Blood Meridian Chapter 22

First of all, you've probably noticed that I'm not at school. Therefore, I grant Jim Dandy (a.k.a Doctor Sleuth) and the rest of the AP English crowd (even Pedanticus if he wishes) the option to say anything about my blog and make fun of me as much as they want (just as long as you do it randomly and with a burning passion). You were probably going to do this anyway, but now at least I'll know.

Now to the blog. This chapter was very depressing and confusing. Maybe it was the lapse in time that confused me, but I'm not sure. Also, everyone dies! No one else is alive except for the Judge and the Kid.

Brown and Toadvine died in the worst way possible. They were executed and "(hung) at their rope-ends (looking) like effigies for to frighten birds (McCarthy 311)." Talk about anti-climactic! The execution literally spanned one sentence. I was expecting some huge fight to the death involving some sort of law (like the soldiers or the police). But instead, they are just hung. For the simile, I think McCarthy is likening the bodies to scarecrows which is a pretty cool comparison. Probably the whole scary view of scarecrows, like Friday the 13th or one of those scary movies.

Also, we see a change in heart of the Judge. He no longer wants to kill the kid, but he admires and adores him (weird). On page 307, the Judge says, "Come here. Let me touch you." He says this when he is trying to convince the Kid to listen to him and believe him but the Kid just stays against the wall. I have to say this and the surgery scene don't help the Judge's pedophile image. When the Judge takes his jacket off, he shows a Derringer pistol. Here is a picture (I used to use this little gun when I was a prostitute!) . Another great quote is on the same page, "What joins men together is not the sharing of bread but the sharing of enemies." This reminds me of the whole "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" quote. Actually, there's a pretty funny Muppet clip that shows this. Click here. Ha! Yup that really shows what I'm trying to say.

Now the Kid finally goes off by himself. He has the wisdom and knowledge of the murderous group of scalp-hunters to back him along the way so he should be fine. The part about the strange cult was very disturbing. The whole cross carrying and trail of blood would be very strange. A good simile is on page 314, "(the cult) disappeared in the coming darkness like heralds of some unspeakable calamity leaving only bloody footprints on the stone." Heralds are usually considered monarchs or messengers (dictionary.com) so is the cult some sort of messenger of death and destruction? There still may be some foreshadowing in this chapter, even though it's the second to last one. The dead woman was the best part. She is a symbol that shows how sin and chaos can reduce people to mere shells and how the murderous and inhospitable regions of the west are dangerous enough to harbor mummies. Also, the fact that the Kid spills his entire life's story out to a dead and decaying corpse is pretty interesting. Maybe McCarthy is trying to show that the only people that can sympathize with the Kid are the dead. Here is a cool website about Native American mummies.

Now for some words...

Kimono (pg 312)- a loose, wide-sleeved robe, fastened at the waist with a wide sash (dictionary.com) I think this is like one of the Geisha robes.

hackamore (pg 314)- a simple looped bridle, by means of which controlling pressure is exerted on the nose of a horse, used chiefly in breaking colts (dictionary.com)