Chapter 22

Good chapter overall. Major time skip mid chapter, and no little scene break bar to show it either.

It was interesting that the judge got the kid arrested at the beginning of the chapter and said he was going to get hanged, but I think this was just to scare him, since he was later released. I liked the way he sold the kid out, but was completely correct in his reasoning. Once again, the judge's insanity is beaten only by his reasoning. I did think it was pretty strange that the judge broke out into a lecture when he was talking to the kid though. page 306, "Dont you know that I'd have love you like a son?" I thought this was surprising, and I don't know if judge meant it, or if it was just a part of his overall scheme. Also on 307, the judge says, "Let me touch you." I don't think I even need to say just how creepy this is. When I read the whole section on the judge and kid talk, I got from it that the judge was disappointed in the kid, that maybe he did think of the kid as a son in his own way. Page 307, "If war is not holy man is nothing but antic clay." I thought this quote is awesome, definitely the top 5 for judge.

The surgeon scene was pretty cool. It's about time he got the arrow shaft removed. I thought it'd have been infected by now though. Especially since he really didn't have the time to clean the wound, or scab at this point. I looked fistula, but i still don't understand it in the sentence "A soft fisula had formed around it", page 308.

The dream / hallucination the kid had while recovering from ether confused me a little. From what I got out of it, judge was there and so was a strange man that made coinage. Also in this little section, it's noted that the kid is now 16 , so he's one year older now? Page 310, "his leg was like an evil visitant in the bed with him such was the pain."

The fate of Toadvine and Brown is found out in this chapter. They were hung. Page 311, "the hanged men at their rope-ends looked like effigies for to frighten birds." I got from this that they looked like scarecrows. It was pretty depressing that they died, but I saw it coming. The hanging is anticlimatical I think.

On the last paragraph of 311, I got from it that the kid might have got robbed because it said that someone took his shoes. Unless this was figurative, the kid has become soft.

I thought it was weird that the book skipped time to when the kid is now 28. Pretty cool that he just spent 12 years riding around. Thought it pretty messed up that the pilgrims he was supposed to lead and the strange funeral procession was all massacred, and he didn't even find the people who did it. Also, what was up with the old lady dead for years? I know that it wasn't literal because a woman can't be dead standing up for years like that in the desert. I wonder what this signifies.