The Crossing

How does this novel fit into the genre of the Western or the adventure story? Where does it deviate from those genres or redefine them?

Many times in the novel, Billy stops to listen to the long, didactic story of a stranger, each of which subtly changes his perspective. How are the stories within the novel representative of its larger themes, and why do the stories take such a prominent place in the novel?

Compare Billy and Boyd’s perspectives on the loss of their family and their quest to recover the horses. How do the two boys differ, and what drives them apart?

Is the novel’s depiction of Mexico as a violent, dreamlike realm xenophobic? In what ways is this depiction centered on Billy and Boyd’s perception of Mexico, and how do the Mexican characters in the book affirm or push back against that depiction?

Examine the stylistic choices McCarthy makes in the novel, whether it’s the choice to render so much dialogue in untranslated Spanish, the prose style that shifts into high, elegiac diction, his choice not to use quotation marks or other common elements of syntax, or any other elements you’ve noticed. How do the stylistic elements of the sentence-level writing inform your understanding of the themes and narrative of the novel?

What does it mean when the caretaker at the beginning of Part 2 tells Billy that all stories are the same story?

Billy is warned by Quijada that he should not carry his brother’s remains back to America. Why is this mission important to Billy, and what does it say about his understanding of Boyd and his place in the world? Would Boyd agree?

How has Billy changed over the course of the novel? What evidence do you have that he has changed as a character?