In reading the first part of chapter 3 we find out that the boys have gotten in trouble with the men that they stole Blevins back from. This is an important part of the story because Rawlins and John Grady are led to where the incident of Blevins horse took place. They road many days with their hands cuffed, with cold nights and minimal food. Eventually they are lead back to a dark and ominous old school house, they are lead into the back of it and this is where they see Blevins. He does not even know how long he had been in the cell, but he knows that he has been treated poorly. John Grady and Rawlins question him to see if Blevins sold him out after the guards caught him stealing his horse back and they cannot justify why he had been locked in this cell in such conditions with the only crime was just stealing his horse back. The boys keep pestering Blevins with questions as to why he is here and he won’t answer, it is only until the guard says something in Spanish and holds up three fingers. The boys don’t know what he said and what the three signifies but the eventually figure it out that Blevins has killed three of the guard’s men. Blevins denies this information and does not confirm that he actually did the crime. The guards then make John Grady and Rawlins confess to crimes they did not commit and they take the boys south to the prison at Saltillo.
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2 replies on “ERA All the Pretty Horses 139-179”
I find it interesting that in this novel John Grady and Rawlins were forced to confess to crimes they did not commit and placed in the prison at Saltillo. I find that it reflects upon the justice system at the time. The guards are more concerned with finding blame to place and finding a reason to put someone in jail then actually ensuring safety. This puts John Grady and Rawlins in jeopardy and unsafe conditions at the hands of the police, rather than actually providing them with safety.
I like how as readers and social scientists, we are able to view this different justice system and culture through McCarthy’s perspective. The guards are just looking for tasks to display authority, not justification. They force them to confess to crimes that they did not commit which is very sad and upsetting. But, we do find out that justification goes a long way, longer than violence and oppression through the journey of Grady and Rawlins as they make it out of prison in Saltillo.