The Crossing Cormac Mccarthy Analysis

Throughout life, we all go through rough moments where we think all is lost. However, we as humans always grow from these experiences and turn into beings with a new awakening and understanding of the world. In a passage from The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy, the narrator describes a striking ordeal, in which a man is coping with the death of a she-wolf. Despite the cause of death being left ambiguous, this dramatic experience has a vivid effect on the main character—causing him to change and grow into a new man by the end of the passage. McCarthy uses eloquent and expressive diction to create imagery which gives the reader an understanding of the narrator’s experience, supplemented by spiritual references as well as setting changes, elucidating the deep sadness and wonder felt by the protagonist. The passage begins by alerting the reader of the she-wolf’s death, witnessed by a man referred to by “he”. In the second paragraph of the passage, the man makes a fire, which is supposed to get him through the night. Contrary to the darkness, the light of

McCarthy incorporates many religious references into this passage in order to show how the man has resurrected as a new being—one who has moved on from the death of the past, forgiving himself. Beginning at line 30, the man falls asleep in front of the fire “with his hands palm up before him like some dozing penitent” (XXX) Not only are his palms up—similar to Christ’s palms on the cross, but the narrator compares the man to a penitent, one who repents their sins and is seeking forgiveness from God. After the man shuts the wolf’s eyes—a spiritual act in itself—the man imagines the wolf running once again, alive as ever, far from death. This new life serves as a resurrection just like the resurrection Christ had after his death, representing the man’s new understanding of the world; opening his eyes even when they are