20 Questions about Part 1

                1. Why would the author chose to place the novel in the desert instead of elsewhere?

                2. Is there any significance to John Grady looking for his mom in a hotel?

                3. What is the deal with the treacherous lightening storm that comes into play?

                4. How come the boys have not encountered any harmful animals? Do you expect them to?

                5. Why do the boys wait until an hour before daylight to steal back Blevins’s horse instead of           midnight?

                6.  What’s the deal with the Mexicans they pass on their journey, but barely associate with?

    7. What’s the deal with the random workers who offer wax in exchange for Blevins?

                8.  Is there significance to the home life Blevins has run from?

                9. Do you believe Blevins’s story about the history of dying from strike of lightening?

                10. Why does Blevins lose all of his clothes except his undershorts?

                11.  Why does the author contradict what Rawlins says about getting Blevins horse back as the       last time to ditch him, when in fact, they separate for a long while later?

                12.  Why does the author bring up John Grady’s dad, only to have John run away?

    13.  Why do the boys separate from each other?

                14. Why does Blevins always stop, and get found later in the middle of the road?

                15. Where are the three boys headed for?

                16. Will religion play a bigger part in this novel or not?

                17. Why does Rawlins hate Blevins so much?

                18. Did the riders catch up with Blevins? If yes, what do you think they did to him?

                19. What is the significance of Blevins crawling through the window and getting his horse back?

                20.  Will Blevins get his pistol back?

               

Typical 21st Century baby right there. My brother does a fantastic impersonation in case you were wondering.

All The Pretty Horses pgs. 31-59

As I started reading this second section of All the Pretty Horses, I really began to have an interest in the book. In the first section there was no storyline whatsoever, but as the second section started, it blossomed. Following the Western Myth, the main character has left home to begin his "quest in the West." What makes the novel interesting is the quirky characterization of John Grady. He is a city boy at heart, and that is displayed through all of his comments on the Western Frontier. Like a typical cowboy, they are riding horseback through the desert. "How the hell do they expect a man to ride a horse in this country? They don't. " The boys have no sense of how real cowboys deal with life, and are awaiting a car to pull up and offer them a free ride. Also, stereotypical cowboys are always grungy and scraggly, however "he got his shaving things out of the saddlebag and went into the washroom and shaved and washed and brushed his teeth and combed his hair." These boys are not at all adjusted to country life, and McCarthy portrays their negligence through their dialogue.

All The Pretty Horses Pages 1-30

Contrary to every book I have ever read in my lifetime, Cormac McCarthy refuses to insert commas or quotation marks. The lack of commas irritates me because I have no idea where to take a breath in the course of his four and five and six lined sentences. There are no emphases in the sentence, just an overwhelming amount details that tend to blur together. His lack of quotation marks do not bother me too much; at least he hits return to show the shift in the character speaking. Another stylistic aspect of the novel is McCarthy's reluctance to address characters by their name. When he switches between stories, which is quite frequent, it is hard to follow who exactly he is talking about in the story. "She brought the coffee." "She came through the lobby about nine oclock."Although they are written relatively close to each other, nether woman is given a name; one can conclude that they are different women. Every male character goes by "he" which causes a lot of confusion and guesswork on the receiving end. While I enjoy reading an author that changes things up a little from the status quo book, some of these stylistic changes are harmful to my interpretation of the novel.