The Good, The Bad, and the Reconceptualization of the Ugly: The Western Genre in the Works of Cormac McCarthy
Open Access
Author:
Popkin, Jeremy Lucas
Area of Honors:
English
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Robert Edwin Burkholder, Thesis Supervisor Robert Edwin Burkholder, Thesis Supervisor Janet Wynne Lyon, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Cormac McCarthy Western genre The Road No Country for Old Men
Abstract:
The Western genre may be America’s most significant mythology. The figures of cowboys and frontier settlers have seared themselves into the national consciousness through the popularity of Western fiction, which both appeals to and is responsible for many of the country’s most valued principles and ideals. This thesis looks at one of contemporary literature’s most influential Western writers, exploring the works of Cormac McCarthy and how they have adapted common Western themes and conventions into modern settings. By exploring how McCarthy’s The Road and No Country for Old Men use common Western tropes to convey contemporary messages and ideas, this thesis attempts to both explain the lasting power of the genre as well as the ways in which the genre can be reconceptualized and reimagined to explore modern day American issues.
