All the Pretty Horses -- Fourth Response

To my ATPH readers,

I am finally starting to enjoy ATPH much more now that the plot is really thickening.  First, the romance between John Grady and Alejandra deepened.  With that of course came conflict also.  Alfonsa, Alejandra's aunt, warns John Grady that he should not be seen with Alejandra when she says "I want you to be considerate of a young girl's reputation."  In her snobby way she infers that she and her niece are much better than John Grady socially.  I personally hope that the two of them end up together in the end just to prove Alfonsa wrong.  The next very interesting part of this section was the capture of John Grady and Rawlins.  They are finally reunited with Blevins, but not for long.  When Rawlins and John Grady are each interrogated, we really see who they are.  Rawlins, who I though always acted like the tough guy, cracked under the pressure and the fear during the interrogation.  He seemed much weaker than John Grady did in his interrogation.  John Grady acted more composed and stuck to the truth.  Unfortunately, Blevins was still killed because he appeared as a monster in the eyes of the Mexicans.  My final observation about this section of reading is on page 161.  When the three of them are in confinement, John Grady dreams about horses.  The horses he dreams about are in the open "Field on the high plain."  The horses here seem to be a symbol for freedom and the open frontier that John Grady could be experiencing at that moment.