evolving tremendously, from their actions to their character traits. In the thriller short story “All the Kings Horses” by Kurt Vonnegut, the main character portrays himself as an excellent and intelligent individual. Reason being in the short story Kelly was placed in a really bad situation. However because of specific reasons; his actions, determination, and sacrifices he was able to get the result he wanted while being under so much pressure. Colonel Bryan Kelly, father of two and husband to one, had to play a life or death game of chess.
How does a third person omniscient narrator affect a story? The Lovely Bones, a novel by Alice Sebold, is about a girl named Susie who is raped and killed. After being killed, Susie goes off to Heaven and we are shown how she adapts to living in heaven. We see her killer continue to live among her family and friends, and we see her family fall apart. Susie knows what everyone does and thinks, and she shares this with the reader.
We often encourage people to actively pursue their happiness while also wanting to discourage them to escape from reality. However, avoiding your issues is also a way of pursuing happiness, even though this route will prove to be temporary. In the literary piece, “Horses of the Night” by Margaret Laurence, the author describes the story of a boy named Chris, who, due to his financial conditions, is forced to move from his home in Shallow Creek to dwell in Manawaka, in order to attend high school. Chris’ character is used to demonstrate the idea that individuals may escape from the miserable aspects of their lives in order to stay happy. Through the course of this work, you witness the changes Chris undergoes, through the eyes of his six-year-old cousin Vanessa, which ultimately lead to his downfall.
Instead of having a good paying job on an oil rig in San Angelo, John Grady still wants to search for his own country. Despite the ending of “All the Pretty Horses” is not a happy one, John is finally able to mesh his romanticised ideals with the real world. Even if the Earth does not provide for a place anyone, John decides to make his own place by refusing to back away from his ideals and instead chase after them. He would much rather attempt to live the life he wants, rather than adopt a life made for someone
Annotated Bibliography McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. Print. The Road is set in a grim atmosphere.
Some days they go hungry, the weather uproots their lives, and other hindrances place a awful, dark outlook on life. Cormac Mccarthy writes about a disgusting world. It is the dying of lie on the planet, the end of the world. Not only do the gruesome events in the novel led the reader to take an opposing view, but even the setting of the novel
Ashen Alleys to the South A country in desolation, few humans remain, and nature in complete shambles. Under the cover of ash clouds, setting retains the tone of “The Road.” It not only sets the backdrop of the novel, but continually affects the father and son. Their surroundings cause physical, psychological, and even spiritual issues. Without the daunting background, Cormac McCarthy could not have created such a compelling story with characters that drive our hearts to the breaking point.
Characters of Some Fascinating Story We are not alike, we loathe one another. Forced to share a space, trapped in the mind of a decrepit writer that abandoned us here. She doesn’t write our story. Instead she selfishly molds us into her fantasy. And she always dresses us in clothing adorned in rainbows and glitter but we are dark.