All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
1. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy is about three teenage boys that run away from home to go to Mexico. When John Grady Cole, Lacey Rawlins, and Jimmy Blevins reach Encantada, Mexico, John and Lacey find work at a ranch with Don Hector. After a while, Blevins finds his horse and gun in Encantada. Blevins was also put to death for killing one of the people in the village. John and Rawlins are put into prison in Saltillo. Alejandra bribes Alfonsa to let John and Rawlins free. Rawlins goes back to Texas, while John stays with Alejandra. Alejandra does not leave with John, because she does not want to leave her family for John. Later, John goes back to Encantada and retrieves the American horses. John makes it back to Texas, very wounded.
1. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy is about three teenage boys that run away from home to go to Mexico. When John Grady Cole, Lacey Rawlins, and Jimmy Blevins reach Encantada, Mexico, John and Lacey find work at a ranch with Don Hector. After a while, Blevins finds his horse and gun in Encantada. Blevins was also put to death for killing one of the people in the village. John and Rawlins are put into prison in Saltillo. Alejandra bribes Alfonsa to let John and Rawlins free. Rawlins goes back to Texas, while John stays with Alejandra. Alejandra does not leave with John, because she does not want to leave her family for John. Later, John goes back to Encantada and retrieves the American horses. John makes it back to Texas, very wounded.
2. The theme of the All the Pretty Horses is challenging what is right, and what is wrong. John knows that loving Alejandra is wrong, but he continues to see her. When John was in prison, the captain and Emilio ridiculed John for “paying his way out of prison.” John learns to surrender against committed beliefs, or views on certain things.
3. The author’s tone is smooth and calm.
“By evening they’d bought a canteenful of stool and were passing it back and forth among themselves as they rode and soon they quite drunk.”
“My father had a great sense of the connectedness of things. I’m not sure I share it.”
“He smiled and looked at them and as there was indeed time he told them all that had happened.”
“By evening they’d bought a canteenful of stool and were passing it back and forth among themselves as they rode and soon they quite drunk.”
“My father had a great sense of the connectedness of things. I’m not sure I share it.”
“He smiled and looked at them and as there was indeed time he told them all that had happened.”
4. Diction: The author’s wording was simple and easy to understand.
“The guard stepped forward and unlocked the handcuffs. The captain was looking out the window.”
Syntax: McCarthy’s sentences were detailed and long.
“He held the mecate while Rawlins undid the sideropes from the hackamore and knelt and tired them to the front hobbles.”
Character: The way the character’s spoke and their actions helped convey the theme.
“With the last of his money he bought coffee and tortillas and some tinned fruit and beans. “
Tone: The author’s tone also helped deliver the theme to the reader.
“He dropped the lead rope and slapped the horse on the rump and it went trotting out of the stable holding its head to one side so as not to step on the trailing rope.”
“The guard stepped forward and unlocked the handcuffs. The captain was looking out the window.”
Syntax: McCarthy’s sentences were detailed and long.
“He held the mecate while Rawlins undid the sideropes from the hackamore and knelt and tired them to the front hobbles.”
Character: The way the character’s spoke and their actions helped convey the theme.
“With the last of his money he bought coffee and tortillas and some tinned fruit and beans. “
Tone: The author’s tone also helped deliver the theme to the reader.
“He dropped the lead rope and slapped the horse on the rump and it went trotting out of the stable holding its head to one side so as not to step on the trailing rope.”
Part I:
ReplyDelete1) Why did you choose the read this book? (Sounds really interesting, but I want to know.)
2) Do you think the author's diction and syntax add to the novel itself?
3) Is there another central message besides "
theme of the All the Pretty Horses is challenging what is right, and what is wrong"?
Part II:
I don't believe [Kafka on the Shore] can relate to [All the Pretty Horses] at all. These two books seem very different but it does feel like the two authors both write in very detaled and structured sentences. In the book I chose to read, the author, Murakami Haruki, also uses a calm and somewhat of a serious tone. Oh! A difference lies in "the author's diction was simple and easy to understand." Murakami's diction and his word usages can be perplexing at some points. He would describe something so subtle or intangible in a long sentence that looks like a paragraph. Sometimes I wonder, "Why did he even bother to add this weird piece of detail in here?" Or something I ponder, "Why? Why? Why?" Anyway, seems like there were few similarites and differences bewteen the author's style, not book content.
-mari kagawa
I don't really understand the plot. Why did the boys run away from their home in the first place?
ReplyDelete-Arianna Farmer :)
Why was John wounded at the end of the novel?
ReplyDeleteDaniel Gonzalez Per2
I'm actually quite curious as to why John was injured at the end of the novel too. What happened to him?
ReplyDelete-Noe V. Bernal P.2
Why were John and Lacey put into prison? What do you mean by, "Later, John goes back to Encantada and retrieves the American horses?" Why did they need retrieving and why was John so motivated to do that?
ReplyDeleteCould you please write a brief overview of the characters? I was somewhat lost because you named a lot of characters but they were never introduced.
ReplyDeleteI think more on the strange writing style would add a lot to this analysis.
ReplyDelete"After a while, Blevins finds his horse and gun in Encantada." Were you just simply stating Blevins had arrived in Encantada? Or does this have anything to do with him killing a person in the village? If not, why did he kill that person?
ReplyDeleteCayla Salazar Period 2
This novel seems chaotic and action packed based on your description. The title also seems ironic. Why was John wounded at the end?
ReplyDelete