Part one of ATPH questions

1. What can be inferred through Blevins leaving the dinner table of the Mexican family? 2. Who is Louisa and Arturo? 3. Why does Blevins panic when the thunderstorm rolls in? 4. Why does John Grady Cole want to run the ranch? 4. What kind of a mother id John Grady Coles's? 5. What can be inferred through the scene of John and his mother's about their relationship? 6. What kind of a relationship does John have with his father? 7. What does John want to leave the town with Rawlins? 8. What is significant about the scenery of sunsets in the west in the novel? 9. How does the setting of the novel compare to traditional westerns? 10. Why do Rawlins and John want to be cowboys? 11. Why does McCarthy not translate the Spanish into English? 12. What is significant, if anything, about the formatting of the novel? 13. Why do John and Rawlins treat Blevins like an immature kid when they are kids themselves? 14. How is the setting involved in the plot line? 15. What does the money from Rawlins pocket look like when he hands it to the lady to buy cider in Mexico? 16. How did John learn to speak Spanish? 17. Where is John's dad now? 18. Why did John's grandfather die? 19. What do the boys plan to do in Mexico? 20. Where are the boys originally from?

Pictures.

THe following three pictures I posted because I felt like they are one way to bring personalization into my blog as well as correlate to the theme of All the Pretty Horses. I help out on a farm and ride horses there almost daily (weather permitting) and that is the main reason why the western novel we are currently reading has so much appeal to me. The "At the barn" picture is a little dark as it was just past sunset, but its my bestfriend and I riding in on the four wheeler on the last day of summer. Big Enuf is my freinds mom's horse that was green until this past summer when we fixed him up and now he is jumping 2 foot nine which is a great height for a small horse that was never formally trained.

My bestfriend working on the tractor

At the Barn

Big Enough

Horses.

    Horses are without a doubt my favorite animal in the world, not only are they beauttiful, but extremelly gentle and intelligent.  Although this post might give away my identity as a blogger I am willing to take that risk to share with my followers my love of horses and westerns and how excited I am to be reading this novel along with learning about cowboys and the old West in apush! So, I intend to post a few pictures of one of my favorite horses ever, my little friend Big Enough, a beautiful Appalosa!

All the Pretty Little Horses Part II

     Although Western novels and movies tend to be very exciting for me, I found the first thirty pages of All the Pretty Horses a bit unexpected and a little unsatisfying.  Never giving up hope, I continued on and found the next chunk of thirty pages to be packed with excitment and adventure!  Not to sound too corny, but the addition of Blevins to John and Rawlins excursion to Mexico really brightened up the plot line.  I noticed a contrast between Blevins and the other boys as he seemed so willing to fit in with the group, although he did appear to be very stubborn and rude at times.  His unwillingness to return to the house in Mexico that so kindly took him and his friends in proved to me that something is a little sketchy about his character, if I am allowed to use that word.  Anway, his defiant, snide attitude showed me he cannot handle embarassment or any sort of advice, as we latered learned about his reason for running away from home (he could not handle his father's guidance, although that is waht fathers are for).  I really enjoyed the scenary that McCarthy depicted, making me feel like I need to visit the West as soon as possible.  Throughout the whole of the novel so far, I have really like the break from the action where a scene of sunsetting occurs.  Also, just reading about horses in generally makes me happy :)   

All the Pretty Little Horses 1-30

     After reading the first thrity pages of All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, my first impression of the novel was suprised.  It was very interesting to me to read the diferences and clashes between the old western world and the post.  I found the comparisons to feel more forced than blended and that sort of bothered me; however, descriptive language of certain images such as the train rolling into town made the language sound very pretty.  I found the blended dialogue to be a bit confusing at times, but later on through the novel I began to pick up on it and understood its meaning and correlation to the novel.  It started to make sense to me once I got a feel for the characters and their personalities and the flat style that they sometimes spoke in that matched the flatness of the formation of the dialogue.  Overall, I really enjoyed the first bit of the novel and find it sort of refreshing as well as informative.  I can not wait to continue reading this novel!