Quote of the Book:
“You want to flip to see who gets to shoot him? (Rawlins)
Call it, said Rawlins
Heads. (John Grady)
The coin spun in the air. Rawlins caught it and slapped it down on the top of his wrist and held his wrist where they could see it and lifted his hand away.
Heads, He said.
Let me have your rifle.(John Grady)
It ain’t fair, said Rawlins. You shot the last three.
… You all are just funning, said the boy. (Blevins)
What makes you so sure? (Rawlins)
You ain’t shot nobody. (Blevins)
What makes you think you wouldn’t be somebody good to start with (Rawlins)” (41).
In All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, like most of his books, there is not really a central quote because of McCarthy’s writing style. McCarthy’s style is very abrupt and throws away all conventional grammar. It says what is happening and then moves on. In this novel, it is the same. There is no central quote because there is nothing really central in McCarthy’s novels. The quote I chose, though long, displays several main ideas in McCarthy’s writings and it talks about the characters themselves. From the books I have read by McCarthy, and from what other people say, I have found that the characters in McCarthy’s books are just as rough as his writing style. As one can see in the quote above, the dialogue is very sarcastic and to the point. This seems to be a common theme throughout many of his books. The characters and the books are all very hard and sarcastic.
This quote is central to the book because it shows not only the characteristics of Lacey Rawlins and John Grady Cole, but also the addition of Jimmy Blevins to the group, the boy in the quote above. It shows that Rawlins is the more talkative of the two sixteen year olds, while John Grady seems to watch events unfold and place his input at opportune moments. It also shows the lack of gullibility of this thirteen year old boy, Jimmy Blevins. This quote reveals many ideas about McCarthy’s abrupt writing style and allows the reader to learn more about the characters. In this quote, it shows that the setting of the book produces young people that have a certain hardness to them that makes them seem more like adults rather than children and that there is still certain softness within them. An example of this is when John Grady learns of his father’s death later in the story. This is a huge part of the story because it shows John Grady crying for a man he barely knew. It shows the kindness within these hard characters, that they are actually people behind a hard exterior.
Connections:
There many connections to the real world throughout this story. The first one is the setting. The setting is on the real world southern United States in 1949-1950. The fact that Cormac McCarthy sets the setting an area that many people have imagined, a place and time when cowboys roamed, gives the story a certain excitement. Not only that, but the story is realistic. This setting is not only imagination because the places where the book takes place were real sixty years ago. This reality makes the story much more interesting. Another connection to the real world is the people. The people in this novel, though they experience extraordinary things, are still people. A reader can relate to this kind of character because he/she can imagine him/herself in the shoes of this relatable character. Also, these characters are not perfect. In fact, McCarthy seems to completely understand human nature because it is so easy for the reader to connect with the characters. They experience very real things and display very real emotions that the reader cannot help but relate to. Another connection to the real world is the plot itself. It shows everything needed in a good book, a conflict, romantic interest, and action, all wrapped up in a bundle of reality. Everything that occurs in this novel is something that can happen to a real person reading the book. These experiences also make the characters have real feelings, allowing the reader to fully connect with the book.
All of the connections in the book intertwine to one idea; the story is something that could easily have been reality. McCarthy uses this idea to connect with readers and is successful in doing so. The connections to the real world are throughout the book, so it is not hard to use imagination and visualize the story unfold.
Visual Representation:
This novel has a common theme that is displayed throughout the book; freedom and its consequences. When looking for a picture that would represent this novel, I was not sure where to start. When I typed in freedom and found the picture above, I knew exactly what I wanted to write about. The picture above shows freedom and its price. In the background of the picture are the Statue of Liberty, the American flag, an eagle, and many other symbols of freedom in the United States. In the front of the picture the price for the background is shown. In All the Pretty Horses the boys find that they love their newfound freedom. Rawlins even states that he loves the new life while he and John Grady were smoking by a fire out in the country. Then later, when John Grady and Rawlins find a farm and work, and John Grady finds the girl he loves, they still love their freedom and the new good things in their lives. This freedom, the thing that John Grady, Rawlins, and even Blevins treasure most, ends up coming at a terrible cost. John Grady, Rawlins, and Blevins are inevitably jailed and experience terrible things, the first of which being the execution of Blevins. Later, John Grady and Rawlins are both injured, but they eventually get out of the jail. This experience changes the two characters, making Rawlins want to give up his freedom and go back home and making John Grady desire for what he had previously to being jailed. The costs for their freedom leave permanent scars on the characters in this book. This picture above represents this idea by the death of troops that attain our freedom.
Questions:
1. Why does Cormac McCarthy disregard common grammar usage? (his writing style could still be seen if he had quotation marks)
2. Do the ends justify the means?
3. Is a higher risk worth it when trying to attain a greater goal?
4. Is it good to let desires take over logical thinking?
5. If you had the chance, would you leave without looking back?
Reflection:
All the Pretty Horses is a book with a story that is completely unexpected and very gripping on the reader. While reading this novel, I still had trouble deciphering all that was written, even after reading another book by Cormac McCarthy. After reading this story I do respect his writing much more because of his incredible stories, but his writing style is a bit too much for me. I do enjoy the roughness of his writing because it matches the storyline, making the book much better, but the lack of conventional grammar can become extremely frustrating. One of the main problems with grammar that McCarthy seems to have is a lack of a desire to use quotation marks during dialogue. If this story, and his other stories, just had quotation marks, his books would be so much better. Quotation marks are not a writing style; they give a certain organization that allows the reader to understand the story. Without quotation marks it is extremely easy for a reader to miss something very important without knowing it. This is really my only complaint about this book. The story is very good and I think that McCarthy’s writing style of matching the story gives the book a feel of authenticity. His lack of conventional grammar is just very frustrating.
