The two Jackson men remind me of middle school boys bickering but with a level of "maturity" and understanding of men.
Who is this Mr. Riddle?
The encounter with the police sergeant and the judge impressed upon me the intelligence of the judge. First, he is fluent in Spanish, unlike any of the other men in their group.He speaks with the sergeant and no understands what he is saying, in particular, black Johnson. I looked up some of the things he said. He told him that the gun shots were "Negocios del Gobernador": Governor's business. Second, he was able to "sweet talk" the sergeant into making him feel important and leaving them alone. He speaks for a long time, "sketched for the sergeant a prblematic career of the man before them." This quote referring to Glanton after he spit at the sergeant and insulted him. He not only spoke for a long time, but also eloquently, quoting "greek poets" and other such edutational subjects that didn't really seem to have any bearing on the subject of Glanton's insulting manner. At the end of the introductions, the judge said this to blackie about what he was telling the sergeant:
"Words are things. The words he is in possession of, he cannot be deprived of. Their authority transcends his ignorance of their meaning."
In this, the judge explains that the sergeant feels privileged to be in "possession of," special information as well as feeling superior to be spoken to as if he understood all that the judge had told him. As such, the sergeant will be more lenient to them because he was flattered by the judge, and, indirectly, the judges group.
This quote caught my interest:
"...they were set forth in that company in the place of the three men slain in the desert."
The keyword that captures my attention is "slain". Why not killed instead? McCarthy's word choice makes me think that the men they are replacing were caught and shot personally and intentionally by the "enemy." I imagine the three of them lined up on their knees and shot in the back of the head rather than shot in the heat of battle.
In the next paragraph, I found an illustration that is now my favorite in the book:
"...the sun, when it rose, caught the moon in the west so that they lay opposed to each other across the earth, the sun whitehot and the moon a pale replica, as if they were the ends of a common bore beyond whose terminals burned worlds past all reckoning.
Wow... First of all, I can just imagine the sun and the moon at sunrise facing each other like this, creating this great imaginary cylinder across the surface of the earth. Then the last 8 words: "...beyond whose terminals burned worlds past all reckoning." What would that look like? The sun is like this round disc that's like a portal showing you this burning world that is unimaginable. Such imagery McCarthy uses here!
When again speaking to blackie, this time about his fortune that he doesn't understand, the judge says, "All will be known to you at last. To you as to every man." This is very ominous, and I think that he's referring to how one will die. The fact that they won't even tell him suggests to me that blackie's death won't be a pleasant one.
The meaning of siesta is a midday or afternoon nap.
Azoteas- roof
Campesinos- peasant or farmer
pirouette- dancing or spinning on one foot or on points of toes like in ballet
Sable- dark colored or black
joven- young one
jefe- cheif
carroza- float
La vi sin ruedas sobre un rio obscuro.- I saw no wheels on a dark river
perdida- lost
malabarista- juggler
un maleficio- a curse
Que viento tan maleante...- that wind so (thug, corrupt, or maurader)
maelstrom- large, violent, or powerful whirlpool
apposite- suitable, well adapted
abrogate- to put an end to
presidio- garrisoned fort or military outpost
dolmens- a tomb
paps- nipples, teats
aubergines- eggplants
pase- pass
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Several members of the company speak Spanish, not just the Judge. Also, the "problematic career" quote refers to Black Jackson, not Glanton. The Judge was explaining to the sergeant why black people look different (the implication being that the Mexicans in that village had never seen blacks before).
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