Markovich 1 Marissa Markovich Ap Literature 1st hour Mr.

Cloyd 12/17/13 All The Pretty Horses Theme Essay Cormac McCarthy's All The Pretty Horses fights between the struggle of a lifelong journey of hardships, violence, the coming of age and the effects of nature. The friendships between John Grady Cole, Lacey Rawlings, and Jimmy Bevlins are ones that change drastically thought the story set in 1949 and 1950 through Texas and down to Mexico where they see the true meaning of what a friend really is. Violence is a recurring theme which shows the struggles between the characters and outside forces that brings out the worst in people. The coming of age exemplifies how the boys grow up and realize the changing times in America. Nature plays a large role in the mood and how the setting effects overalls change in characters, which is a theme that most all romantic novels have a large part of. Where is your country? he said. I don't know, said John Grady. I dont know where it is. I dont know what happens to country (McCarthy, 299). The big question is will John Grady find his country and the place that is meant to be his? There are many struggles in life that everyone must just learn to overcome and through that you will encounter violence which is something that John Grady, Rawlings, and Bevlins came to be good acquaintances with. Violence is used in the form of war, guns, knives and fire but through this they see the other side of what they were really trying to find which was their place, a home, as a cowboy. "Scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real. The events that cause them can never be forgotten (135). This quote is from when Alfonsa,

Markovich 2 Alejandras aunt, is talking to John Grady about Alejandras reputation that he must not ruin because once its gone its gone. This quote also makes an indication about John Gradys past and how it affected his decisions in Mexico. After the loss of his grandfather in Texas it devastated him making him rethink his life plans and the threat of all that he has ever known being taken away from him. He realizes he needs to explore life outside of Texas and find something new. Traveling to Mexico gets him into trouble landing him and Rawlings in a prison where they are both in a knife fight struggling for their life in which they both survive. The effects of this changed their outlook on what they were pursuing which left lifelong scars reminding them of their past. The characters struggle with the fear of death due to the violence and decisions that take place during their journey. Death effect John Grady greatly with the passing of his grandfather before he leaves for Mexico, Bevlins in Mexico and when he comes home the death of his father and Abuela. Even though not all of the boys conquered their goal of finding true happiness with the lifestyle as cowboys they learned through their struggles and scars that wherever life takes them they will always be connected in some way. The ideals of a romantic novel convey a large theme of nature, passion and a heroic outcast which show effects on setting and characters. In All The Pretty Horses nature and the coming of age alters the mood of the characters and shows similarities between earth and themselves. John Grady and Rawlins are both teenagers who don't realize the true meanings of life and its effects on them but will soon come to realize that they don't always have control of all aspects of their life when outside forces take control. John Grady wanted more than ever to get a job on a ranch in Mexico, which was always a dream of his. His dream didn't exactly work out but his love of horses, conveying nature and earth were always there to help guide him. "What he

Markovich 3 loved in horses was what he loved in men, the blood and the heat of the blood that ran them (6). From beginning to end his horse always stood beside him to keep him grounded. The horses symbolized a vision of the future and of the past of where they came from and the life they left behind. During John Grady and Rawlins travels to Mexico and their time in captivity they do a lot of thinking and dreaming about what they are doing and where their life will take them. "...and in his sleep he dreamt of horses and the horses in his dream moved gravely among the tilted stones like horses come upon an antique site where some ordering of the world had failed and if anything had been written on the stones the weathers had taken it away again and the horses were wary and moved with great circumspection carrying in their blood as they did the recollection of this and other places where horses once had been and would be again. Finally what he saw in his dream was that the order in the horse's heart was more durable for it was written in a place where no rain could erase it (280). The horses play a role in nature in dealing with horses daily and the unpredictable wild which Grady dreams about every night. This shows the connections between the nature of the horses and the human aspect of being a true cowboy. "The souls of horses mirror the souls of men (111), Grady thought and because of this the horses created a special bond with man in which they are very similar to each other. The horses which he dreams about represent freedom and them being able to roam the land which is something that he longs for in him life and didn't find as he thought he would in Mexico. He is very optimistic at the start and as the novel progresses his attitude changes as he learns to accept the situation which he is in. The novel shows a large part in their coming of age and the changes they have made. The quote "I wouldn't be here if I wasn't supposed to be here (214) conveys a large message of everything happens for a reason and because of that

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not everyone can live and not every dream can be fulfilled, because everything is meant to be and one day you will figure it all out. After leaving the changing western lifestyle in America for Mexico John Grady and Rawlins realize that it is similar to what they left from in the beginning and was not what they dreamed it was. The loss of a friend Bevlins, his love Alejandra, and killing a man contributed to the changing times and failed friendships for John Grady. "He saw very clearly how all his life led only to this moment and all after led nowhere at all. He felt something cold and soulless enter him like another being and he imagined that it smiled malignly and he had no reason to believe that it would ever leave (254). John Grady came to realize that life didnt exactly work out as he has planned and someone had other plans for him leaving him alone again with nature to find his country.

Markovich 5 Works Cited McCarthy, Cormac. All The Pretty Horses. New York: Vintage International, 1993. Print.