I didn't get off work till 9:00 last night so I'm doing this now.
"sociedaed de guerra. Contra los barbaros." You are a society of war. You are against the barbarians (apache).
Interesting way to put that. The group of men are described as a society rather than just a group, and I normally associate society with a town or city, not a group of 15 or so men.
The bartender "passes his hand before his face twice and kissed the ends of his fingers and looked up." This sounds like a ritual against evil spirits and my assumption is strengthened later when we find out that he did this in response to the man being stabbed. The old man that is talking to them sounds crazy, or maybe he's just drunk. That seems more likely, but he starts ranting about the blood of Gomez and the blood of thousands of people.
The imagery of McCarthy is again exhibited in this chapter:
"The shadow of an eagle that had set forth from those high and craggy fastnesses crossed the line of riders below and they looked up to mark it where it rode in that brittle blue and faultless void."
and
"About that fire were men whose eyes gave back the light like coals socketed hot in their skulls and men whose eyes did no, but the black man's eyes stood as corridors for the ferrying through of naked and unrectified night from what of it lay behind to what was yet to come.
The second quote is especially good, comparing the eyes of the men to burning coals and the black's eyes sounds like some time machine, a connection of the past torments that White Johnson put Black Johnson through to the present. It is clear that Blackie is angry, and is ready to take advantage of the white's drunken stupor, but he does it in a way that he cannot be at fault by the other men. He baits white to insult him before he kills him. Cool....
What does "chucked up" mean? I know that in our society, it means to vomit, but I don't think that Glanton vomited a horse.... Does it mean that he just made the horse move?
Friday, April 16, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
When I think of Blog, the first word that comes to mind is Flog. Or smog. Either one.
Short chapter. Again I don't really know what happened. However, I can't wait to read the next chapter and I'll say why, a little bit yonder down this here blog.
"What have you got that a man could drink with just a minimum risk of blindness and death." This line really caught my attention. I'm pretty sure it's just for the sake of humor and might have been a common saying back in history times. Unfortunately, Mexican barman can't understand so the joke is a total bomb. I think we've all had this experience: Yeah man, this joke is great. I'm gonna nail 'em this time aaaannd they don't understand. Oh well. That's probably not relevant, but I thought it really brought the characters to life. Made them real.
The card game. Monte. Three Card Monte is the full name and it's not so much a game as it is just a con. It sounds like a bunch of gambling that I don't understand and apparently gullible people are cheated out of money (that's a new one). http://www.pagat.com/misc/monte.html
I guess it's no surprise some fellow was stabbed during the game.
Mexican guy. He's talking to the fellas and I didn't really catch the end where apparently his son was stabbed, but he says "The blood of a thousand Christs." He's talking about how much death there is in Mexico. I don't understand why it's the blood of Christs though. Isn't there only one Christ, or is Christs just short for Christians? And then after that line, the Mexican says "nothing." I don't get it.
Part two of the chapter. The first line. He introduces it so well, in a way I've never seen before (and the first paragraph is in present tense for some reason.) "In the predawn dark the sounds about describe the scene to come." There's something about that line. It's so elusive and works perfectly.
And finally the Jacksons have had enough. I thought Whitey would've just shot him without thinking twice. Did he not even think Blackie could just as easily kill him? He was drunk, yes. Then the "two thick ropes of dark blood," spew like some geyser and whatnot. It's great that the cigarette stays in his fingers. And the other guys don't care, they leave him there. I guess they knew it was bound to happen soon enough. Guys are dropping like flies out there anyway. Death is just an everyday thing out there. It's still hard for me to grasp. It makes me think, would the kid even care if Toadvine were to die? Maybe we'll find out. I guess the best thing to do out there is be selfish, that way nothing bothers you.
And the last line is what keeps the book going. "They had not gone forth one hour upon that plain before they were ridden upon by the Apaches." Everybody wants to turn the page. We're ready for more genitals and viscera! It's lines placed like that which let authors get away with uneventful chapters.
Blogs and Hogs. I'll specify, it's chapter 7 I'm doing here.
Another one of those chapters. The kind that make me ask what happened and why did it matter. Most of the chapter was just the fellas sitting around. And the kid is disposed of again, save for two or three lines. I don't get it... Are we going to leave the kid now? Has everything we've read thus far been nothing more than an exposition? Let's find out.
