While Cormac McCarthys novel All the Pretty Horses did have a sad plot, there was a clear and deep spiritual development in the main character, John Grady Cole.

        When John Grady Cole returns from Mexico his heart is at unrest and he believes he needs to reconcile by returning the horse of his friend Jimmy Blevins to its rightful owner. His journey led him to a judge who listens not only to his story but his feelings concerning the events of his trip to Mexico. John expresses how he feels guilty for bringing pain to the lives of Alejandra and Blevins and for the life of the boy he killed in prison. The judge explained to him that what happened in the past is the past and for the most part he did the right thing. While this interaction did not immediately bring peace to John, it did allow him to get out his final feelings for the events before he could finally leave the land.

        This ending brought a conclusion to the spiritual development of John Grady in this book and also concluded the events which started in the first chapter in a cyclical manner. The book began with the death of John’s grandfather which helped in compelling him to leave the country and when he finally returned, he learned that his final connections with the land, his father and beloved Abuela had died just as his grandfather had. While John is physically back where he started he has changed so much and is finally ready to move on after his meetings with the Judge, Pastor, and Rawlings. The book ends with John traveling west of Texas to find his country which is ironically similar to how the book began since now he is heading off into New Mexico, since the old one failed him.

        The ending to All the Pretty Horses will remain memorable not because of its happy ending but because of its conclusion to the development of its main character. The final chapter of the book brings John to reconcile with all the events which happened in the book and once this is completed, he is finally ready to move on to a new land. While its cyclic nature may have brought sorrow to the reader, the events of the book were well concluded in the best possible way.