Name: Simon H.

Isaacs
Student ID: 18260026
Class: 2016 - ENG2NAA - Narrative Analysis
Due Date: 26/10/2016
Word Count: 2000
Tutor(s): Erina Reddan

Assessment II

Final Essay
Signs of destruction, decay, physical and moral corruption proliferate throughout Blood
Meridian. Is narrative in any way redemptive of the sort of problems it represents or do we
simply love to read stories of destruction?
 1

NOTICE OF EXTENSION

Simon Isaacs,
Your request for an extension of time has been granted. Please note the revised date for

submission and any comments below.

IMPORTANT

You must include a copy of this message together with your assessment task on submission.

Failure to include this information will result in your work being considered against the

original due date.

Request details

Request reference ID: 18260026

Request for extension: granted

Student name: Simon Isaacs

Student email: 18260026@students.latrobe.edu.au

Revised date for submission: 1 November 2016

Additional comments:

Thank you.
 2

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy was first published in 1985 by Random

House Publishing. His fifth novel, it is considered to be his magnum-opus. Blood Meridian

challenges America’s romanticised pre-civil war history, shattering the typical conventions of

the Western genre. It brings down the often idealized era of gunslingers, stetsons, wagon

trains and the birth of the American Dream, with a bloody efficiency. It reveals what can only

be described as the brutal reality of the country's imperialist ambitions of uniting a continent

under a single Anglo-Christian banner. Beginning in the wild foothills of south-eastern

Tennessee and shifting to the barren western Texan deserts. The story follows “the Kid” and

his dealings with the Glanton Gang, a group of Texas Rangers who slaughtered and scalped

their way along the Mexican border, between 1849 and 1850. The antagonist of the story

becomes Judge Holden, a mysterious, god-like figure who is equally responsible for the

numerous acts of brutality, destruction and moral depravity McCarthy depicts. In the

following essay, I shall explore the signs of destruction, decay, physical and moral corruption

throughout Blood Meridian. In doing so, I shall attempt to answer the question: is narrative in

any way redemptive of the sort of problems it represents or do we simply love to read stories

of destruction? I shall also explore the notion of redemption, asking whether such vindication

can be found in Blood Meridian as I discuss novel as an anti-Western and explore the

violence within.

Blood Meridian’s central antagonist, Judge Holden, lies at the heart of the

brutal truths of the Old American West that the novel seeks to extol. The character obliterates

the romantic novelties of the Western Classic i.e. the “the heroic, self reliant cowboy [...]

untouched by the forces of [...] modernisation” (Eaton, p.156). The genre is totally buried

beneath the bloodthirsty veracity of Holden’s total evil, his obsession with war, conflict and

godhood driven by a deep bloodlust and quasi-faith. Considered by Edwin B. Crusher to be

“the most haunting character in all of American literature” and the epitome of humanity's
 3

evil, Holden is responsible “for a litany of wicked deeds” (Crusher, p.223.) He is at the heart

of book that is alluringly vicious, Steven Fyre describing Blood Meridian as an

“incomparable beauty derived from the raw matter of incomparable horror” (Fyre, p.107.) It

is for all intents and purposes, as Mark A. Eaton identifies, an “anti-Western” (Eaton, p.156)

drowning America’s romanticised past in a river of blood, exposing “the genocidal

foundation of the nation” (Eaton, p. 156).

Blood Meridian challenges the very idyllic, Edenic dream that drove early

Anglo-America’s insatiable desire to conquer the continent. The New World is their destiny

“rich in potential and mystery, liberating and full of opportunity” (Slotkin, 1993, p. 351)

where the Old World can be redeemed “by high example [...] generated by the potentialities

of a new earth for building a new heaven” (Merk 1963, p. 3). This glorified conquest of

America, this heroic “Manifest Destiny,” a term coined, according to historian Julius W.

Pratt, in the wake of the US-Mexican War (1842-46) (Pratt, 1927 pp. 795–98) is depicted by

McCarthy as little more than a period of uncompromising, unadulterated brutality. It diverges

from the “traditional mythology of (the) American westward movement” (Jasinski, 2011, p.

1) recognising the savagery humanity and most of all Westerners are capable of. It explores

the narrative of one of mankind's ‘greatest nations’ whilst revealing the brutality it was

willing to commit towards all those that stood in its way. This is clearly seen in the following

passage, where not even children can escape the confronting realities of America's past.

“These small victims, seven or eight of them, had holes punched in their under jaws

and were hung so by their throats from the broken stubs of mesquite to stare eyeless at

the naked sky. Bald and pale and bloated, larval to some unreckonable being.”

(McCarthy, 1985, c. V).