Um, the black and white Jacksons? Anybody know what they're about? I realize they are mentioned a few times more throughout the chapter, but why? It's seemingly pointless. Like, "Then there's them two Jackson boys again. Same name, one black, on white." And that's pretty much it. Throughout the chapter. But then, the very last paragraph. I had no idea what happened. It was that there black Jackson boy, but what was even happening? He was naked. Yeah, um and some flames or torches, but I don't know what was happening.
The judge. What's his deal, man? He's a big big dude, no hair, and he's got some fascination with touching people. At at least two points in the chapter, this big freak was hugging or intimately touching some guy. We were talking about the movie 300 the other day. This guy reminds me of Xerxes (however his terrorist name is spelled). Big seven-foot-tall hairless freak who massages random guys. And people revere his intelligence, or anything he says. Every time he breaks into a monologue, people just stare and smile and use the restroom in their breeches (they probably don't actually use the restroom in their breeches). Big paragraph on page 85. He says a lot of... I don't have a clue what he even says... Let's talk about that one in class.
Just a little thingamadoo (I don't know the AP term for thingamadoo). Toadvine befriends a fellow named Bathcat. It is said that they became friends because they are fellow disfigured fugitives. What I thought was funny was that Toadvine was staring at Bathcat's necklace of ears. Since Toadvine doesn't have ears, I guess it's kind of funny. He envies the ear necklace. Let me say that again. Ear necklace. And that's not even a weird thing! Everybody was Jeffrey Dahmer/Ed Gein back then. Oh, another similarity is that they both have awesome names.
Drizzlin shits. Ha x 500.
So a little bit about similes. I noticed two that seemed... ineffective and frankly kind of meaningless. They both can be found within a page of one another and they are: "like the ossature of small apes at their place of murder," and "like supplicants at the skirts of some wild and irate goddess." Both of these seem like he's just saying... stuff. The first basically says "Human bones look like ape bones." Maybe he's trying to say the Apaches were like apes? Perhaps. And the second? It's pretty much just saying stuff that sounds kind of scary. The desert is a mad goddess. Okay...
At the end of the chapter we witness a scalping. The scalp is referred to as "[a] dripping trophy." It's called a trophy, even though it came off a hapless lady who sat in the middle of a town. I guess a scalp is a scalp, regardless of from whom it came, or how it was obtained. Money is money, that's all that matters.
Chapter 8
This chapter was pretty quick, and also slow, but it did go into detail of some of the characters.
Again, McCarthy refers to most of these new characters as the man or some generic noun. But the old man that walks to Toadvine and the others at the cantina is interesting. He seems like the guy that has done all this before and provides advice for the newcomers. He also seems like he's made a mistake or lost someone important, because he has a drunken and depressing feeling about him. He knows a little too much, and goes crazy a little bit, while another man was moaning off in the corner. A cool quote is where he's saying on page 102, "This Mexico. This is a thirsty country. The blood of a thousand Christs. Nothing." I think this means that no matter how many people die in Mexico, over all the different religions, doesn't mean anthing because Mexico is still thirsty for blood and the people that died are seem like nothing. It's weird that the guy in the corner is just moaning for being knifed, and he doesn't even go to the doctor, or the 1849 equivalent to one. It just goes to show how bad Mexico was, that a man would rather just remain in the place where they just got knifed.
Pretty weird that the veteran just took off like he did. I thought he'd at least let the kid know, but it wasn't surprising he left.
I thought the confrontation between Black Jackson and White Jackson was just awesome. I liked the thing that White Jack told Black Jack on page 106, "Here beyond men's judgements all covenants were brittle." A covenant pretty much an agreement to do or not do something specified. (dictionary.com) So it just means that if Black Jackson comes near him, their agreement will be over, and White Jackson will kill him. Look how that turned out. "Two thick ropes of dark blood and two slender rose like snakes from the stump of his neck and arched hissing into the fire." This is an amazing simile describing the fountainesque appearance of White Jackson's decapitated body. I suppose this could also be an example of personification since blood can't hiss. Even better, "The neck bubbled gently like a stew." I gotta say, McCarthy sure wants people to see this headless man, and even lose their lunch over it.
