In Cormac McCarthy's passage from The Crossing he uses several literary techniques such as imagery, tone, and an emotional appeal to convey the imact of the experience on the main chracter.
McCarthy uses explicit descriptions of the dead wolf's body to create an emotional appeal or connection with the main character that helps the reader identify with his suffering. While the impact of the dead wolf's body has been created the author uses imagery to depict a peaceful environment around this creating a contrast between the beauty of nature and the anguish of the man's sruggle. To further contrast the current suffering of the protagonist the author depicts the life of the wolf before it was killed as being peaceful, natural and beatiful which enhances the graphic description of the now dead wolf.
The lack of exposition in this passage is also apparent and leads to a certain ambiguity of how the wolf and the character made it to where they are in the passage. It was never made clear if the wolf was killed by the man or if the wolf was found which adds to the mood of nature and the environment being peaceful however the person being confused and in despair. You would have to make an inference as to what happened however it is apparent that the character has some emotional attachment to the dead animal.
Through a combination of these techniques McCarthy enhances the reader's connection to the emotional experience of the character. The contrast between the peaceful environment and the hardship of the person creates an easy connection between the reader and the character.
