In the book All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, symbolism is shown in multiple different ways. Symbolism is the usage of symbols to represent ideas and qualities. When reading the book, in the beginning these symbols do not tend to stand out, but as the plot continues symbols are found everywhere. Multiple symbols are used throughout the story like horses, blood and water. Some more less-noticeable symbols are dust, religion, and sunsets. Horses are the most noticeable symbol in the whole book. Horses are a necessity to the boys. The horses are political and economic assets to Grady, Rawlins and Blevins. Specifically for John Grady, horses are more important to him than humans. He constantly dreams of him running with horses and always …show more content…
Blood is a symbol of sacrifice by John Grady for everything that he loves and cares about. He pays for the horses when he gets shot while retrieving his horse from the captain, when he is in prison and gets in a fight with the assassin then gets stabbed, he pays for his own survival, and when he covers Alejandra’s mouth and she bites down on his hand he is paying for her love. “He looked down at his leg. His trousers were dark with blood and there was blood on the ground. He felt numb and strange but he felt no pain.”(Page 137) This is when John Grady got shot when he steals back Blevins’s horse. It seems he is used to shedding blood for the things he loves. He has become so used to getting hurt that he no longer feels the …show more content…
Water symbolizes innocence, being pure, and leaving your past behind by moving forward. In All the Pretty Horses, when the boys go to Mexico, they take off all their clothes and cross the river. They are leaving behind everything they ever knew in Texas. Also, when Grady sees Alejandra for the first time, her horse was soaking wet from the river. Before Grady and Alejandra get intimate, they are swimming in a lake. This represents her losing her innocence in a sense. Whenever they go by water it resembles a point of no return.
In the book, when a character goes to leave their past, dust tends to appear. When the boys are riding horses, Cole notices the dust behind them. Also while they are riding in the car, he mentions seeing dust behind them again. Dust resembles leaving something behind in the past. During the grandfather’s funeral, it was very wind and dust was blowing around everywhere. There were “spits of snow in the air of the blowing dust and…the preacher’s words were lost in the wind” (Page 2). When the funeral is over, Grady’s grandfather is now a part of the past and the winds almost immediately
The times are changing and he's unwilling to give up the past. The world is becoming modernized and people like him, cowboys and ranchers, are slowly disappearing. He runs away from home because he desires to find peace within himself as well as a place where he can feel he belongs. Here begins the adventure of John Grady and his best friend Lacey Rawlins. It is important to note here the means of travel. The story is taking place after World War II, a time when cars are fairly common, yet these boys decide to go on horseback, like in the fading old days. This is just another concept of how they are unwilling to give up a fading past. When they first begin their journey, the boys are having a good time. In a sense they?re two buddies on a road trip with no real motive. Rawlins even mentions, ?You know what?I could get used to this life.? Then they meet Blevins, the foil in the plot that veers the two boys of their course and also has plays a role in the lasting change of their personality. Their meeting with him gives an insight into Grady?s character. Rawlins is against letting Blevins come along with them, but because of John?s kind nature he ends up allowing Blevins to come. It?s because of this kindness and sense of morality, he gets into trouble later on.
...hemes, all of which are represented with symbols, mainly revolving around the central character of Robert Ross and the complicated relationships he has with the natural world, his past, and the perils of war. It is through the symbols of the book which Findley is able to address the issues of ethics, guilt, and the past, mainly through the personal struggles faced by Robert in the novel. Robert Ross and the symbols associated with him serve an important message: to fight for what is right, yet not let the evils of life corrupt and destroy one’s self.
