All+the+Pretty+Horses

=**tle of the Work**= All the Pretty Horses =Author= Cormac McCarthy =Nationality/Ethnic Background= American with an Irish background. =Genre and Sub-genres= Western 'Romantic' (in the traditional sense) Novel, Picaresque, Bildungsroman =Pertinent Biographical Information= Cormac McCarthy, originally named Charles, was born July 20, 1933, in Providence, Rhode Island. The American novelist and playwright is said to have changed his name after the Irish King Cormac Mac Airt. Before beginning his literary career, McCarthy attended the University of Tennessee for two years and attained a liberal arts major. He then left and joined the Air Force, where he served for four years. In this time, he hosted a radio show in Alaska. After his duty, he returned to the University of Tennessee and published two stories, "A Drowning Incident" and "Wake for Susan" in the student paper under the name C. J. McCarthy, Jr. These titles earned him awards from the Ingram Merrill Foundation and jump started his literary career. McCarthy left the university for a final time to become a mechanic in Chicago while writing his first novel. He married Lee Holleman with whom he conceived a son, Cullen. Once their marriage ended, McCarthy traveled to Europe where he remarried then returned to the U.S. He continues to live in Tuseque, Mexico. During his writing career he was written several books, like //No Country for Old Men//, another western novel that was adapted into a film. //All the// //Pretty Horses// was also made into a movie. //All the Pretty Horses// is the first book in the Border Trilogy, with //The Crossing// and //Cities of the// //Plain// completing the trilogy. The books won the U.S. National Book Award and the National Book Critics Cirlce Award. McCarthy has won the Pulitzer Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction, Faulkner Prize for a First Novel, and the Premio Ignotus among other awrds. =Literary Historical Period/Movement and Pertinent Background= Written in 1992, //All the Pretty Horses// has many of the attributes of other contemporary works. McCarthy's use of idiosyncratic punctuation is unusual to Westerns with its polysyndetonic syntax patterns. This uncommon and unconventional style is also comparable to Ernest Hemingway's. This novel is also written in a time when the west was romanticized, hence the genre title "western romance". =Major Characters, Their Relationships, and Their Conflicts= __**John Grady Cole**__ -- The protagonist; a cowboy who was more attached to his grandfather than his father since he grew up on his grandfather's ranch in San Angelo, Texas. Has a great love and interest in horses, having the ability to be a "horse whisperer . Runs away from home with Lacey Rawlins, where they end up working on a ranch. Falls in love with the rancher's daughter, Alejandra. The leader in his friendship with Rawlins. =Brief Plot Summary=
 * __Lacey Rawlins__** -- John Grady Cole's best friend; runs away with Cole to Mexico. Is not as out going as Cole, and is constantly worrying about life and is more pessimistic than John Grady. After their time in prison he decides to head back home while Cole stays in Mexico.
 * __Jimmy Blevins__** -- A young, unfortunate runaway; attracts trouble. He joins the companions on their journey at the Mexican border. They believe he stole his horse to run away. Leaves the group but returns during a storm. His horse is stolen, and brings worse trouble for stealing back the horse. This causes him to be shot for thievery and for Grady and Rawlins to be thrown into jail.
 * __Alejandra__** -- Alejandra is the beautiful daughter of the rich landowner, Don Hector; she falls in love with Cole and starts a love affair. She later breaks off the relationship because her aunt does not approve of the couple.. After John Grady is released from prison, she meets up with him, and even though she loves him, leaves him because she feels they will not last.
 * __Don Hector__** -- The owner of Cuatro Cienegas, the ranch where John Grady and Rawlins work after traveling to Mexico. Proud of John Cole's gift with taming and talking to horses. When Cole is arrested for being associated with Blevins, he allows them to take him because he finds out about Cole's love affair with his daughter.
 * __Alfonsa__** -- Alfonsa is Alejandra's aunt, and is a very opinionated and self-assured woman. She was taught European ideals, and her beliefs about what is right and wrong in the world is based off of those ideals. Alfonsa understands that Cole and Alejandra are in love, but she does not want her niece to have the same fate as herself and other female relatives- the women of their family have a habit of falling in love with lower-class men who later leave them. This conflicts with what Cole had planned for himself and Alejandra, and Alfonsa is one of the reasons why John Grady Cole leaves the ranch.

The novel begins with John Grady Cole, a sixteen year old cowboy who grew up on his grandfather's ranch in Texas in 1949. Soon after the death of Grady's grandfather, he learns that the ranch is to be sold. Faced with the prospect of moving into town, Grady instead chooses to leave, persuading his best friend, Lacey Rawlins, to accompany him. Traveling by horseback, the pair travel Southward into Mexico, where they hope to live their dreams and find work as cowboys.

Shortly before they cross the Mexican border, they encounter a young man who says he is named Jimmy Blevins and seems to be aged about thirteen, but claims to be older. Blevins's origins, and even truths about his real name, are never made clear. Blevins rides a huge bay horse that is far too fine to be the property of a runaway boy. However, Blevins insists it is his. His horse runs off as he cowers in a ditch during a thunderstorm. After traveling further south, Blevins' horse and pistol are with a Mexican man.