Again, McCarthy refers to most of these new characters as the man or some generic noun. But the old man that walks to Toadvine and the others at the cantina is interesting. He seems like the guy that has done all this before and provides advice for the newcomers. He also seems like he's made a mistake or lost someone important, because he has a drunken and depressing feeling about him. He knows a little too much, and goes crazy a little bit, while another man was moaning off in the corner. A cool quote is where he's saying on page 102, "This Mexico. This is a thirsty country. The blood of a thousand Christs. Nothing." I think this means that no matter how many people die in Mexico, over all the different religions, doesn't mean anthing because Mexico is still thirsty for blood and the people that died are seem like nothing. It's weird that the guy in the corner is just moaning for being knifed, and he doesn't even go to the doctor, or the 1849 equivalent to one. It just goes to show how bad Mexico was, that a man would rather just remain in the place where they just got knifed.
Pretty weird that the veteran just took off like he did. I thought he'd at least let the kid know, but it wasn't surprising he left.
I thought the confrontation between Black Jackson and White Jackson was just awesome. I liked the thing that White Jack told Black Jack on page 106, "Here beyond men's judgements all covenants were brittle." A covenant pretty much an agreement to do or not do something specified. (dictionary.com) So it just means that if Black Jackson comes near him, their agreement will be over, and White Jackson will kill him. Look how that turned out. "Two thick ropes of dark blood and two slender rose like snakes from the stump of his neck and arched hissing into the fire." This is an amazing simile describing the fountainesque appearance of White Jackson's decapitated body. I suppose this could also be an example of personification since blood can't hiss. Even better, "The neck bubbled gently like a stew." I gotta say, McCarthy sure wants people to see this headless man, and even lose their lunch over it.
Blood Meridian Chapter 8
In this chapter, we learn a little more about the men in the group. Also, there is some interesting foreshadowing done in this chapter, especially by the Mexican bartender. McCarthy again provides several wonderful and descriptive similies and metaphors.
The bartender is a very interesting character. He is totally insane, yet he provides the group of men with warnings and stories, much like the Mennonite from chapter 3. One of his best lines is on page 102, where he says, "Blood. This country is give much blood. This Mexico. This is a thirsty country. The blood of a thousand Christs. Nothing." I think that this means that Mexico was a dangerous and ruthless country back in the 1800's where killings and maimings were ordinary (hence the blood). In order to live in Mexico and thrive, you must be able to fend for yourself, however, no significant amount of death or blood could ever change Mexico into something different. McCarthy includes this Mexican character to show a different type of intelligence; an intelligence that comes with living a very hard and challenging life. I also like Toadvine's response to the bartender. Toadvine says, "I pray to God for this country. I say that to you. I pray. I dont go in the church. What i need to talk to them dolls there? I talk here." This shows how Toadvine really enjoys the hard and murderous life as opposed to the safe and simple. It still surprises me that Toadvine prays. This is McCarthy's way of showing how religion can be misused in some ways.
There are several similies and metaphors used in this chapter. Two very good ones are on page 105. The first one states, "The sun to the west lay in a holocaust..." This one confused me a little. I think that McCarthy is refering to a nuclear type of holocaust in reference to the brightness and intensity of the setting sun. The other one says, "...glazed bed of a dry lake lay shimmering like the mare imbrium and herds of deer..." In this sentence, mare imbrium means: a dark plain in the second quadrant of the face of the moon (dictionary.com). Here is McCarthy's eye for detail at its finest. Not only is the lake very hazy and shimmery, it resembles the second quadrant of the face of the moon.
The part where white Jackson gets beheaded by black Jackson was pretty funny to me. First of all, the argument starts off about where the black Jackson could sit. This reminded me of the whole Rosa Parks scenario. But the funniest part is the visual of black Jackson coming out of the dark with two bowie knives and cuts white Jackson's head clean off. The longest bowie knife I found had a blade of 24 inches (wikipedia.org). That's the size of a small sword! Now I could see how someone could cut another person's head off using just two knives. McCarthy includes the beheading detail to show the anger that existed between two of the group members. An anger so powerful, it drove a man to behead another must have been locked inside for a very long time. Black Jackson was probably waiting for the perfect time to attack his foe.
