The Crossing is a novel by American author Cormac McCarthy, published in 1994 by Alfred A. Knopf. The book is the second installment of McCarthy's "Border Trilogy," following the award-winning All the Pretty Horses (1992), and preceding Cities of the Plain, where the protagonists of both novels work together on a ranch in southern New Mexico.
Plot introduction
The book begins focusing on the life of the protagonist, Billy Parham, and his brother Boyd, with their family living in southern New Mexico in the early 20th Century. The Crossing is a coming-of-age novel, and throughout the book, physical, cultural, and social boundaries play a large role in the telling of the story. The story tells of three journeys taken from New Mexico to Mexico, and throughout the story and Billy's crossings, the writing contributes to the idea that crossing borders is a catalyst for bad tidings. It is noted for being more melancholic than the first book of the trilogy, without returning to the hellish bleakness of McCarthy's early novels. Raymond Malewitz argues that the wolf's "literary agency" becomes visible when Billy's way of thinking about the wolf conflicts with the way the narrator describes the creature.