Cormac McCarthy\u2019s writing style and content, although fascinating to a range of readers, requires extremely conscious and careful reading because everything in his text seems to have a purpose, or does it? Is McCarthy\u2019s wide range of vocabulary included to vaunt excessively about his knowledge, or does each reference have a purpose contributing to the text as a whole?<\/p>\n
Good old Cormac McCarthy set up a trap, and I was definitely caught right in it after reading chapters 14-17 of Blood Meridian. Let\u2019s think back to the first blog post on Blood Meridian Lindsey posted titled \u201cBlood, Gore and Death in Blood Meridian\u201d, I think we can all agree that blood, gore and death dominated our first impression of the book. Is there a purpose for all of the violence, what were the characters\u2019 intent in committing these acts? Here lies the trap that McCarthy developed, he trapped the Kid in violence, and trapped the reader into becoming accustomed to reading about violence.<\/p>\n
One of my first assumptions was that McCarthy incorporated this to show that the kid was so immersed in violence, or at least violent thoughts from a young age that he became \u201cnumb\u201d to it, as Kristina stated in the earlier post. Well now that we\u2019re three-quarters through the book I can say violence has been a pretty loyal companion to Blood Meridian\u2019s story line since the beginning, but has its consistency made it just part of the story, do we still find ourselves also becoming numb to the violence as well? Chapter 17, although it had a few pretty nasty descriptions of dead animals and a \u201cmummied corpse hung from a crosstree\u201d (McCarthy, 258) was pretty calm and lacking of violence compared to other chapters, such as the description when \u201cthe judge took.. a round rock weighing\u2026 a hundred pounds and crushed the horse\u2019s skull with a single blow. Blood shot out of its ears it slammed to the ground so hard that one of the forelegs broke under it with a dull snap\u201d (229). I literally flipped to a random page to find this description. It\u2019s just so horribly graphic, yet in chapter 17, the reader gets a slight break from that. I was curious to see what some thought readers of that.<\/p>\n
After a not so thorough google search I stumbled upon a bloggers reaction to chapter 17, in which he exclaimed that he thought chapter 17 \u201cwas a filler chapter. In reality, nothing happened. All that happens in this chapter is the Judge goes on one of his rants again..\u201d (http:\/\/readbloodmeridian.blogspot.com\/2010\/05\/blood-meridian-chapter-17.html). It was pretty clear to me that this guy didn\u2019t embrace his AP English class, but he seemed relatively convinced that the judge solely represented evil and that anything he claims is just reiterating this. What struck me the most was that the author of the blog claimed that Cormac McCarthy inserted chapter 17 as a \u201cfiller chapter\u201d, when I actually find it to be one of the most important and revealing chapters in the novel thus far because it reveals Judge Holden\u2019s notion that \u201cWar is god\u201d. In chapter 17, Judge Holden philosophizes about \u201cthe truth about the world\u201d (256). He claims that \u201cexistence has its own order and that no man\u2019s mind can compass that mind itself being but a fact among others\u201d (256). What does he mean by this? He also continues by stating that \u201cit makes no difference what men think of war\u2026 war endures.. it endures because young men love it and old men love it in them\u201d (259,260). I find these ideas to be very important insights on how Judge Holden\u2019s view of human nature.<\/p>\n
Do you think this lack of violence in chapter 17 (compared to other chapters) is so uncharacteristic that it actually slows the story down? What do you think is so significant about Judge Holden\u2019s notion that \u201cwar is god\u201d? What does that mean, how does this further shape his character and demonstrate what McCarthy is trying to convey though the text as a whole?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cormac McCarthy\u2019s writing style and content, although fascinating to a range of readers, requires extremely conscious and careful reading because everything in his text seems to have a purpose, or does it? Is McCarthy\u2019s wide range of vocabulary included to … Continue reading