Morally ambiguous characters make it difficult for a reader to define them as either good or evil. These characters are found in several novels, one is found in All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. John Grady is the main character of this novel, and throughout the story, he varies from displaying good and evil characteristics. In the beginning Grady is a good character, but as the novel goes on, he leans more towards being evil, then in the end, he redeems himself. In the beginning of the novel John Grady is a good person. This is visible by the way he treats his friends and horses. For example, he treats his friends well when he allows Jimmy Blevins to join him and Lacey Rawlins on their journey to Mexico. Rawlins refuses to take Blevins
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Grady gets put in jail for supposedly being Jimmy Blevins partner in crime. While in jail, he ends up in a difficult situation. He gets in a fight and, “As he did so John Grady brought his knife up from the floor and sank it into the cuchillero’s heart. He sank it into his heart and snapped the handle sideways and broke the blade off in him” (201). John Grady kills a man while in prison. Even though it is self defense, he still kills a man. This does not fare well for John Grady and causes him to have doubts about himself. Another time Grady exhibits poor characteristics is when he sleeps with his boss’s daughter Alejandra. Her great aunt even warns Grady to stay away from her, but he refuses to heed her warning. This does not demonstrate a good character for John Grady. If he were truly a good human being, he would have listened to the great aunt and stayed away from Alejandra. This situation is what causes their boss to report them to the authorities, so Grady and Rawlins can be locked away in jail. Grady demonstrates bad characteristics because of the difficult situations he must deal …show more content…
Once the authorities release Rawlins and Grady, Rawlins heads back north to Texas, while Grady goes to retrieve their horses. He must travel back to where they are first arrested and convince the men to give the horses back. This is no easy feat, but he manages to do so while threatening the men with a gun. Once he retrieves the horses, he returns to Texas and gives Rawlins his horse. Then he visits Jimmy Blevins, the pastor with the hope of finding who Blevins is related to. The entire purpose of the journey to the pastor’s is so Grady can return Blevins’ grand horse to its rightful owner. No person with an evil character would suffer through all the trouble of returning a dead boy’s horse to its owner. In the end, Grady overcomes being a bad character by doing good
Grady gets put in jail for supposedly being Jimmy Blevins partner in crime. While in jail, he ends up in a difficult situation. He gets in a fight and, “As he did so John Grady brought his knife up from the floor and sank it into the cuchillero’s heart. He sank it into his heart and snapped the handle sideways and broke the blade off in him” (201). John Grady kills a man while in prison. Even though it is self defense, he still kills a man. This does not fare well for John Grady and causes him to have doubts about himself. Another time Grady exhibits poor characteristics is when he sleeps with his boss’s daughter Alejandra. Her great aunt even warns Grady to stay away from her, but he refuses to heed her warning. This does not demonstrate a good character for John Grady. If he were truly a good human being, he would have listened to the great aunt and stayed away from Alejandra. This situation is what causes their boss to report them to the authorities, so Grady and Rawlins can be locked away in jail. Grady demonstrates bad characteristics because of the difficult situations he must deal …show more content…
Once the authorities release Rawlins and Grady, Rawlins heads back north to Texas, while Grady goes to retrieve their horses. He must travel back to where they are first arrested and convince the men to give the horses back. This is no easy feat, but he manages to do so while threatening the men with a gun. Once he retrieves the horses, he returns to Texas and gives Rawlins his horse. Then he visits Jimmy Blevins, the pastor with the hope of finding who Blevins is related to. The entire purpose of the journey to the pastor’s is so Grady can return Blevins’ grand horse to its rightful owner. No person with an evil character would suffer through all the trouble of returning a dead boy’s horse to its owner. In the end, Grady overcomes being a bad character by doing good