“All the Pretty Horses” seeks to explore American myth and American identity through its presentation of the story of John Grady Cole. What I have found interesting throughout the novel so far is how McCarthy strives to accomplish this through the eyes of a largely uneducated 16 year old. John Grady Cole has never read Alexis De Toqueville or taken a 100 level sociology course, but through his actions and his very being he is exploring and exemplifying many of the same themes that Huntington touches upon in his book “Who Are We.”
One section that specifically caught my attention was a scene from when John Grady Cole and Rawlins were trekking through the Mexican desert after they lost Blevins. The pair lacked most provisions, and they sat down for dinner one night only because Rawlins was lucky enough to spot and shoot a buck. As they sat cooking and eating, they talked amongst themselves.
The conversation was exactly what you would expect 16 year olds living the life of Grady and Rawlins to talk about. They talk about hunting, food, and cooking. But seemingly out of nowhere, the conversation turned towards the existential. Rawlings and Grady discussed whether or not they think about dying as well as their positions on the existence of Heaven and Hell. These themes and others are the chief themes that Huntingdon argues have characterized the American national identity since before the country’s founding.
The boys in the story are living a life full of religious symbolism as well. They are currently out in the wilderness on a journey to an unknown land. Echoes of the story of Abraham and God’s call to him or Jesus venturing out into the wilderness pervade this seemingly simple story about two boys looking for work on a ranch.
John Grady Cole and Rawlins may be discussing life’s big ideas, but what is remarkable is that they do it in the language of largely uneducated 16 year old boys. To provide some examples…
“You fixin to get religion on us?”
“You think about all the stuff that can happen to you,” he said. “There aint no end”
“You aint fixin to quit on me are you?”
The point about American culture that I believe McCarthy is trying to make is that these fundamentally Anglo Protestant ideas and eternal human questions are so pivotal to the American psyche that even boys as unrefined as these who spend their time hunting in the wilderness to keep themselves alive have an affinity for such serious topics as God and fate. What distinguished certainly the Puritans and most definitely the American population generally throughout all its history was their habit of keeping these questions and their answers always close at hand. I think one of the ultimate testaments to that is Rawlins and John Grady Cole talking about life and death and God in simple terms while eating freshly killed venison somewhere between the USA and Mexico. While enlightenment philosophers and theologians could have articulated their points in a much more sophisticated way, the American identity exemplified here is one and the same.
3 replies on “Huntingdon & Horses”
I really liked the quotes you included, and I agree with you about the fact that people from all walks of life think about these complex questions. It doesn’t matter who educated someone is, they’ll think about the meaning of life, and death, and so on. It is the human condition. It reminded me of the way we were talking about McCarthy’s writing, and the way he thinks all good writing should be interested in the main existential questions of life. He uses his work to paint the human experience, and I think the way he writes is also meant to paint the American experience. The idea that a social elite and a sixteen year old around the campfire can be thinking about the same things feels inherently American, even though it is a human idea as well.
I would like to hear more about the early American settlers keeping their questions and their answers close at hand, and who that relates to this book. It feels to me that John Grady Cole and his friends are the opposite way. They’re young and naive in some ways, so they don’t have fully formed ideas about the world, or even know their place in it. This is reflective of the early settlers in the way that they didn’t know what their place was in the new world either. Still, the early settlers seemed to at least hold on tight to their religious values, which holds the key to their place in the overall universe. If you have any more thoughts on the matter, I’d like to hear them.
I completely agree with Oliver when explaining how these Anglo-Protestant ideas are expressed persistently in characters both in this novel, as well as non-fictional people in past books we have read. The scene you discussed stuck out to me as well while reading this chapter, and I find your idea about the irony of the two boys discussing deep, existential topics while using uneducated language very interesting.
I strongly agree with the points you make when you bring up the boys talking about death and their purpose. It was weird to me as well when this shift from hunting to existential topics was made. Yet, if you look at the scene that is happening it seem almost normal for them to be thinking like this. They are two young boys who are low on supplies, out in the wilderness with no direction and no way to know what is ahead of them. They went on this journey to find something, and it seem normal to me that this journey is a spiritual one for them, even if it has nothing to do with finding God.