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McCarthy incorporates numerous themes including success, failure, fatality, and the fear that goes hand in hand with all of these, into his novel. In All the Pretty Horses, these themes help create a personal connection for the reader, one that is easily related to. For me, the theme in this novel that I could closely relate with was fear: that insane impulse that drives you to the limit, scares you toward insanity, and messes with your head. But what is it? What is fear? Fear is a feeling of agitation and anxiety caused by the presence or imminence of danger. The fear that the characters possessed in the novel impacted the entire story, and without it, each of their lives would have been severely altered. Their fear not only caused them to live their lives hiding from it, but it also pushed them to do insane things. John Grady Cole is the protagonist who fears failing at the one thing that is most important to him in life: becoming a cowboy. With seemingly less significance, Jimmy Blevins fears lightning. Although it is possible to assume that Blevins’s fear isn’t as deep or important as Cole’s, this preconception, by the end of the book, is proven incorrect. We learn that Blevins’ fear possesses both literal