April 27, 2010 Blog Chapter 14

First, lots of simile and metaphor, as has been said, in this chapter, especially the first two pages. My favorite in this chapter was "...in the long red sunset the sheets of water on the plain below them lay like tidepools of primal blood." At this point, they hadn't killed anything for several days, but they still have the reminder of blood in that deserted plain.

A Devonian dawn is "Geology. noting or pertaining to a period of the Paleozoic Era, 405 to 345 million years ago, characterized by the dominance of fishes and the advent of amphibians and ammonites."

The violinist in the small mountain town impressed me. He started playing a song that "was old among the mountebanks of Spain two hundred years before." How secluded this town must be to still hold on to such old pieces to learn from and more so, not to have more contemporary music to play.

That priest.... geez.... "When he rose he disdained to take up the coins until some small boys ran out to gather them and then he ordered them brought to him..." Too proud to pick them up yourself, but if someone else decides to take them, all composure leaves and you demand them be given to you?

The judge is a sick man... "He filled his pockets with little candy deaths heads and he sat by the door and offered these to children passing on the walk under the eaves but they shied away like little horses." One of the first rules children learn these days is to not talk to or take anything from strangers. Then, a short way down the page, McCarthy tells us a little girl goes missing...

Even delusional, Glanton is a jerk... dragging the honor of the mexican people through the streets on the tail of a mule. What a slap in the face to those people. I wonder why, whoever it was, shot the donkey and not Glanton, either way, the people in the immediate vicinity were most likely killed. Two were killed, so, they're down to 16 now I believe...
What's going on with the quicksilver donkeys? Is mercury explosive? I assume they killed the donkeys handlers just because, although they were American.

Judge is one tall man... He was almost eye level with Carroll, who was on a horse. If Carroll is about average height, and the horse's back is about 5', that would put judge at about 7 or 8 feet?!
geez...

So they come back with black Johnson, who is naked? What is up with that? humiliation or was he caught in the middle of something? sleeping?

Judge says, "Whatever in creation exists without my knowledge, exists without my consent." Conceited much? This further shows judge's philosophy on life. Later he elaborates more, saying if you believe that you can't discover everything the world is hiding, "the rain will erode the deeds of his life." But if you try to discover everything you will be able to decide your own fate.

Finally, in Sonora, where they were trying to avoid for fear of attack, they are welcomed and celebrated. Judge, as would be expected, is treated highest of all and is followed around by a string band. The morning after they arrived, McCarthy creates this image of Judge and Glanton in suits outside the whorehouse wearing white and black suits respectively. Following with Western archetype, this would suggest that Glanton is the evil antagonizer and Judge is the "good guy." But, after reading the previous chapters, I think this is just a mocking of that archetype. Glanton fits, but Judge is far from a good guy, however, he isn't necessarily all bad. He rapes kids, he kills, etc, but, in his mind, he is justified...somehow...