April 20, 2010 Blog Chapter 10

Not really much to say about this chapter. The priest doesn't seem very bright in my opinion and the Judge is further exemplified of his intelligence. I thought it was funny that the priest, at the end, told the kid not to talk about what the judge is a judge of because he hears well. It makes me think that he wanted the judge to hear him, but for reasons I can't figure out. Perhaps to gain favor with him, or perhaps in the hope that the judge will choose to explain it to him.

Tobin said that every man in the company claims to have encountered the judge, "sooty souled rascal." Did the kid actually see him? I assume so since the book is written in 3rd person omniscient so... but the judge remains a very interesting character.

the judge's gun is named Et In Arcadia Ego. This means "I, also, am in Arcadia." This quote is most know from two paintings by Nicolas Poussin and is also associated with the Priory of Sion per Dan Brown in Holy Blood, Holy Grail and The DaVinci Code. In this context, Arcadia is an ideal, Utopian society in which the people are one with nature, similar to the Garden of Eden without the religious connotation. I found this on a website about the painting by Poussin:

Et In Arcadia Ego may translate several ways, such as: 'I, too, was born [or lived] in Arcady'; or, 'Even in Arcady, there I am'. After much deliberation, Erwin Panofsky (Meaning in the Visual Arts, Doubleday Anchor Books, New York, 1955) concluded that it is not the ghost of the shepherd that declaims to us from the depths of the rustic sarcophagus, but Death itself. Indeed, there is Death -- even in Arcadia.

The judge seemed to know that the company was coming down the river and was expecting them the day they met. It says, "...as if everything had turned out just as he planned..." I wonder, if he did plan their meeting, what his purpose was. Does Glanton have something he wants?

Malpais- an extensive area of rough, barren lava flows.

Chancre- the initial lesion of syphilis and certain other infectious diseases, commonly a more or less distinct ulcer or sore with a hard base

Alpenstock- a strong staff with an iron point, used by mountain climbers.

parley- discussion



The "queer powder" judge makes really impresses me. He made it from nitre, sulfur from the brimstone, and charcoal. Nitre is potassium nitrate. The nitre was collected from the cave where the bats dropped their feces, this was called saltpetre earlier in the chapter. It is used in gunpowder commercially. The charcoal judge made from the oven he made in the cave.