Blevins persuades John Grady and Rawlins to go to the nearest town to find the horse and pistol. They find the horse, and Blevins steals it back. As the three escape from the town, they are pursued, and Blevins separates from Rawlins and John Grady. The pursuers follow Blevins, as Rawlins and Grady escape.

Rawlins and John Grady continue traveling further south. In the fertile oasis region of Coahuila state known as the Bolsón de Cuatro Cienegas, they find employment at a large ranch. There, John Grady encounters the ranch owner's beautiful daughter, Alejandra, for the first time. As Rawlins pursues work with the ranch hands, John Grady catches the eye of the owner, who brings him into the ranch house and gives him far more superior duties. At this time John Grady begins his love affair with Alejandra.

In the meantime, Blevins works for a short time and then returns to the village where he stole his horse. However this time he's after the Colt pistol. In the process of getting the pistol, he shoots and kills a man. The Mexican authorities catch Blevins and then locates Rawlins and John Grady at the other ranch. At first, the ranch owner, Don Hector, protects Rawlins and John Grady; but when he finds out about the affair with his daughter, he turns them over to the authorities.

Blevins is executed by a group of rogue police led by a captain. Rawlins and John Grady are then placed in a Mexican prison. Alejandra finds out about the imprisonment and persuades her aunt to ransom the two boys in exchange for the promise that she will never see John Grady again. The boys are released. Rawlins decides to go back to the United States as John Grady tries to see Alejandra again. In the end, after a brief encounter, Alejandra decides that she must keep her promise to her family and refuses John Grady's marriage proposal. John Grady, on his way back to Texas, kidnaps the captain at gunpoint, forces him to recover the stolen horses and guns, then flees across country. He considers killing the captain, but a group of Mexicans find Grady and take the captain as a prisoner. John Grady eventually returns to Texas and attempts to find the owner of Blevins's horse. =Motifs (Recurring Images, Ideas, Figures of Speech, Symbols, Colors) & Their Thematic Significance= Color/Light/Darkness: throughout the novel, an extreme profusion of references to light, darkness, and color is obvious -- primarily being words resonating with darkness (blood, black, dark, dim, etc.). The colors/shades suggest the tone of the passage (in their typical connotations -- i.e., red: passion; blue: solemnity, etc.) and the mental state of John Grady Cole -- in times of emotional intensity, color words are littered multiple times in each sentence.

Horses: John Grady Cole holds a clear equestrian obsession -- dreams, narration, and description often focus on the horses within the story -- and in doing so, anthropomorphizes them as well as idealizes them: the 'picturebook horse' is the unattainable perfection of humanity; the thoughts of the horses are occasionally presented innocently -- they are disturbed by the actions of the comrades. For John Grady Cole, horses are the paragon of existence; the treasure of life -- beings more sacred than humans.

Dust: In the novel, dust reminds us the reader of the past and throughout hte novel, dust reappears. It is occuring as Cole leaves behind his past. While riding horses Cole mentions the dust behind them and whil riding in a car, he mentions the same. Dust is a part of the past, something that he is leaving behind. =Other Significant Thematic Elements (Significant Character's Names, Significant Quotations, Significant Actions/Events)= Meeting with the real Jimmy Blevins: John Grady Cole's communion with the radio preacher functions as a meeting with God -- yet does not provide him with comfort; he is disappointed with the "God" he encounters, taking his words as mystical, but not useful in his life -- another attempt at fulfillment failed.

"I ain't got a home," John Grady Cole: Near the end of the novel, John Grady Cole reunites with Rawlins, only to be reminded of his inability to attach to people or places -- the whole story is revealed as a search unsuccessful.

John Grady Cole and Rawlins in jail: When the two comrades are imprisoned, their affinity and humanity are tested -- they are eventually separated, demonstrating John Grady Cole's lack of reliance on other humans, and the contrary of Rawlins. Also, John Grady Cole commits his first act of murder, showing remorse. The cruelty in the land is not for him. Despite his attempt to locate a land for his existence, he realizes another ruthless realm instead.

=Major Themes= Actions Being Paid with Blood: Throughout the story Grady and Rawlins are constantly being challenged, whether it be by a love affair or false accusations. In many instances the comrades find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place. They must make quick decisions in order to avoid conflict. However, hasty decisions subsequently result in consequential bloodshed.

Finding a "Home": Through the incongruous realities scattered about the land, a pained truth is realized -- no home waits for a man; there is no land that can provide fulfillment -- eluding the terrors of one's birthplace cannot allow for happiness. John Grady Cole, by leaving America in hopes of finding a spot for himself, merely suffered -- suffered in body, in mind, in spirit -- recognizing only his love for horses. Returning 'home,' he finds any remnant of his previous life eradicated through the death of his nanny -- a man must make his home from within, not roaming in search.

Failed Relationships: John Grady Cole abandons hope of finding lasting love in humanity; his parents are split, unable to reconcile with each other emotionally, he leaves his girlfriend for the frontier, demonstrating lack of interest in humanity, and then his brief entanglement with Alejandra reinforces his isolation from human love -- she doesn't marry him, so he takes Blevins's horse back to America, resolute in disbelief in romance -- just as there is no 'picturebook' horse, just as there is no perfected life, there is no eternal love.