“The ancient road was shaped before him in the rose and canted light like a dream of the past where the painted horses and the riders of that lost nation came down out of the north. . .When the wind was wild in the north you could hear them, the horses and the horses’ hooves that were shod in rawhide” (McCarthy, 5). This vivid description suggests the encompassing theme of the horse in Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses. As John Grady Cole stands on a lonely desert road in his homeland of west Texas, his home falling into the hands of another, he imagines himself a warrior like the Indians-- free and wild—riding on horseback, and headed toward adventure and the fulfillment of his dreams. Although it may seem at times to be merely the background in this novel, the horse is, nevertheless, an ever-present influence in the life of the hero, John Grady Cole. The very title, All the Pretty Horses, suggests a significant involvement and connection with horses as the central theme. Though its representation is extremely complex and intricate, the portrayal of the horse seems to reflect a few subtle allusions in John Grady’s coming-of-age adventure.
One primary representation of the horse is that it seems to symbolize John Grady
. . .
Lawrence so poetically stated, “The horse! The horse! The symbol of surging potency and power of movement, of action, in man” (Lawrence, Apocalypse). But even in the close confines of the dankly Mexican cell, his mind turns to horses when one night he dreams of them. At one point, it was said that he "loved in horses what he loved in men, the blood and the heat of the blood that ran them. Desiring to be free like wild horses ever roaming upon uncharted plains, he dreamed that "they ran he and the horses out among the high mesas where the ground resounded under their running hooves and their manes and tails blew off of them like spume . 's journey from a naive teenager to a mature man. As he struggled to control this horse's fiery nature, he comes in close contact with it, and caresses it in an intimate way as if it were his love interest. and turning the horse and then riding side by side up the cienaga road. It is the physical catalyst for getting Grady closer to his ideals in bringing him to his destination.
Approximate Word count =
1367
Approximate Pages =
5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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