One more thing I noticed was that McCarthy includes a detail as the last sentence in the chapter to give an idea what is going to happen next. This is pretty unusual because he has not done this yet in the book. Sure it adds to the anticipation of the next chapter but I would have expected McCarthy to have the Apaches just pop out of nowhere instead of giving the reader a heads up.
The bartender is a very interesting character. He is totally insane, yet he provides the group of men with warnings and stories, much like the Mennonite from chapter 3. One of his best lines is on page 102, where he says, "Blood. This country is give much blood. This Mexico. This is a thirsty country. The blood of a thousand Christs. Nothing." I think that this means that Mexico was a dangerous and ruthless country back in the 1800's where killings and maimings were ordinary (hence the blood). In order to live in Mexico and thrive, you must be able to fend for yourself, however, no significant amount of death or blood could ever change Mexico into something different. McCarthy includes this Mexican character to show a different type of intelligence; an intelligence that comes with living a very hard and challenging life. I also like Toadvine's response to the bartender. Toadvine says, "I pray to God for this country. I say that to you. I pray. I dont go in the church. What i need to talk to them dolls there? I talk here." This shows how Toadvine really enjoys the hard and murderous life as opposed to the safe and simple. It still surprises me that Toadvine prays. This is McCarthy's way of showing how religion can be misused in some ways.
There are several similies and metaphors used in this chapter. Two very good ones are on page 105. The first one states, "The sun to the west lay in a holocaust..." This one confused me a little. I think that McCarthy is refering to a nuclear type of holocaust in reference to the brightness and intensity of the setting sun. The other one says, "...glazed bed of a dry lake lay shimmering like the mare imbrium and herds of deer..." In this sentence, mare imbrium means: a dark plain in the second quadrant of the face of the moon (dictionary.com). Here is McCarthy's eye for detail at its finest. Not only is the lake very hazy and shimmery, it resembles the second quadrant of the face of the moon.
The part where white Jackson gets beheaded by black Jackson was pretty funny to me. First of all, the argument starts off about where the black Jackson could sit. This reminded me of the whole Rosa Parks scenario. But the funniest part is the visual of black Jackson coming out of the dark with two bowie knives and cuts white Jackson's head clean off. The longest bowie knife I found had a blade of 24 inches (wikipedia.org). That's the size of a small sword! Now I could see how someone could cut another person's head off using just two knives. McCarthy includes the beheading detail to show the anger that existed between two of the group members. An anger so powerful, it drove a man to behead another must have been locked inside for a very long time. Black Jackson was probably waiting for the perfect time to attack his foe.
One more thing I noticed was that McCarthy includes a detail as the last sentence in the chapter to give an idea what is going to happen next. This is pretty unusual because he has not done this yet in the book. Sure it adds to the anticipation of the next chapter but I would have expected McCarthy to have the Apaches just pop out of nowhere instead of giving the reader a heads up.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Chapter 7
I don't know about anyone else, but I thought this chapter was slow and confusing. All these 5 dollar words and insanely long sentences distract me from the story. But that's just my opinion. On to the analysis.
I thought the part of Glanton playing with his new Colt revolver was pretty cool. It's taking a stereotypical thing from a western, the awesome revolvers, and turning it into something twisted when Glanton just shoots anything that moves. I'm actually surprised he didn't just shoot that Speyer guy, because for a second there I thought he would've. The quote, "the explosion in the dead silence was enormous. The cat simply disappeared." just shows how powerful those guns are, and the fact that it uses a rifle's charge is pretty amazing.
I thought it was pretty interesting when the authorities came after Glanton shot up the place, that the judge was convincing them to let them go I suppose. I don't understand most of that part, but I think that is what happens. Reading that part makes me think that the judge and Glanton are doing a Good Cop, Bad Cop thing here.
I didn't understand the part at page 84 where it says, "He adduced for their consideration references to the children of Ham, the lost tribes of Israelites, certain passages from the Greek poets, anthropological speculations as to the propagation of the races..." I'm going to take a guess and say the judge uses language or philosophy from these various cultures to persuade the authorities, but I'm not positive.
A good simile I found was on page 86, " the sun whitehot and the moon a pale replica, as if they were the ends of a common bore beyond whose terminals burned worlds past all reckoning." I think this means that the sun and moon were exactly opposite each other, that it seemed like something could intersect the planet through the two.
