Gillian's thoughts on Blood Meridian

Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

One of the epigraphs notes that a 300,000 year old skull was found in Africa that showed "evidence of being scalped." This, of course, suggests that McCarthy means us to consider the violent impulses of humanity, not just the cruelty and genocide that the white race has perpetrated.



However, I think that one of the reasons this book reminds us of Moby Dick is the absence of women. Being at sea and being at war are two situations in which women have historically not been present. The huge, white Judge, like the massive white whale, is more a mythical figure than a human character. They represent the nihilistic void that is a deeply seductive aspect of war. The pure indifference, the absence of commitment to past or future, the moment-to-moment life of the void translates to a kind of power. And the Judge is very persuasive in his argument that the void is the only kind of power that exists. If we choose to look away from what he tells us to ignore, and if we accept his policy of murdering the vulnerable to mean that there is no other correct relationship to vulnerability, then we are in his thrall.



However, the Kid is not in his thrall, and that should give us pause. Although he participates in the meaningless murderous rampage, like many men who go to war, the Kid resists the Judge, and he knows it; after all, the Judge says to the Kid, "There's a flawed place in the fabric of your heart. Do you think I could not know? You alone were mutinous. You alone reserved in your soul some corner of clemency for the heathen." Why would the Kid's death and lack of miraculous ascension mean that there is no salvation--that "man's inhumanity to man" is the final sentence we can pronounce on humanity? The Judge speaks more words than any other person in the book, but the Kid lives in silence. I think that the silence of the book is significant--the silence of the Kid, the silence of victims, the silence of women and the vulnerable. It "speaks" to other worlds and bigger meanings that the Judge refuses to allow, but continue nevertheless--even without his consent.



Note: I wrote the above in response to someone else's review, and then later I cut and pasted it to make a separate review. I hope that's not obnoxious, and I hope it still makes some sense!


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