The horse is a spirit animal that can be used to describe many characteristics in the book Bless Me Ultima. The horse symbolizes many things, some being personal drive, passion, and an appetite for freedom. An appetite for freedom is the symbol that sticks out the most from the many. In the novel Bless Me Ultima many of the males spoke of freedom. Antonio’s brothers all wanted freedom. As soon as they arrived home from the war their parents were telling them what they would do from then on. Their father hassled them with plans of moving. His dream was for him and his boys to move to California. It’s all he’s dreamed about ever since they went to war. This is where his driving force comes from. As soon as they arrived he pulled out a bottle
In the novel All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, the author shows how important the roles of the horses are in the story and how they relate to John Grady, the protagonist of the novel. The horse has played an important role in the development of America. It has been a form of transportation, easy muscle, and companionship. In the Wild West, it was an essential resource for a cowboy to do his daily chores. McCarthy describes horses as spiritual and as resembling the human soul; meaning that horses came in many different forms. Horses are pretty, ugly, wild, tame, etc. in the story, they have so many different descriptions and different types of personality that they appear to resemble humans. In the story, John Grady is able to communicate with horses beyond a level normal people could. He could look into a horse's eyes and be able to see into its heart; because of this distinct relationship Grady is able to compare the world of horses to the world of humans. Throughout the novel, he learns that what he thinks of men and about his romantic idea of living in the world is completely false and wrong. Therefore, McCarthy's title shows that life can be full of change; and, at times, it can be cruel and ironic. Because of this, McCarthy's title shows how much a perspective can change when a man goes on an adventure and experiences things he did not experience before. Meaning that, McCarthy wanted readers to think before they read the book that life is pretty and easy, but after they read the book he wants the readers to know that life is not always how it seems.
Another prevalent symbol to me is the idea of sin. In The Ministers Black Veil Hooper just suddenly one day shows up to church wearing a veil. At first the people are sort of angered by it. People soon start to flock to his congregation to view the spectacle, and go so far as to test their '"'courage'"' by seeing who will go and talk to him. I think that the veil could represent sin. In The Ministers Black Veil Hooper was either trying to hide his sin from the people so that they could not judge him, which is god"'"s job, or maybe he was trying to protecting his self from the sins of the people. In the end of The Ministers Black Veil Hooper dies, and sees his congregation all wearing black veils, which would probably hint that maybe it represented the sin in all of us. In The Birthmark Georgiana"'"s birthmark could represent, as some religions believe, the original sin which is bestowed on all by the '"'hand'"' of god. But, unlike Hooper, Georgiana could not help her markings.
John Grady’s transformation from a broken family as well as abandoned by his father was unexpected. Growing up around friends who were also abandoned and no mentor or role model made his transition difficult. His love and passion for horses is strong as it was one of the few family traditions he held onto his entire life. His views on emotions and depth of relationships changed once he met Alejandra. In addition, his view on blood as a metaphorical description, to the true life force of all beings is another lesson he learned during his transformation into a young adult. In All The Pretty Horses, McCarthy uses both motifs to spread his theme throughout the novel and portray John Grady’s metamorphosis dramatically from the beginning to the end.
Another easily recognized symbol in this story is that of the snake. "Sykes, what you throw dat whip on me like dat? You know it would skeer me - looks just like a snake, an' you knows how skeered Ah is of snakes" (Hurston 678). The snake is the main symbol in this story, it ties it together because it is mentioned at the beginning of the story and at the end. Sykes decides to bring a snake into their home, "Look in de box dere Delia, Ah done brung yuh somethin'.Syke! Syke, mah Gawd! You tak...
The differences in the selections are subtle. In the selection, “Horses of the night”, the symbolism is the horses. It symbolizes Christ’s attempt to escape from reality. Christ tells Vanessa that those horses are “really sleek” and “could make racers out of them.” However, when Vanessa visits the farm she encounters once again two horses, which do not live up to her expectations or don’t even exist.
In reading “All the pretty Horses”, we see how remarkable John Grady’s character truly is. Becoming a man and hero, Grady expresses ongoing faith and romantic ideals against all odds. Even tough Grady broke the cowboy code by leaving his country for another and we can not classify him as your typical “old west” cowboy, we can see an evolving image of the new cowboy ideals he has now seen for himself. Being rejected by his love Alejandra and left behind by his companion Rawlins, Grady is left relatively alone. In route to find a more fulfilling meaning to his life, Grady distanced himself even further from reality in the hopes of getting closer to his dream. Furthermore, I believe that though he was distanced, Grady succeeded in making a new place for himself because though he never really returned to his home he was at peace and happy ridding Blevins old horse.