The part where Toadvine befriended Bathcat was pretty cool, but what kind of nickname is Bathcat. Seriously? I want to know how these people get their nicknames. Toadvine? Bathcat? Why don't you add Nighthawk and Keymaster to the list and call it a day. But anyways, I thought it was interesting that these two people were betting on which Jackson would kill which. It seems that these Jackson characters don't really mean much to anybody in this company, which is explainable because everyone is out here for some scalps. It's not really day camp.
I have no idea what the Vandiemenland is so I looked it up. Here is where you can find it. Yeah, it's wikipedia, but it looks pretty reasonable so im going with it. Really it's just a fancy way of saying you're from the island of Tazmania off the Southern coast of Australia.
I thought the part of Glanton playing with his new Colt revolver was pretty cool. It's taking a stereotypical thing from a western, the awesome revolvers, and turning it into something twisted when Glanton just shoots anything that moves. I'm actually surprised he didn't just shoot that Speyer guy, because for a second there I thought he would've. The quote, "the explosion in the dead silence was enormous. The cat simply disappeared." just shows how powerful those guns are, and the fact that it uses a rifle's charge is pretty amazing.
I thought it was pretty interesting when the authorities came after Glanton shot up the place, that the judge was convincing them to let them go I suppose. I don't understand most of that part, but I think that is what happens. Reading that part makes me think that the judge and Glanton are doing a Good Cop, Bad Cop thing here.
I didn't understand the part at page 84 where it says, "He adduced for their consideration references to the children of Ham, the lost tribes of Israelites, certain passages from the Greek poets, anthropological speculations as to the propagation of the races..." I'm going to take a guess and say the judge uses language or philosophy from these various cultures to persuade the authorities, but I'm not positive.
A good simile I found was on page 86, " the sun whitehot and the moon a pale replica, as if they were the ends of a common bore beyond whose terminals burned worlds past all reckoning." I think this means that the sun and moon were exactly opposite each other, that it seemed like something could intersect the planet through the two.
The part where Toadvine befriended Bathcat was pretty cool, but what kind of nickname is Bathcat. Seriously? I want to know how these people get their nicknames. Toadvine? Bathcat? Why don't you add Nighthawk and Keymaster to the list and call it a day. But anyways, I thought it was interesting that these two people were betting on which Jackson would kill which. It seems that these Jackson characters don't really mean much to anybody in this company, which is explainable because everyone is out here for some scalps. It's not really day camp.
I have no idea what the Vandiemenland is so I looked it up. Here is where you can find it. Yeah, it's wikipedia, but it looks pretty reasonable so im going with it. Really it's just a fancy way of saying you're from the island of Tazmania off the Southern coast of Australia.
Blood Meridian Chapter 7
This chapter was pretty confusing to me, probably because of the multiple speakers. McCarthy probably included all of these characters to show the different ideas and opinions within the group of Indian killers. Although all of the hunters are chasing the same objective, they have very different views of eachother and of the people they encounter. It seems like Glanton is the short-tempered killer of the bunch while the Judge is the intellectual and the black Jackson is the universally hated and watched person.
I thought that black Jackson's expression after being talked to by the Judge (page 85) was pretty funny. McCarthy writes, "The black was sweating. A dark vein in his temple pulsed like a fuse." McCarthy adds this detail to show how strange and uncomfortable it was to have such a complicated and intellectual conversation in the 1800's, especially in the west. One of the things about education in the 1800's was the fact that most teachers were not trained or certified (123helpme.com). Another thing was that most people didn't make it past elementary school because they either didn't have the money to support them or because they had to work in order to live (ex. on a farm or to help support the family). A suprising thing I noticed was that Glanton was the leader instead of the Judge. This is shown on page 95 when the men are sitting around the fire getting their fortune's told. The Judge tells the gypsy to tell the fortune of "el jefe" (the boss, spanish-english dictionary) or Glanton. I thought that the Judge would have been the leader because of his size and intelligence however I have an idea why he chooses not to be. The Judge probably doesn't want to be the leader because he doesn't want to deal with the responsibility of punishment in case the posse gets caught. Also, I think that Glanton shot up the Mexican town in order to place fear into the population of the town, and with fear comes respect.