The world that McCarthy conjures is a place bereft of humanity. Where faith and destruction

are two sides of the same coin. In this world where “war is the ultimate game [...] forcing [...]
 4

the unity of existence” where “war is god” (McCarthy, 1985, c. XVII). America’s true history

is forged. Amidst this bloody slaughter we approach the notion of redemption.

Within Christian scripture, redemption forms part of the faith’s overarching

meta-narrative, specifically in relation to the sacrifice of Christ, the recognition and

repentance for one's sins and thus the resulting vindication of humanity’s transgressions

(Morris, 1962, pp. 1078–1079). Within Islam, redemption is found by practicing the tenets

with which the Koran extols i.e. a sincerity of faith and virtuous character (Hava, 1981. p.

48). In Judaism, the concept is far more complex, giving specific focus on the exile of the

Jews from their homeland and redemption from their extradition through God (Babylonian

Talmud, Trctate Rosh HaShanah, 11b). It is also a legal and transactional concept, based on

the sacrifice of blood (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Chullin, 35b), family (Babylonian

Talmud, Tractate Moed Katan, 12a), business (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Temurah, 31a)

and specific personal items at the Temple of Jerusalem (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate

Arachin, 30b). Redemption in all these cases is certainly steeped in a deep sense of faith,

spirituality, pain and suffering. McCarthy evokes such sentiments through his use of

especially biblical, grandiose syntax and direct allusions to scenes from the Bible. For

example, in the opening paragraph, as McCarthy discusses the Kid’s parentage, he states “His

folk are known for hewers of wood and drawers of water but in truth his father has been a

schoolmaster” (McCarthy, 1985, c. I). The author makes makes direct references to Book of

Joshua 9:23 and the Deception of the Gibeonites. “You are now under a curse: You will

never be released from service as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God."

(The Holy Bible, King James edn, Book of Joshua 9:23). Yet it is here that any such religious

sentiments end. With this in mind we must ask, does McCarthy provide the reader with any

opportunity of peace within his narrative? Amidst the gratuitous blood and gore can we find

redemption for the clear problems that Blood Meridian seeks to represent?
 5

McCarthy actively challenges these aforementioned soteriological theologies

o, even despite the religious and especially Biblical language and scenes he evokes. The

reader is plunged into a world that is, that in the words of Charles McGrath “prehistoric or

post-apocalyptic: a barren, hostile place in which civilization--and any recognizable notion of

morality--is scarcely discernible” (qtd. in Brinkmeyer 39-40). The salvation narrative of the

New World is lost, there is no redeemer of souls, nor holy texts that might provide

enlightenment, nor sacrifice or journey that must be made. Blood Meridian is not, in the

words of Steven Shaviro “a salvation narrative” no one can be rescued “by faith, by works,

nor by grace” (Shaviro, p.148.) The characters within Blood Meridian even seem to bask

within the darkness of the evils they commit, “the characters [...] existing in a state of

absolute disinterest [..] of redemption or reconciliation with God or their fellow creatures”

(Cooper, 2011, p. 47). McCarthy is intent on dispelling even slightest chance or “possibility

of grace and redemption even in the darkest of (his) tales” (Arnold, Luce, p. 46). He even

seems to celebrate the brutality as we see in the following scene:

“Hundreds of onlookers pressed about as the dried scalps were counted out upon the

stones [...] There were one hundred and twenty-eight scalps and eight heads and the

governor’s lieutenant and his retinue came down [...] They were promised full

payment in gold at the dinner to be held in their honor that evening [...] and with this

the Americans sent up a cheer and mounted their horses again. Old women in black

rebozos ran forth to kiss the hems of their reeking shirts and hold up their dark little

hands in blessing and the riders” (McCarthy, 1985, c. XIII).

McCarthy clearly has a keen focus on the war-like nature of humanity, Judge Holden being

the epitome of our base, animalistic tendencies and apparent insatiable desire for blood and

murder. He is, as critic Harold Bloom states “[...] violence incarnate. The Judge stands for
 6

incessant warfare for its own sake.” (qtd in Pierce, 2009). This is no less evident than in the

following passage:

“The judge sat with the Apache boy before the fire [...] some of the men played with it

and made it laugh and they gave it jerky and it sat chewing and watching gravely the

figures that passed above it. They covered it with a blanket and in the morning the

judge was dandling it on one knee while the men saddled their horses. Toadvine saw

him with the child as he passed with his saddle but when he came back ten minutes

later leading his horse the child was dead and the judge had scalped it.” (McCarthy,

1985 c. XII).

Blood Meridian and its characters, especially Judge Holden, are clearly beyond any

redemption. As is the period of history that McCarthy is exploring, even despite its

glorification. This however does not mean that narrative itself is irredeemable, nor does it

mean that Blood Meridian is simply an expression of humanity's curiosity and enjoyment of

violence.The novel however mustn't be simply looked over for its violence. There is far more

to Blood Meridian then meets the eye.

