Chapter 21

This chapter was good. Seemed like a transition chapter to me though.

Once again, the party, Tobin and the kid, moves on which is pretty much most of what they do in this chapter, just trying to find a safe location away from the judge. A quote on page 295 that I didn't understand, "The earth fell away on every side equally in arcature and by these limits were they circumscribed and of them were they locus." These are the various meanings of locus, but I still have no clue what McCarthy is getting at here. This probably isn't an important line, but I just took note of it.

Also as I read this chapter I had in the back of my mind the thought that maybe Tobin was actually evil and the judge was good or whatever. When Tobin kept telling the kid to leave him and go on, I initially thought that he was trying to be selfless, but then I thought maybe he's just trying to seem selfless, in an ever increasing deception towards the kid.

I noticed a pretty bad simile on page 296. "As if the wells were ringed about by some hazard lethal to creatures." This was about the dead animals surrounding the watering hole. I thought this was bad because McCarthy just describes this scene to a hazard lethal to creatures. Sure this intentional vagueness leads readers to form their own opinion of what hazard this is (I like to think it's because of the new Nah Money album that was released), but with an author that describes the most minuscule detail, I expected a more powerful simile. I know I can't say this, but I'm just sayin'.

I expected the kid not to have shot the judge when they were hiding. As the judge said, the kid isn't the assassin type. He would be suited to killing judge in a classic western draw, which hasn't happened in this book, nor will happen. Also, it would've been anticlimactic if the judge was shot like that and died. When the judge is calling to the kid to get him to show himself or whatever, he says a pretty cool line on page 299, "You alone reserved in your soul some corner of clemency for the heathen." This could literally mean mercy for Shelby, or it could be the figurative demon that the judge stands for, or the corruption of the old company. It was good to find out that judge didn't kill Toadvine and Brown, but it seems McCarthy alluded to their fate. The quote on 300, "They are in the fruits of their election." I think there's a saying that talks about fruit, and it has something to do with punishment. This line made me think of the quote, so maybe the judge actually took them to the authorities or something, but how could he if they were in the middle of nowhere and chased by Yumas?

The Dieguenos Indians seemed pretty cool. Nice to know there are still peaceful Indians that don't want their blood. The food they were brought seemed tasty. "Stew of lizards and pocketmice hot in clay bowls." Can't remember the last time I had a meal that sounded that good. I got to admit, I thought the kid was going to shoot that Indian who reached for his pistola. If it were any other character, that probably would've been the case. I think the kid has calmed down since the beginning of the story, or has a greater understanding of life.

I didn't know what a joshua tree was, so I got a picture of it to share. I gotta say, it's a pretty dumb idea to name a tree someone's name. I want to see a picture of a Steven bush.