All The Pretty Horses opens at the funeral of John Grady Cole in 1949. As of 1949, John Grady is 16 and has spent his entire life on his grandfather’s ranch. After the death of his grandfather, John’s mother wants to sell the ranch. Even though his mother has told him of her intentions to sell it, John desperately wants run the ranch. A visit to their family lawyers affirms that there is nothing he can do, from this visit he also learns that his parents have become officially divorced. After his final visit with his father, which is ultimately his goodbye, John goes to see his mother in a play in San Antonio. After this he makes the final decision to leave San Angelo for Mexico with his friend Rawlins.
The inevitable outcomes of fate in our lives are like a boundless chain of dominos falling successively. Every action is calculated and deliberate; our lives are a predetermined path that only someone as powerful as God could change. Cormac McCarthy demonstrates both the good and evil that the power of fate brings for his character John Grady in All the Pretty Horses. John Grady’s journey starts in Texas, where he realizes after his grandfather’s death that there isn’t much left for him there. He idealizes a cowboy way of life not found in Texas. He journeys with his buddy Rawlins across the border to Mexico, a lawless desert land where trouble never seems too far away. Fate leads him to a capricious kid named Blevins, whose erratic behavior and rare, expensive, and thought to be stolen horse creates a series of dilemmas for John Grady when he arrives at La Purísima, a Mexican ranch. He finds more than just the cowboy way of life he longs for at the ranch; he also finds Alejandra, the owner’s attractive daughter. As fate would have it, he falls in love with her, but fate would also have it that their love is forbidden. Matters only get worse when John Grady falls in trouble with law insuring only more chaos. The series of events that Cormac McCarthy writes in All the Pretty Horses are meant to unfold as if the hands of fate put John Grady through all the pain, and suffering to be reborn, matured, and find salvation at the end of journey.
John Grady is not your average cowboy. All the Pretty Horses is not your typical coming-of-age story. This is an honest tale. Cormac McCarthy follows John Grady as he embarks on his journey of self-discovery across the border. Armed with a few pesos in his pocket, a strong horse and a friend at his side, John Grady thinks he’s ready to take on the Wild West of Mexico. At their final steps in America, a stranger, aged thirteen, joins our heroes. This unexpected variable named Blevins challenges John Grady, testing his character and pushing him to uncomfortable limits. The dynamic of their relationship reveals John Grady’s capacity to care for others as he shelters this kid from the hardships of reality and the foolhardiness of youth. The journey into Mexico demonstrates his readiness to be recognized as a man, but when the critical moment arrives, John Grady’s will fails to meet unforeseen demands. His inability to speak at this crucial juncture acts as a mirror for self-reflection, returning him to the beginning.
The ending of Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses, can best be described as a bitter sweet ending. John Grady, the protagonist of the novel, escapes death in Mexico, but is last seen alone trying to find his place in the world. Despite the events that occurred, John has a moment of moral reconciliation, which better helps him accept his fate. This moral reconciliation not only contributes to the bitter sweet ending, but also enhances the novel altogether.
In Clint Eastwood’s film, The Outlaw Josey Wales, horses are extremely prevalent. Whether it’s Josey’s horse or the Union soldiers’ horses, they are seen everywhere throughout the film. Horses are not frequent in the film just because it is an old western film; they are frequent in the film because they hold a great amount of symbolism. The most prominent horse in the film is clearly Josey’s horse, and it symbolizes a lot of things. Typically, a horse symbolizes ideas such as the spirit, freedom, or power. In the film, however, Josey’s horse represents a different idea: Josey’s heroic, animalistic and instinctive nature. When he puts horse down, when he rides to Ten Bears on horse, when he rides out of forest and kills the union soldiers on his horse
Some of the main symbols of the novel are The Hanging Wall, the colours of the clothing of the different women and the Eyes. All these symbols add different features to the story which are important. Some add fear, suspense, and overall they all add an important understanding of the story line. Margaret Atwood, was able to successfully create symbols which added depth and helped with the understanding of the novel. With these symbols she used in the novel she proved the importance and the positive effects strong symbolism can have with plot and character