Last Post of the Semester

As I continued in The Crossing, it continues to get more interesting and confusing as most McCarthy books do. The main conflict so far seems to be between the protagonist, Boyd, and a she-wolf that has been walking around hunting the cows that are roaming free. In one scene, McCarthy sis something I have never seen him do before. He showed the book from the perspective of the wolf. This threw me for a loop for a little while. The wolf’s thoughts were rational and coherent, though fairly simple. McCarthy explained the wolf’s situation and background about how its mate had died in the jaws of a trap. This makes the wolf very difficult for Boyd and his father to catch, as she digs up and overturns all the traps. Once again I am a little surprised at McCarthy’s knowledge of somewhat antiquated things like wolf trapping, which he explains step by step, or horse breaking in All the Pretty Horses. I guess being from an upper-class suburb makes me kind of surprised he is so knowledgeable about these things, but it goes back to McCarthy’s history as a wonderer. Once again, in The Crossing, McCarthy fails to break any gender barriers with his female characters. Boyd’s mother is rarely seen and when she is, it is in the stereotypical female role of cooking, clean, and communicating for the family. I think this book has started out faster than All the Pretty Horses and has pulled me in more in the first few pages than ATPH did, but I can’t imagine this wolf hunting is the main conflict in the book, so it will be interesting to see what twists the plot takes.