My Culture, My Color, My Self: Heritage, Resilience, and Community in the Lives of Young Adults

Abstract

This study examines Cormac McCarthy's portrayal of American landscapes through the lens of competing views on wilderness—either as inherently good or evil. Within Rodopi’s Spatial Practices series, Andrew Keller Estes argues that McCarthy critiques these binaries while offering a nuanced perspective on environmental thought. Tracing the history of American wilderness writing from Puritan times to postmodernism, Estes demonstrates how McCarthy's novels evolve over time, reflecting shifts in cultural attitudes toward nature. By situating McCarthy within the context of influential thinkers like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Thomas Jefferson, and Frederick Jackson Turner, Estes provides a close reading of key works such as *Blood Meridian*, *All the Pretty Horses*, and *The Road*. These texts illustrate characters grappling with dualistic conceptions of nature, often failing to find positivity or causing destruction based on negative views. Estes contends that McCarthy’s fiction critiques traditional binaries, suggesting an alternative approach to environmental understanding. Through this analysis, Estes reveals how McCarthy's narratives challenge established paradigms and propose a more complex engagement with American spaces.

(The abstract and keywords were prepared retrospectively for indexing purposes using AI-assisted tools and editorial review, based on the original article. They did not appear in the original publication.)