The Multiplicity of the Themes in Cormac McCarthy’s novel All the Pretty Horses

Cormac McCarthy’s novel All the Pretty Horses is considered to be a national bestseller not only because it has won the National Book Award but also because the author could touch upon a number of themes which are really close to all the readers. Such themes as the themes of good and evil, and human nature are the most significant in our life. Moreover, Cormac McCarthy shows some kind of a conflict between a man and a woman, between the rich and the poor. My goal in this research paper is to analyze all the themes conveyed by the author in his novel All the Pretty Horses and to prove the fact that this novel is really “the greatest American novel” of 20th century.
To achieve this goal, I have organized my essay into several sections, two of which have some sub-sections. In the first section of my essay, I am going to discuss the author’s style of writing which impressed both the readers and the literary critics. In the second section of may paper, I’d like to discuss the numerous themes using the contents of the book All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. In conclusion of my essay, I’ll summarize the main points of my paper and express my personal opinion on the issue discussed in my essay. Now I’d like to turn to the first section of my paper.
CORMAC MCCARTHY’S STYLE OF WRITING AND ITS ROLE IN THE THEME PERCEPTION OF THE NOVEL ALL THE PRETTY HORSES
Cormac McCarthy’s novel All the Pretty Horses, the first novel of his Border Trilogy, was published in 1992. All the readers were greatly impressed by his simple style of writing which was represented by the minimum use of punctuation, the absence of commas (in some places), dashes, semicolons, parenthesis, ellipses and quotation marks (especially in dialogues). The use of full stops is “a standard use of punctuation” in his novel. (Jarret 25) Most of the sentences are complex and long. In single sentences, the author describes numerous actions which are separated by a long chain of conjunctions. He minted a great deal of compound words which made his writing style unique. His prose represents a striking contemporary context both simple and “highly accomplished”. (Jarret 94) His style of writing is often compared with William Faulkner and Ernest Hammingway’s style. He became labeled “writer’s writer”. (Stephen 76) The author uses a lot of stylistic devises among which are various metaphors which make his speech vivid. Besides, Cormac McCarthy uses expressive imagery and different “philosophical asides” in order to develop the themes of his novel. (Bell 62)
THE MULTIPLE THEMES REPRESENTED BY CORMAC MCCARTHY IN HIS NOVEL ALL THE PRETTY HORSES
It is interesting to know that Cormac McCarthy is trying to convey many themes in his novel All the Pretty Horses. I’d like to turn to most of them in my essay. Now some words about the main character John Grady Cole.
A sixteen year old John Grady Cole lived with his grandfather on a small ranch in Texas. After his grandfather’s death their ranch was signed to John Grady’s mother, but she decided to sell it. The father of the young man was seriously injured in the World War II and he did not offer any help to his son John. So, the young man had no future in Texas and decided to go to Mexico. His friend Lacely Rawlins accompanied him.
The Theme of Real Friendship. One of the main themes in this novel is the theme of good and evil. The main characters often run into both good and bad people. The “sacred violence” is shown throughout the novel. (Hall, Wallach 91) Of course, the best friends of them are the horses. What John Grady “loved in horses was what he loved in men, the blood and the heat of the blood that ran them”. (McCarthy 45) Let’s recall the situation when John saw his horse Redbo in a stable for the first time after his jailing, Redbo whinnied and was very happy to see John again.