Development of Character in Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses

Development of Character in Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses

In a journey across the vast untamed country of Mexico, Cormac McCarthy introduces All the Pretty Horses, a bittersweet and profoundly moving tale of love, hate, disappointments, joy, and redemption. John Grady sets out on horseback to Mexico with his best friend Lacey Rawlins in search of the cowboy lifestyle. His journey leaves John wiser but saddened, yet out of this heartbreak comes the resilience of a man who has claimed his place in the world as a true cowboy. In his journey John’s character changes and develops throughout the novel to have more of a personal relationship with the horses and Mother Nature. He changes from a young boy who knows nothing of the world except “all the pretty horses” to an adolescent who is forced to acknowledge, that the real world is not so simple like horses and finally to a young man who realizes that men are very violent and unpredictable. Throughout this journey of self-discovery, the one constant in his life is his bound with horses, a complex relationship that exist on many levels: they transport him into Mexico and into his adolescent life, and also exist as a companion to take refuge in. His intimacy and interaction with horses and Mother Nature acts as a catalyst for his development of a man throughout this novel.

McCarthy’s illustration of John’s character in the first chapter shows how boyish and naive he really is. He has a hard time realizing that many people don’t share the same simple views as he does; to own a ranch in western Texas. “Son, not everybody thinks that life on a cattle ranch in west Texas is the second best thing to dying and goin to heaven.” His boyish outlook towards life portrays him as a naive...

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...s actually sandwiched between the two horses as he is riding of into the sunset. He chooses the life of Mother Nature and the horses because life with them was much more simple and understanding than life in a society full of violent and unpredictable men. But, does he really choose Mother Nature over society? The last sentence seems to contradict the first part of this paragraph. As a reader we are left with McCarthy’s last words, “Passed and paled into the darkening land, the world to come.” Maybe this is the end of John. As he is sandwiched in-between these two horses riding off into the sunset they are transporting him “into the darkening land.” Although, throughout the novel we see John’s character develop into a young man, who understands Mother Nature. McCarthy leaves us bewildered to what he is really thinking. McCarthy leaves that up to the reader to decide.