- In a 2008 interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show McCarthy explained his pref-
erence for simple, declarative sentence structure. He said that he uses capital
letters, periods, and an occasional comma. He stays away from semicolons and
does not use quotation marks for dialogue, referring to excess punctuation as
“clutter.” What effect does the sparse style of McCarthy’s prose have on the
narrative quality of All the Pretty Horses and how does it convey character traits
and/or highlight thematic issues? Students interested in comparative topics
might consider a comparison of prose style to that of Faulkner. McCarthy also
chooses not to translate Spanish-language conversations into English. What
effect does this stylistic choice have on the overall effect of the novel? - All the Pretty Horses is considered a Western, a typically American genre that
usually features a solitary protagonist (traditionally male) adept at handling
horses and guns who faces violence or hardship (often successfully overcom-
ing it) against the landscape and history of the western United States. Using
this description and previous experience with literary and film versions of the
Western, students could analyze the ways the novel transcends traditional
Westerns. Helpful for this topic is the essay by Tatum. Students might also
view the film adaptation of All the Pretty Horses (2000), directed by Billy Bob
Thornton and starring Matt Damon and Penélope Cruz, comparing their
respective treatments of the Western genre. - In a discussion of the representation of Mexicans in All the Pretty Horses J.
Douglas Canfield concedes that they may “still be too romantic, too primitive,”
but that ultimately, they are “indeed positive... but his reflexivity seems to
me to reveal that [McCarthy] is aware of the problem of the exotic, that he
has critiqued it” (“Crossing from the Wasteland into the Exotic in McCarthy’s
Border Trilogy,” in Arnold and Luce, 2001). Daniel Cooper Alarcón, however,
does not agree. In “All the Pretty Mexicos: Cormac McCarthy’s Mexican
Representations” (in Lilley) he takes McCarthy to task for his exotic or ste-
reotypical portrayals. Students may wish to weigh in on the matter themselves,
considering the positions of both scholars. Alternatively, students may wish to
examine a similar discussion regarding the representation of women. A help-
ful essay is Nell Sullivan’s “Boys Will Be Boys and Girls Will Be Gone: The
Circuit of Male Desire in Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy” (in Arnold
and Luce, 2001). What is the place of female characters in the novel? Are they
realistic, fully fleshed-out characters in themselves or simply plot devices or
accessories to the narrative?
RESOURCES
Primary Works
“Exclusive Interview with Cormac McCarthy,” Oprah Winfrey Show (6 Janu-
ary 2008) http://www.oprah.com/media/20080601_obc_267033502COR-
MACWEBEA_O_VIDEO_1 [accessed 17 November 2009].
McCarthy’s first television interview, which touches on the author’s writing theo-
ries and his lifelong search for literary perfection.