Does mccarthy present the two young men

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Reference no: EM133490544

Case: A Hispanic scholar writes that in Cities of the Plain the author Cormac McCarthy has created two characters who knowingly or unknowingly view themselves as superior to Mexicans on the basis of their being American. It is not that John Grady and his good friend Billy Parnam don't like Mexicans, or Mexico. Both speak Spanish fluently. But these two young men, says the scholar, make big assumptions about when they can expect when they cross the border; about what they are entitled to. And they become impatient or even angry when they can't have things the way they expected.

On the American side of the border, says the scholar, John and Billy and the other American cowboys do their jobs and follow American ethics and morals.

But they cross to the Mexican side of the border to satisfy their illicit pleasures, ones they would not seek in the United States.

Some of the Mexican characters, the scholar says, try to inform Grady and Parnam 'you should do this' or 'you shouldn't do that' as a matter of local cultural rules; sometimes Mexican characters disagree with something the American visitors want - but in most cases, what Mexicans say to them neither John nor Billy pay attention to, because they trust their own judgment.

Does the evidence in the story show that this scholar is right that John and Billy, perhaps without realizing it, have an inner bias that says that they are superior to Mexicans?

And does McCarthy write these two characters that way because he, too, thinks they are special for being American? That is, McCarthy believes in their superiority?

Or does McCarthy present the two young men as destined to get 'rebuffed', or for them to have their expectations refused, rejected by the Mexicans sometimes, because Mexicans have rights and opinions, too?

First sentence of your first paragraph should be a TOPIC SENTENCE argument - a very clear one sentence statement of your position, or your belief, or your claim, in specific response to my essay question. This is your message. Once I have read it, I know exactly what you intend to argue, which direction your essay is going to go.

Reference no: EM133490544

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