An Analysis Of The Struggle In All The Pretty Horses From The Perspective Of Spatial Theory

Cormac McCarthy(1933-)is one of the m ost outstanding contemporary American novelists.As the first nove l of McCarthy’s celebrated “The Border Trilogy”,All the Pretty Horses(1992)won the National Book Award for Fi ction in 1922.It becam e a best-seller as soon as it was published,which places McCarthy as a distinguished novelist in contem porary American literary arena.All the Pretty Horses relates a journey of a young cowboy nam ed John Grady.What John experiences exposes the social conflicts and struggles along the border betw een the United States and Mexico after the Second Wo rld War.The narration of the whole story follows the change of space.However,few scholars have made researches on the space of the novel.This thesis seeks to explore the spatial fo rms in the novel,and further to search for the theme implied in the space based on Henry Lefebvre’s spatial theory.Lefebvre divides human space into three levels.He puts forward the ce ntrality of space,explaining the oppression and struggle in the space.His theory intends to establish a space of differences.By means of his spatial theory,this thesis analyzes the struggles in physical space,mental space and social space respectively so as to elaborate on the role of the s truggle in the reconstruction of space.Through disclosing the interaction between the struggle and space in the novel,this thesis attempts to provide a new understanding of this novel.This thesis is made up of five parts,incl uding an introduction,three main-body chapters and a conclusion.The introduction mainly consists of a brief introduction of Cormac McCarthy and All the Pretty Horses,the liter ature review,the theo retical framework and the significance of the study.The first chapter centers on the cultural strugg le in physical space.Culture is influenced by physical space and has region al characteristics.In order to explore variou s cultural conflicts and struggles in different physical spa ces,this chapter is divided into two parts to distinguish American physical space from the Mexican.In America,John Grady is born in the western natural space.He is inspired by the cowboy culture and has the aspiration to continue the cowboy legend in the pasture.However,indu strialization has occupied the natural space,destroying the ranch.T o protect the cowboy cultu re,John struggles ag ainst industrialization which is hidden in American architectural space.While in Mexico,influenced by imperialism,John and his companions try to rebuild the history of the American West through crossing the border.They are dismissive of the diet,busin ess,and cowboy culture originated in Mexican natural space,and even violate the Mexican law overtly.Finally,their prejudice and ignorance are subjected to the struggle of Me xican culture such as Mexican social system,mode of thinking and historical culture when they arrive in the Mexican architectural space.The second chapter turns to mental space to analyze the struggles of young cowboys.It concerns collective mental space and individua l mental space.In collective m ental space,money worship prevails at that time,which us es money to control the standard of success,intent of cultural activities,and people’s attitude toward religion and law in society.Moreover,it marginalizes John and his part ners who adhere to their ideal life with the te rrible reality,forcing them to compromise with money.In individual mental space,John,as a representative of young cowboys,has undergone the process of self-awareness,self-doubt and self-recognition,and finally recognizes his iden tity of bein g a cowboy.He persis ts in th e principles of cowboy culture,refuses the standa rdized life and struggles to experience a new mode of growth,which emphasizes the philosophical value of self-realization.The third chapter examines the struggles in social space,which is comprised of women’s struggle for rights and men’s struggle for freedom.On the one hand,it expounds on wom en’s struggle against the oppression of patriarchy.This section focuses on two women in the novel: John’s girlfriend in Mexico and John’s m other in the United States.Their struggles are classified into two types: negative struggle and positive s truggle through analyzing their struggles for life,love,property and identity in different countries.Furthermore,it unveils the reasons for women’s successful struggle.On the other hand,from the perspective of m en,it argues the plight of men after economic reform.In the same-sex social space,men suffer the restriction of their appearances,the com parison of abilities and the oppression o f power.Meanwhile,in the opposite-sex social space,with the development of society,m en face the improvement of women’s status,and gradually lose their freedom in the family life,love and their careers.They have to struggle in the predicament.The conclusion reveals that the struggle in the novel is not futil e,but a m eans to reconstruct the space,which converts the pessimistic views on All the Pretty Horses.Besides,the novel shows a reinterpretation of the Am erican dream,providing a way to give a positive struggle and hope to people in m odern age.Furtherm ore,in line with Lefebvre’s spatial theory,people try to establish a com prehensive space.In the novel,McCarthy imbues the cowboys’ journey with the exchange of different cultures,the col lision of different spirit and the coexistence of diffe rent social relations,which reflects his advocacy of pluralism and further highlights tolerance and love in the space.