All The Pretty Horses Study Guide, All The Pretty Horses Book

All the Pretty Horses can be enjoyed as a Western with twists that make it unique. The setting moves from Texas to Mexico thus providing interesting cultural comparisons. Although the novel is set in the modern era, students can travel into land somewhat left behind by progress and into an era unfamiliar to those who live in cities and suburbs. At a deeper level, students explore values by which people live, such things as social class, friendship, befriending the underdog, and survival skills. The themes include man’s inhumanity to man, a young man’s initiation into adult responsibility, the consequences of conformity and nonconformity, and a comparison of the macrocosm of a nation with the microcosm of individual experience and relationships.

Activities focus on the meaning of what has been read using evaluative thinking as opposed to plot recall. Writing assignments include character sketches, an essay, predictions, and evaluative answers to questions. One assignment gives free rein to students in making a presentation to the class with the option for visual art, an oral report, or a written report. The final writing assignment requires research and analysis as well as attention to form.

Assessment consists of a matching and a short answer test with answer keys.