All the Pretty Horses

Why is blood and the color red mentioned so many times in the novel?

" very cold and the sun sat blood red"

"with children at their breasts all of them pledged in blood"

"west lay blood red"

 

These are just a few blood was mentioned many times in the novel. Why though?

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Last updated by Aslan
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Blood and the color red are reflections of each other. Blood represents everything that John Grady has loved and eventually lost. Violence and beauty go hand in hand with each other. Life, in this novel, unfolds from the endless dichotomy of violence and beauty: blood is the manifestation of this dichotomy. It is blood and suffering that makes the things in life that we value truly beautiful. John Grady pays for these things with his blood. 

 

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