How are justice and truth in the novel

John Grady's character is most often revealed in conversations with characters who share opposing moral codes. Where he sees his love for Alejandra in terms of 'right and wrong', Duena Alfonsa sees it as an affair that can be aborted by outside parties - a matter not of right and wrong, but rather of 'who gets to say'. Similarly, the captain and Emilio Perez reject the idea of 'tainted money' and mock John Grady's righteous opposition to paying his way out of prison. McCarthy does not validate John Grady's romanticism, but rather complicates it. John Grady becomes a hero not because he stands by his idealistic beliefs, but because he learns to relinquish them when it is necessary to pursue justice, when it is necessary to survive.