What are the motifs in The Orchard Keeper by Cormac McCarthy?

The supernatural is a recurring idea. One subtext of the novel that might be missed is the occasional reference to the supernatural. This occurs several times in the text. First, Arthur Ownby has an irrational fear of cats, inspired by something he was told by a former slave (who, seemingly, was some kind of voodoo witch) when he was a young child. His fear is so strong that he actually winds up shooting a hole in his wall and window when he thinks a cat is stalking outside of his bedroom window. Second, John Wesley Rattner has a strange kind of spiritual pact with something out in the wilderness. He tells these spirits—or, perhaps, they are just voices he imagines—that he will avenge his father's death. Finally, Warn Pulliam tells John Wesley later in the book that men become animals after their death.