Blood Meridian

Read from Tuesday, September 13th to Friday, September 16th.

Coming off of the violent student uprising in The Instructions, I took on Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, which many critics argue is his finest work.  I agree to an extent, but most of the book was very unsettling and disturbing, as it deals with an entirely different and almost incomprehensible level of violence.  In the familiar setting of the Border Trilogy, the action in this book takes place in 1849 and 1850.  Texas has become a state, and America just defeated Mexico, and savage Indians still roam the deserts of this region.  The scariest aspect of this book is that it is in fact meticulously researched and based on historical facts.

The story follows the unnamed Kid, a 14 year old Tennessean who runs away from home to Texas.  The narrative is in the third person, and we do not know the inner thoughts of the kid, and parts of the story do not follow him at all.  However, he is the main protagonist, and he gets in bar fights in various towns, until he is recruited by an ex-Captain for an expedition into Mexico to reclaim territory for the U.S.  That expedition, while traveling into Mexico, is attacked and brutally massacred by a band of Apache warriors.  The kid and few others survive, and he staggers around the desert until he is picked up and imprisoned by Mexican police (since he was part of an invading army).  In the prison, he befriends Toadvine, a fellow American, and Toadvine convinces the officials to release them because they are experienced Indian hunters.  The kid and Toadvine are released and join Captain Glanton's gang, who have been commissioned by the governor to hunt Apaches, and are paid based on the number of scalps they bring back.

Glanton is a brutal man, an ex-officer and outlaw from the U.S.  Also in the gang is the judge, Holden.  This incredibly interesting character eventually emerges as the antagonist, but not until the end.  The judge is a self-taught genius naturalist, and often described in mythical ways.  He is a giant, and hairless, and with an easy predilection for violence.  He is smart, and enjoys teaching the other riders about geology, astronomy and other subjects.  The gang follows the trail of the Indians across northern Mexico, and eventually slaughters an entire village in the night.  They collect dozens of scalps, and return as heroes to the city.  However, they soon wear out their welcome, by partying too hard and destroying things and hurting the townsfolk.  Back out on the trail, the gang has trouble finding Indians, so they kill peaceful Indians and even entire towns of Mexicans in order to increase their profit.  Of course, they become outlaws in Mexico, and the army is sent after them. 

While being hunted by both Indians and the Mexican army, Glanton's gang manages to make it across Mexico and into Arizona.  They brutally take over a ferry crossing on the Yuma River, and rob settlers trying to cross.  This operation lasts for a few months, until the local Yuma Indians surprise attack, and kill most of the gang.  The kid, Toadvine, the judge, and an ex-priest escape, but the judge turns on the kid, by trying to get the lone gun off him.  The kid is hunted by the judge all the way to San Diego, where the kid is imprisoned.  After confessing everything to the authorities, he is released.  Many decades pass, where the kid wanders around the American West, going from odd job to job, never able to shake the memory of the judge.  Finally, in 1878 in Texas, the kid runs into the judge in a saloon.  The judge claims that violence is everywhere, and it is what man was made to do.  The judge claims he can never die, since he is able to master violence, he is able to control the world.  The kid resists, but in the end the judge finds him in an outhouse.  It is unclear if the kid is murdered, only that other patrons gasp and are speechless when coming upon the outhouse.  The judge is finally seen dancing on the stage, claiming he can never die.

The ending is definitely open-ended for interpretation, (some suggest rape and then murder).  However, the one theme of violence is ever-present, to the point where it is mindless and dull.  It loses shock value, and the only point in the book where someone is astounded by an act of violence is the final scene in the outhouse.  It is also interesting to view the evolution of a gang of criminals.  At the onset, these guys were just hired soldiers, but the power they possessed allowed them to run wild and become greedy, finally becoming an (almost) unstoppable force of evil.  We do not get into the head of the kid, but we can see from his actions that he never initiates violence, only follows along with the others.  He is one of the only ones that shows any weakness or humanity, depending on your point of view.  Highly recommended, but not for the faint of heart.  I also heard a rumor that James Franco was interested in a movie adaptation, which sounds amazing.  Four and a half out of five stars.