There’s a common stereotype that surrounds anything country related: that it sucks or is only representative of Republican ideals. Even though everything comes with negative opinions and connotations, the country genre seems to get the most hate. However, I think All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy is a piece of country that can easily sway negative opinions to positive. It takes people on a journey of discovery via immigration and turning the American Dream into just Dreams, whether it’s for a better life, peace, or change. In all, Cormac McCarthy is country, and All The Pretty Horses is country with a twist of reality.
“Cormac McCarthy is country, and All The Pretty Horses is country with a twist of reality.”
Our leading character, John Grady, alongside his friends, Lacey Rawlins and Jimmy Blevins, travel from Texas to Mexico looking for a place where they can partake in a traditional cowboy lifestyle while escaping their troubled pasts in Texas. This itself encompasses that simple country genre, cowboys, and Texas. However, what makes this book different is that McCarthy touches on new waves of country and different ideals with a country twist. He experiments with other characters in a way that leaves you wondering if this is really country because it’s that unique compared to the rest of the genre.
What I find separates this book from other country books is the theme of immigration and the American Dream. As noted before, many find that the genre is filled with Republican ideals, and in that atmosphere, topics like immigration and the American Dream are frowned upon. McCarthy sees this and paints a perfect picture that takes that narrative and tosses it in the trash. He uses a common stereotype that many country lovers have and shoves it in their faces. In All The Pretty Horses, John Grady, although a natural-born American, goes through life and highlights the ideals of people immigrating to the US. He not only represents the thousands wanting to immigrate to the US, but also represents the millions in search of a dream, a place to belong, better opportunities, and safer lives.
Grady’s search for a better land and life are all evident in what many immigrants want for themselves and their next generation of kids: happiness, comfort, and peace in a city or town that’ll welcome them. Another character, Duena Alfonso, who lives in Mexico, shows a more realistic viewpoint on the struggles of immigrant women. She speaks about not being able to follow her dreams because her father disapproves of change and immigration.
It’s because of this situation that she forces her niece Alejandra to strive for bigger and better because she wants her to have that American Dream within her own country. Immigration is more than wanting to “invade lands,” it’s wanting to succeed in life, whether that’s for yourself or your family.
McCarthy forces his readers to realize why immigration occurs and needs to occur, specifically targeting a genre commonly known for having negative opinions on immigration. All The Pretty Horses is more than a Western, cowboy, or country book. It’s a path of discovery and modernization; modernization of a genre and the world of immigrants. It’s a relic that has made its way back to modern-day America.