Animals In The Fiction Of Cormac Mccarthy [Paperback]

The works of Cormac McCarthy have been critically studied as literature of the South and of the Border Southwest. Largely ignored is the omnipresence and presentation of animals in McCarthys works. Yet the abundant representations of animals depict a part of the ceaseless battle for survival that is inherent in many of his writings. McCarthys animals exist within the framework of a fictional natural world driven by biological determinism: Wild animals prey upon feral and domestic animals, horses exist as warriors, and the hunt is a ballet between man and hunting hound. Proximity to humans results in mistreatment and death, while distance results in survival and fitness. McCarthy also utilizes animals as harbingers of specific events; for example, hogs are so frequently a precursor of human death that McCarthys narrators and characters wonder whether hogs are joined to the devil for evil purposes. The first chapter here examines animal presentations in The Stonemason, The Gardeners Son and two short stories, Bounty and The Dark Waters. The following nine chapters focus on one text, one type of animalfeline, swine, bovine, bird and bat, canine, equine, lupine, and houndand one particular thesis. Each chapter also briefly examines the specific animal as it exists in other McCarthy works.