In my thesis I focus on a selection of three novels by the contemporary American author Cormac McCarthy and the motifs of violence that inform them. My aim was to explore the ways in which this violence is expressed, the possible reasons for it and the forms it takes through the works. In the conclusion I compare my findings and summarise the differences and similarities between the novels in terms of the motifs, origins and forms of violence. The latter is one of the primary red threads that link McCarthy's complete works, which is attractive to many readers and critics, yet controversial and unpalatable to others. In none of the three novels are the motifs of violence an end to themselves, however, but they are rooted instead in the depths of human nature and American history, and therefore worth examining in order to establish an informed interpretation.
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