Both True Grit and All the Pretty Horses open on the first page with the main character losing someone close to them, and Portis and McCarthy deal with it in somewhat similar ways but they take it in very different directions as the books continue. If you have ever lost anyone close to you, then you might understand how there is no universal reaction to dealing with the death of someone you love. A lot of things play into how a person reacts to the death of a loved one. Mattie in True Grit never thought about how her father would never come home or hug her again. We never see how after getting her revenge her life is different without her father once she returns home. Similarly with John Grady we never truly get a feel for what kind of personal emotional loss he is going through when he losses his grandfather because it is eclipsed by the fact he is going to be forced to leave the ranch he loves so much. Both stories are driven by the death of someone close to the main character but in both cases the reader never really gets any feel for the catalysts behind the journeys that started the books.
I find this feature really interesting, because I have lost people close to me and though I have never taken off on a journey like these characters, each loss changed me and I would most likely not be where I am today had things not unfolded as they did. I potently remember the immediate aftermath of the losses I experienced, the denial and grief, and these are things that in the books we have read have not really been relayed to us.
Death is a hot topic. In a way, it is something that is waiting for all of us through the course of our lives. All around the world people have different beliefs about what happens once we die. No matter how many journeys we make in life and the numbers of borders we cross, in the end, each and every one of use will cross the same final border, and it is not until that time that we will get to see what is waiting for us on the other side of that border. The fact that no one truly knows does not stop authors from incorporating death in their writing, and each of them deal with it in their own way.
-Christina Groff
Death is definitely an interesting border. No one truly knows what comes after it, as you have mentioned. The way that authors portray death can give more insight about what life after death may be. I think it is interesting how you pointed out that neither of the authors really touches upon how death is dealt with in these situations. But, I also feel that Mattie and John deal with death somewhat similarly. They both act as though it does not really phase them, or that they are mad but do not show their sad emotions. Mattie is definitely affected by the death because she is willing to kill a man. John is affected also because he at least wants to do Blevins the honor of returning his horse back to his family. The fact of death being an unknown border can pose many different perspectives on life.
ReplyDeleteI like that you brought up the idea of the ultimate border every person will eventually cross in their life. This is something I don't believe we have discussed very thoroughly in class. Some people unfortunately leave the land of life at a much earlier age than others, such as Jimmy Blevins. When the death of a child or teen occurs, I think it causes everyone to stop and ask why this human's life was cut so short. In Blevins case, his bold and stubborn personality was his fatal flaw. He was forced to cross the border between life and death primarily because of the way he spent his time on earth. This causes me to transition into another idea similar to Kylee's point above- if we can never be sure what truly happens to us when we cross the final border, it is up for our own interpretation. This should help us determine how we want to spend our days on earth before we journey into the unknown.
ReplyDeleteI was recently pondering this idea of death and human suffering in the literature that we have read so far in class. Each book and article contains the presence of suffering and death, and how they uniquely affect every human. Death and suffering are universal concepts that every warm body on this planet must face. The world is taken with the horrible occurrences of death, suffering, and murder. These themes arise daily in current events. Death touches us all, you cannot live a life without encountering it. This must be why these themes are so prevalent in literature. Sometimes I find it difficult for me to see positivity in this world brimming full of suffering, murder, and death. It is like we must struggle to survive, it is likely that some unfortunate incidence of death will claim us despite our best efforts. We labor to stay healthy to evade sickness, we labor to maintain safety to evade harm, we labor to nourish ourselves- we labor against the clutches of death constantly. John Grady, Rawlins, and Blevins struggle to survive in the harsh Mexican setting they find themselves in. These characters, though their situation is extreme, are relatable.
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