Imagery In Cormac Mccarthy's All The Pretty Horses

The passage from All the Pretty Horses unveils various different stylistic choices the author, Cormac McCarthy, develops and fabricates which gives the work it’s eminence. The quote exhibits various different examples of well written diction, organization, and syntax. The quote exemplifies McCarthy’s eloquent diction via several examples of imagery, allusion, and specific jargon. Images such as Perez lighting his own cigarette and “blowing a thin stream of smoke” and “snapping” his lighter to light John Grady’s cigarette show Perez’s authority. Snapping has an aggressive connotation and access that he has to cigarettes is something John Grady does not have anylonger. Perez frequently shows John Grady he is superior, he likes to think that if he has more power over him to prove Mexicans are superior to Americans. It is evident that Perez thinks that Americans are ignorant and cynical. Yet despite Perez attempting to maintain his authoritative position, John Grady Cole refuses to give in to the hierarchy of the …show more content…
he said. Only what the world wants to know. What does the world want to know. The world wants to know…” These shot successive sentences initiate a sense of urgency and create a jarring effect on the reader. McCarthy frequently does this throughout the novel, the dialogue is frequently short and straight to the point, but then it is broken up by longer following descriptions. This helps to show that John Grady has a personality in which he is a taciturn teen, who feels that his actions speak for him. The conversation between Perez and John Grady is especially emphasizes his ability to seem older than he really is. Most sixteen year olds would not declare “I ain't afraid to die.” Yet these short successive sentences and John Grady's personality makes the reader realize that he is a man of his word and situations that he has encountered forced him to grow up and give the impression that he is much older and stronger than he