All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

"All the Pretty Horses" was published in 1992, marking Cormac McCarthy’s transition into mainstream literary success. This is because the novel won both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award in the same year, solidifying McCarthy's reputation as a leading contemporary American author and practically making him a household name among readers of literary fiction.

It also marks the beginning of something very special for McCarthy readers everywhere: It is the first novel in McCarthy's Border Trilogy, which includes "The Crossing" (1994) and "Cities of the Plain" (1998). Also, the novel marked a shift in McCarthy's usual writing style which was considerably more dense and often brutal - to a more lyrical and accessible narrative, drawing comparisons to the classic Western genre from perhaps the earlier decades of the 20th century.

Plot

The novel opens with sixteen-year-old John Grady Cole attending his grandfather's funeral in 1949 Texas, realizing his family's ranch is being sold. John Grady and his friend Lacey Rawlins decide to leave Texas and seek work as cowboys in Mexico, longing for a more authentic cowboy lifestyle. On their journey, they encounter a mysterious young boy named Jimmy Blevins, who joins them despite the risks he poses due to his stolen horse.

After a series of events, including losing Blevins' horse, they get into trouble with Mexican authorities. Blevins is captured and executed. John Grady and Rawlins find work at a large Mexican hacienda, where John Grady becomes romantically involved with Alejandra, the hacienda owner's daughter. John Grady's affair with Alejandra leads to tension with her family, especially her grandaunt, who disapproves of their relationship.

John Grady and Rawlins are betrayed, arrested, and sent to a brutal Mexican prison where they endure severe hardship and violence. After surviving the prison ordeal, partly through John Grady's resilience and resourcefulness, they are eventually released due to Alejandra’s grandaunt’s intervention. John Grady returns to Texas, seeking justice for the wrongs done to him and to reclaim his lost horse, signifying his enduring attachment to the cowboy way of life.

The novel ends on a bittersweet note with John Grady realising the irreversible changes in his life and the loss of his romanticised vision of the West.

Into the Book

There are a lot of great themes in this book that are carried over to the rest of the border trilogy and the first of those is the romanticisation of the cowboy myth versus the reality of what it is to live and die in the west, its brutalities and its contradictions. Grady's journey reflects the tension between the ideal and the real, as he seeks to embody traditional cowboy virtues in a world that no longer fully supports them.

This theme is evident in John Grady’s skills with horses and his deep connection to the land, contrasted with the violence and betrayal he encounters. McCarthy critiques the fading myth of the cowboy, showing how modernity and changing social structures have eroded this once-sacred ideal. Both a critique of the newer, more modernising world and an embracing of it - McCarthy isn't calling back to an older time, he is looking at the requirement for myth. In a world that is ever expanding, perhaps a myth of tradition is required to keep people thinking about their pasts.

“He stood at the window of the empty cafe and watched the activites in the square and he said that it was good that God kept the truths of life from the young as they were starting out or else they'd have no heart to start at all.”

- All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

Another theme which interlinks with the idea of myth versus reality is the idea of loss, displacement and disillusion. Throughout the novel, characters grapple with profound losses: John Grady loses his family ranch, his love with Alejandra, and his youthful innocence.

The theme of loss is interwoven with a sense of disillusionment, as characters realise the world is more complex and less forgiving than they imagined. No longer is their world confined to their home, families and loves, but now the world just keeps getting bigger with more in it - more that makes them feel smaller and less significant.

This theme highlights the personal and cultural losses associated with the end of the traditional cowboy era and the intrusion of modernity. And in this sense, modernity is a bad thing. No longer is it about the requirement to hold on to the cowboy myth but it is the cowboy myth that represents the ideals that were once there on the ranch. With the loss of the family ranch, the cowboy myth is destined to die.

“He thought that in the beauty of the world were hid a secret. He thought that the world’s heart beat at some terrible cost and that the world’s pain and its beauty moved in a relationship of diverging equity and that in this headlong deficit the blood of multitudes might ultimately be exacted for the vision of a single flower.”

- All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

The final theme is fate and free will. McCarthy examines the tension between fate and free will, particularly through John Grady’s attempts to control his destiny against overwhelming odds. The novel suggests that while individuals can make choices, they are often constrained by larger, uncontrollable forces such as societal norms and historical changes. This is where the death of the cowboy myth becomes more important as it directly represents the line between the past and present which the protagonist is toeing so very carefully in determining his own destiny.

This theme is encapsulated in the characters’ struggles to navigate their lives within the limits imposed by their environment and circumstances. No matter how dire those circumstances are and how impossible those environments are to understand. Perhaps the free will of the characters is directly relative to their want to survive in a world that desperately wants them and their myths gone.

“He saw very clearly how all his life led only to this moment and all after led to nowhere at all. He felt something cold and soulless enter him like another being and he imagined that it smiled malignly and he had no reason to believe that it would ever leave.”

- All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

Why It's a Masterpiece

McCarthy’s prose is both lyrical and stark, combining beautiful, vivid descriptions of the landscape with a deep, almost poetic attention to detail. His language elevates the narrative, making the reader feel the physical and emotional landscapes of the characters.

The novel’s characters are richly developed and complex. John Grady, in particular, is portrayed with depth and nuance, making his internal and external struggles compelling and relatable. The secondary characters, like Lacey Rawlins and Alejandra, are also well-drawn and integral to the story.

"All the Pretty Horses" delves into universal themes such as love, loss, identity, and the search for meaning. These themes resonate deeply with readers, allowing the novel to transcend its specific setting and speak to broader human experiences. The philosophical and existential questions posed by the novel contribute to its status as a literary masterpiece.

Conclusion

So, if you have not read this book already be assured that it is my favourite novel by the author and also features in my top 20 favourite novels of all time. It is a grand novel which explores the line between the past and the present and the dislocation of moving from one to the other, especially when you feel you haven't been destined for the latter.

Next Week: On the Road by Jack Kerouac