All the Pretty Horses, Character Watcher, Post 4, Kody Bell
In this last post I would like to look at John Grady. In this section John Grady leaves Mexico and is persecuted because of Blevins’ horse. Two men who were trying to make a profit took him to court. He won and kept the horses. Then he went to Rawlins’ home and gave him his horse back. While there Rawlins offers for John Grady to stay with his family. John declines and when Rawlins asked him what he was going to do John Grady said I don’t know. We then see John Grady at a cemetary standing over the grave of an old lady who worked for his family for many years. He always called her his abuela. Then at the end of the novel we see John Grady riding off across the desert past a tribe of Indians.
Why do you think McCarthy ended the novel in this manner? What do you think is the relevance behind having the Indians?
-Kody
Category: Per 3 WotW CW 4 comments »
April 19th, 2009 at 9:19 am
I think that this is a very common theme in this novel. Things are often ending in it, like John’s old life. It is also not the first time that McCarthy has described him riding off into the sunset, the picture perfect scenario for a cowboy. I think that McCarthy ended the book in this way because it is very fitting for the rest of the novel. He creates more of an emotion in the reader by using fewer words and subtlety than he would have by incorporating some big exciting conclusion to it.
I do not know what the significance of the Indians is at the end, but perhaps they are there to symbolize a return to the simple and old way of life that John Grady is living.
-Ditz
April 19th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
In the first section of the novel, John Grady and Rawlins ran away and became cowboys on the ranch they worked on. Cowboys were often detached from society; they were usually riding the range or rounding up cattle and only came upon towns along the trails they drove their cattle through. The ending shows that John Grady has gotten his wish and has become a true cowboy; alone, on his horse, riding into the sunset. I guess McCarthy is emphasizing the moral of “the grass always looks greener on the other side”. Although John Grady longed for the adventure of a life of a cowboy, now he realizes that it isn’t as great as he thought it would be.
I don’t know what the significance of the Indians is supposed to be but I like Shaun’s answer. They may symbolize John Grady’s return to his old way of life.
April 19th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
sorry ^Paula^
April 19th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
I think that McCarthy starts and ends the book with John Grady riding into the sunset to symbolize a begining and an end. When JOhn Grady rides out the first time it shows how he is begining a new life as a cowboy. The second time he rides out is at the end of the novel when John Grady literally rides away to no where. I think that this resembles the end. In the beginging he is ending his old life, and becoming a cowboy. The end, is an end to the ranch. He officialy will not get the ranch.
I have no idea about the indians. Probably the return to his old way of life.
-Abbey