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All The Pretty Horses Symbolism

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Another crucial aspect of a quality bildungsroman piece is the search for a meaningful existence carried out by the main character or protagonist. In a bildungsroman, the main character must have an epiphany somewhere throughout the story which causes them to realize their place in society. This epiphany is influenced by their journey away from home, and gives them insight to the meaning of their existence (Casano). John Grady Cole’s search for existence in All the Pretty Horses is long and painful when looking at his journey to Mexico as a whole. Cole decides to stay in Mexico after meeting the love of his life, Alejandra, which is when he discovers the meaning of his life (Delafuente). John Grady Cole also searched the plot of his mother's play for insight to his mother’s actions, and he looked to the landscape for meaning on his final horse ride with his father (Mccarthy). All throughout the novel, Cole searches for meaning both in events and people, and meaning in his own life. In I Want to Know Why, the entire story revolves around the boy’s search for meaning. The title eludes this idea, because the boy wants to know why certain events happened at the horse races. An example of this is the affair the boy witnesses involving Jerry Tilford: …show more content…

I can't make it out. Darn him, what did he want to do like that for? I keep thinking about it and it spoils looking at horses and smelling things and hearing niggers laugh and everything. Sometimes I'm so mad about it I want to fight someone. It gives me the fantods. What did he do it for? I want to know why.

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