McCarthy creates the ulitmate duo when he shows that Glanton and the Judge are friends. They have totally different attitudes and egos (remember the Id and the Superego) which allows them to be stable. An example of this is on page 96 when Glanton is getting his fortune told. At this point, Glanton tries to kill the fortune teller yet the Judge stops him my hugging him (awww). This shows that Glanton's Id is balanced out by the Judge's ego or superego and vice-versa.
There is a lot of figurative languange and descriptions used in this chapter. One detail I noticed was that McCarthy focuses on comparing things to the parts of a gun, especially the bore. This is probably used to increase the intensity of he characters in the posse by comparing them to something they all have, a gun (and big ones also). Some good similies were on page 87 and on page 91. On page 87, McCarthy writes, "The necklace of human ears he wore looked like a string of dried black figs." I thought this was funny because Toadvine is wearing this necklace and he doesn't have ears. McCarthy uses this to show how Toadvine and the kid are evolving to the ways of the posse and their barbarian looks. On the other page, McCarthy writes, "...snapping cloth were towed mutely from sight beyond the reach of the firelight and into the howling desert like supplicants at the skirts of some wild and irate goddess." In this simile, McCarthy shows how amazed the men are about the strange actions of the gypsys.
This chapter was pretty cool because we got to learn more about the group of Indian scalpers. A few things that I thought were interesting were when Glanton shot the old woman in the head and the fact that they scalped her afterwards. I'm not really sure why Glanton shot the woman because she didn't really do anything to anger him. Maybe it was his Id talking instead of his actual ego.
I thought that black Jackson's expression after being talked to by the Judge (page 85) was pretty funny. McCarthy writes, "The black was sweating. A dark vein in his temple pulsed like a fuse." McCarthy adds this detail to show how strange and uncomfortable it was to have such a complicated and intellectual conversation in the 1800's, especially in the west. One of the things about education in the 1800's was the fact that most teachers were not trained or certified (123helpme.com). Another thing was that most people didn't make it past elementary school because they either didn't have the money to support them or because they had to work in order to live (ex. on a farm or to help support the family). A suprising thing I noticed was that Glanton was the leader instead of the Judge. This is shown on page 95 when the men are sitting around the fire getting their fortune's told. The Judge tells the gypsy to tell the fortune of "el jefe" (the boss, spanish-english dictionary) or Glanton. I thought that the Judge would have been the leader because of his size and intelligence however I have an idea why he chooses not to be. The Judge probably doesn't want to be the leader because he doesn't want to deal with the responsibility of punishment in case the posse gets caught. Also, I think that Glanton shot up the Mexican town in order to place fear into the population of the town, and with fear comes respect.
McCarthy creates the ulitmate duo when he shows that Glanton and the Judge are friends. They have totally different attitudes and egos (remember the Id and the Superego) which allows them to be stable. An example of this is on page 96 when Glanton is getting his fortune told. At this point, Glanton tries to kill the fortune teller yet the Judge stops him my hugging him (awww). This shows that Glanton's Id is balanced out by the Judge's ego or superego and vice-versa.
There is a lot of figurative languange and descriptions used in this chapter. One detail I noticed was that McCarthy focuses on comparing things to the parts of a gun, especially the bore. This is probably used to increase the intensity of he characters in the posse by comparing them to something they all have, a gun (and big ones also). Some good similies were on page 87 and on page 91. On page 87, McCarthy writes, "The necklace of human ears he wore looked like a string of dried black figs." I thought this was funny because Toadvine is wearing this necklace and he doesn't have ears. McCarthy uses this to show how Toadvine and the kid are evolving to the ways of the posse and their barbarian looks. On the other page, McCarthy writes, "...snapping cloth were towed mutely from sight beyond the reach of the firelight and into the howling desert like supplicants at the skirts of some wild and irate goddess." In this simile, McCarthy shows how amazed the men are about the strange actions of the gypsys.
This chapter was pretty cool because we got to learn more about the group of Indian scalpers. A few things that I thought were interesting were when Glanton shot the old woman in the head and the fact that they scalped her afterwards. I'm not really sure why Glanton shot the woman because she didn't really do anything to anger him. Maybe it was his Id talking instead of his actual ego.
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