Who Is John Grady In All The Pretty Horses

1277 Words6 Pages
The novel, "All The Pretty Horses" is about two young men, John Grady Cole and Lacey Rawlins, who decide to run away from the place that they grew up in, on their horses and ride across the plains of Texas and into northeastern Mexico. They boys start near San Angelo, Texas, and travel 130 miles to near Langtry, Texas, where they cross the Rio Grande River into Mexico. And then, they ride 180 miles farther, to a well-situated hacienda, where they are immediately at home and feel like this is the place that they may call home, also where they land jobs as cowboys. John Grady is identified by his mother as "only sixteen," and we can assume that his best friend, Rawlins, is about the same age. Both boys seem mature for their age and successfully continue their adventure south. Family relationships are another important motive in the novel. We learn of John Grady's family and how they affect him and his future, which affects him as a person and the person that he is growing into. John Grady's mother left him in the care of the Mexican women…show more content…
Rawlins gave up, while John Grady Cole was not even afraid to hold a man at gunpoint to get his horses back. He stuck to his own moral compass, and was able to hold himself steady even when he was tested and tried. Despite being in bad situations, his pride was strong and his heart was big enough to conquer the fear that Rawlins couldn't, the fear of failing and having nothing. John Grady was not afraid to even die if it meant living the way he wanted on his terms. He was able to escape on horseback with a bullet wound in his leg, because he was resolute on getting his horse back and traveling on. This determination is something that Rawlins can't learn from John Grady, which is why he had to go home after realizing he could not handle the lifestyle any
Show More
Related

  • Comparing All The Pretty Horses And Wuthering Heights

    713 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nick Jones Ms. Tanksley AP Literature October 18, 2014 Comparing Wuthering Heights and All the Pretty Horses Although Wuthering Heights and All the Pretty Horses address how one cannot escape inevitable evil or “sacred violence” that is based on human nature, Wuthering Heights comments on the constant lingering of evil that overshadows all other actions, similarly to how All the Pretty Horses discusses how a purely naïve and romantic individual cannot live in a world controlled by evil and sin

    Read More

More about Who Is John Grady In All The Pretty Horses

Open Document