The final few scenes in Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses begin with a continuation of the energy from the rest of the novel, but eventually the pace slows down and readers are left with a cliffhanger ending. This section of the novel begins with John Grady Cole taking hostage the captain who conspired to get Cole’s friend, Blevins, killed. This scene was quite dramatic and felt like a representation of a Western film in a way by showing John Grady Cole’s determination to get back Blevin’s horse while committing many crimes in the process. The hostage situation went slightly awry when John Grady Cole was shot in his right thigh, leaving him off his A-game.
After many long, descriptive scenes of John Grady’s ride along with his hostage, as well as a gruesome description of how John Grady cauterized his gunshot wound, his hostage situation comes to an end. “When he woke there were three men standing over him.” (280) The men insisted that John Grady Cole free the captain, and did not leave until after providing Cole with a serape.
John Grady Cole was then left alone on his journey back to the U.S. In his process of traveling he managed to shoot and kill a doe for food. The scene in which he shoots the deer showed his reflection on Alejandra as he lay in the blood of the dying doe. In stark contrast to the previous, depressing scene, John Grady Cole’s travels next brought him to a town called Los Picos where he ate a good meal and witnessed a wedding.
Eventually, John Grady makes it to a town where he is put on trial for ownership of Blevins’ horse. The judge rules that John Grady Cole become the lawful owner after Cole explained the long story of how he ended up there, essentially retelling the plot of the book. Following the trial was a scene that really stuck out to me, and showed some growth in John Grady Cole’s character, was when he went to the Judge’s house after court and confessed to killing a man. The judge explained to him that he had killed a man too (however, in a very different way) and gave John Grady advice on how he will be able to keep going.
Next, John Grady travels to the house of a reverend named Jimmy Blevins in hopes of finding Blevins’ family so that he can return his horse. He ends up having supper with the preacher’s family, although they aren’t actually related to the Blevins he knew. It seems as though many of these final scenes are centered around the food that John Grady is eating. Just before the novel ends, John Grady Cole visits his old pal Rawlins but neglects to see his mother. He makes it clear that he will be leaving again, although he does not know where he will be going next. This is the cliffhanger ending in which John Grady rides a horse into the sunset with the dramatic uncertainty of where he will be headed next.