Chapter 10

This chapter was pretty good. God a good battle / massacre in here, even if it was a flashback.

I think that it's interesting that the ex priest Tobin is still highly religious, even though he's a criminal and a murderer. I think it's contradictory in a sense. I liked his quote on page 123, "I don't doubt but what he'd be the first to admit and you put the query to him boldface." I don't understand the last part though.I thought it was a little bit creepy when Tobin kept bragging about the judge. The way he kept just naming all the things the judge excels at made me think Tobin was obsessed with the judge. Tobin has some more good religious quotes. "The voice of the Almighty speaks most profoundly in such beings as lives in silence themselves." From what I got out of it, this means that, in a literal sense people who live in solitude are closer to God.

The way that Glanton's army met the judge was pretty awesome. The way he was just sitting on that rock in the middle of the desert, like he was waiting for them. Though, it made me think that the judge may have been following them or something. His inscription on his rifle, "Et In Arcadia Ego," translates to Even In Arcadia I Exist. Arcadia refers to a harmony with naute. I looked this up and it's interpreted as Memento Mori as well. Memento Mori is translated to Remember You Will Die.

I thought it was weird that Tobin mentions the judge would go off into the mountains, make notes in his little book, and then later on would put leaves in the book. This is probably a common hobby during this time, but if the judge is so interested in this, then how come McCarthy hasn't showd the judge do any of this during the time the kid has been around him? Did he all of a sudden stop? Or did he just get bored with it?

The deserters they mentioned got a not so cool fate, but hey it shows you not to desert when Apaches are chasing you. So I think those deserters were pretty stupid.

I didn't understand the quote on page 128, "And by my own warrant, for I added up the counters on the bar with my own and somber eyes at a stockscale in Chihuahua City in that same month and year." Is Tobin talking about how much the judge weighs? Because, once again it's kinda creepy that Tobin just knows the judge's weight out of nowhere.

Also, what's with the quote on page 129, "I would never shoot a wolf and I know other men of the same sentiments." Tobin doesn't explain why he wouldn't shoot a wolf. I don't know if this is an obvious statement, but I don't know what makes a wolf so special that one wouldn't shoot it.

The part where they go to the volcano was interesting and later very disgusting. Once again, you see Tobin saying some religious mumbo jumbo, "...there has been sinners so notorious evil that the fires coughed em up again..." That is a descriptive sight, just to see zombies crawling out of the lava because they were too evil for Hell. The urinating into the mixture part was extremely disgusting, especially since the judge was going crazy when everyone started it. I seriously think the judge is mentally insane, though at least he can make some potent gunpowder.

The massacre of the Apaches was well deserved. I loved the quote on page 134, "They just slid down the slope like chaff down a hopper." The scenes like this would be great if they made this book into a movie. To just see 58 indians being slaughtered at the foot of a volcano. Epic.