Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- In All the Pretty Horses, what is the relationship between people and the land they live on? Are they connected to it? Alienated from it? Does this relationship change, depending on the character?
- What does the way Cormac McCarthy writes dialogue have to do with the themes of the novel?
- What does the novel have to say about the way we view death? How does John Grady Cole encounter it in the novel, and how does he cope (or not cope, as the case may be)?
- In the world of the novel, what would you say the role of fate is? What makes you say so?
- Do you think John Grady Cole would "get religion" after the end of the novel? Why or why not?
- The novel and its characters portray the United States and Mexico as having very different cultures in the mid-20th century. What do you think about how they are represented?
- What's the novel's view on young love?
- Why does John and Alejandra's relationship turn out the way it does? Could it have been different? Why or why not?