Blood Meridian Chapter 1

First of all, this chapter was pretty confusing. Although McCarthy is trying to make things mysterious and western-like by listing every detail, it gets very annoying after a couple of pages. William Faulkner, another country style writer, also uses this method of simple yet confusing writing in his book "As I Lay Dying." However, Faulkner doesn't even come close to the graphic and intense scenes depicted by McCarthy. The fight scene and the eye poking outage seem to set the stage for the rest of the book.

One of the other things McCarthy does in chapter one is that he displays his characters. The "kid" seems to be the main character although we learn very little about his life besides the fact that he likes to fight and that he moves around a lot (from Saint Lous to New Orleans to Galveston). The two other main characters, The Judge, and Toadvine, seem to be McCarthy's idea of the typical western "bad guy." The Judge is more of a jerk than a hostile killing machine like Toadvine, although this may change throughout the book. On page eight, The Judge says, "I never laid eyes on the man before today. Never even heard of him." The Judge says this after accusing the preecher-man of "having congress" with an eleven year old girl and a goat. McCarthy writes this segment to show the lawlessness of the Wild West in the 1800's. Also, McCarthy uses interesting and effective dialogue for his characters, keeping in mind that this book is set in the west.

On another note, this would make a very confusing yet interesting movie. However, not enough explosions for a Michael Bay movie. If this is chapter one, then it must have an epic ending...