In the words of Shawn M. Jasinski, McCarthy’s novel is a “presentation of

American history and the violent manipulation of historical records” (Jasinski, 2011, p. 1). it

is displaying the brutal conquest of a nation, shattering the glorified nature of “Manifest

Destiny” and revealing “the brutality of American expansionism sweeping across the

landscape as swiftly as the shadows of the Glanton Gang.” (Jasinski, 2011, p. 1) It is here that

we might find some redemption in the novel and indeed within narrative itself. Blood

Meridian, while fictitious, tells a truth not often seen within the Western genre. It lays bare

the violence of humanity, exposing our transgressions and forcing us to come to terms with

and repent for the actions, our sins, that our species has committed. As famous hollywood

director Brian de Palma once said, “People don’t see the world before their eyes until it's put
 7

in a narrative mode” (Abbott, 2008, p. 6). In this way, narrative allows us to see the world for

what it really is. Blood Meridian is certainly lacking in specific and indeed tangible

redeeming qualities.However It identifies a blood lust within humanity that we appear to be

obsessed with, it lays bare a truth and in part redeems the reader of the violence that they both

revile and enjoy

Blood Meridian is a novel of sheer and uncompromising brutality. Because of

this, it is considered the antithesis of the genre it is defined by. It displays the reality of

America’s pre-civil war history, drenching the Western classic in blood and gore. Character’s

such as Judge Holden, represent a facet of humanity that is and was no doubt responsible for

the horrors committed along the Western Frontier of America. Holden specifically is violence

incarnate, identifying with an element of the human narrative that is without a doubt

exceptionally and even obsessively violent. At first Blood Meridian seems almost impossible

to be redeemed in the face of such horrors. However it is the veracity, the honesty with which

it displays such unadulterated brutality that in the end provides the reader with the vindication

they might seek, revealing corruption of history and the burying of humanities violent past

amidst the glory and grandeur and America’s Manifest Destiny and the Old West.
 8

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PRIMARY
- McCarthy, Cormac, (1985). Blood Meridian - the Evening Redness in the West.
Random House Publishing. Ebook edn (2010)
- Babylonian Talmud. trans, Rodkinson, Michell L. (1918) URL:
<http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/FullTalmud.pdf>
- The Holy Bible, King James Version. New York: American Bible Society: 1999;
Bartleby.com, (2000). URL:
<http://www.bartleby.com/108/>
SECONDARY
- Abbott, H. Porter. 2008. The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative, Cambridge, UK,
Cambridge University Press
- Arnold, Edwin T. Luce, Dianne C. Perspectives on Cormac McCarthy. Mississippi
University Press, Jackson, Mississippi (2012)
- Brinkmeyer, Robert H., Jr. Remapping Southern Literature: Contemporary Southern
Writers and the West. University of Georgia Press, Athens (2000)
- Cusher, Brent Edwin. “Cormac McCarthy’s Definition of Evil: Blood Meridian and
the Case of Judge Holden.” Perspectives on Political Science 43.4 (2014)
- Cooper, Lydia R. No More Heroes: “Narrative Perspective and Morality in Cormac
McCarthy” Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (2011)
- Eaton, Mark A. “Dis(re)membered Bodies: Cormac McCarthy’s Border Fiction.”
Modern Fiction Studies 49.1 (2003)
- Frye, Steven. “Blood Meridian and the Poetics of Violence.” The Cambridge
Companion to Cormac McCarthy. Ed. Steven Frye. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. (2015)
- Hava, Lazarus-Yafeh. Some Religious Aspects of Islam: A Collection of Articles. Brill
Archive. (1981).
- Jasinski, Shawn M, Judge Holden and the Violence of Erasure: Blood Meridian’s
Historical Skepticism. In “On Violence,” Modern Horizon Journal, Canada (2011)
URL:
<http://www.modernhorizonsjournal.ca/Nov_2011%20-%20Jasinski.pdf>
- Morris, Leon, Redeemer, Redemption, 'The New Bible Dictionary'. Grand Rapids,
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (1962)
- Merk, Frederick . Manifest Destiny and Mission in American History. Harvard
University Press,Cambridge, Massachusetts (1963)
- Pratt, Julius. "The Origin Of 'Manifest Destiny'", American Historical Review (1927)
- Pierce, Leonard. Harold Bloom on Blood Meridian (2009) URL:
<http://www.avclub.com/article/harold-bloom-on-iblood-meridiani-29214>
- Slotkin, Richard . Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in the Twentieth
Century. Harper Perennial, New York (1993)
- Shaviro, Steven. A Reading of Blood Meridian: “The Very Life of Darkness” URL:
<http://www.robinsonschools.com/unit2/images/users/jcook/Shaviro.pdf>
9