Symbolism In All The Pretty Horses

The geographical setting in the novel All the Pretty Horses written by Cormac McCarthy can be tied to Thomas Foster's insights in chapter 19 of How to Read Literature like a Professor. In the chapter, Geography Matters…, it introduces geographical symbolism that is apparent in John Grady and Lacey Rawlins’ escapade in rural Mexico. Foster claims cardinal directions can symbolize behavior by stating “when writers send characters south, it’s so they can run amok” (pg. 173). In All the Pretty Horses, McCarthy creates chaos which burdens the boys as they head south. Before leaving America to work in Mexico, they tell a man that they are bank robbers. The man interprets their demeanour and says “You aint robbed no bank” (pg. 35). They don’t appear

Foster says that scars “signify some psychological or thematic point that the writer wants to make” (pg. 208). McCarthy confirms this by using scars in All the Pretty Horses to hint at the theme of real love. On the hacienda in Mexico Grady falls in love with his boss’s daughter, Alejandra, but their relationship is based on physical attraction. They physically make love, but Grady seems to fall in love with her for her beauty rather than her personality. Later in the novel McCarthy explains true love through Alejandra’s aunt, Duena Alfonsa, and her relationship with a man named Gustavo. Both characters have scars; Duena Alfonsa lost two fingers in a shooting incident, and Gustavo lost an eye when he was a boy. She was treated very differently, which lead Duena Alfonsa to believe that “[she] could not make a good marriage” (pg. 239). However, Gustavo treats Duena Alfonsa the same as he did before she lost her fingers. McCarthy writes that Gustavo admires Duena Alfonsa for who she truly is, and how she “had never been esteemed” by anyone before as Gustavo did (pg. 241). McCarthy uses Gustavo’s scarred eye to explain that vision is not love. Valuing someone for who they are rather than their physical appearance is a main theme in All the Pretty Horses. Alejandra and Grady’s love is not enough to keep them together, and

Foster explains in chapter 20, … So Does Season, that seasons can stand for ideas and emotions in characters while also setting the stage for influencing events. In All the Pretty Horses the season of the majority of the novel is summer. Foster explains that authors use summer in affiliation with “adulthood and romance and fulfillment and passion” (pg. 186). McCarthy uses these ideas to create his summer story. The adulthood of summer is seen in John Grady’s enthusiasm to own a ranch in Texas. Since he is 16, his mother doesn’t allow this because she thinks he is too young to “run a ranch” (pg. 16). He disagrees with her, and believes that if he can not own a ranch, he will get a job on one. He takes a step towards adulthood by adventuring to Mexico to take a job in the adult world. Grady also partakes in romance, not surprisingly during the summer. He and his lover, Alejandra, make love although it is very risky. He gets involved in a forbidden romance, a symbol of the summer. He also experiences fulfillment and passion with his job on the ranch. Often McCarthy writes about Grady’s adoration for horses, and how excellent he is with them. He impresses his boss by breaking in horses very quickly, and is soon promoted because of his skill. Eventually, the Hacendado trusts him to work with his horses in his barn. He even is trusted with “[breeding] mares