The relationship between Tobin, Toadvine and the Kid was honestly just really well written. Everytime the Kid and Tobin are written in the same scene was just pure gold.

This is something I’ve been thinking about here lately and it’s about the kid and his lack of an actual name, I think he isn’t just merely an unnamed character in the story but was deliberately left nameless by his father. It’s established that his father was a learned man yet he never taught his son how to read or write and it’s not so much that he hated his son as it is he just never cared for him in the slightest bit. So given that, why would he even bother naming “the creature” who caused the death of his wife. This notion of a father who holds complete indifference to his offspring is often reflected in the silence and disappearance of God throughout the book and it adds another layer to the effect a loveless, careless father can have on a child. Also, I got chills when you were reading about the massacred penitents and the dead woman. This entire book is chilling.

I almost didn't click on this because of the title of the video, but you give it a fair treatment. In my opinion, this is the single best, heaviest, and most haunting novel ever written by an American author. Few writers can even dream of attaining the level that McCarthy does in 'Blood Meridian'.

There’s just so much to come back to in this book, the violence is what hits you on a first read but I found myself transported and hypnotised by the physical descriptions of vistas, detailed and yet never overly dull and precise.

He never sleeps he never dies he is a great favorite

A beautifully written and yet horrifically descriptive novel.

Both the prose and the themes in this novel are so rich and layered that you can still find things that you missed even on like a 5th or 6th read through. I think another thing that moment where the kid tries to help the dead woman may signify is that, for the kid (the man at that point), his soul is irrevocably corrupted, and while it’s admirable he’s trying to be a good person-he wasn’t a good person when it really counted, even if he’d felt conflicted. His indecision and lack of fortitude back then doomed him, and this was sort of a “closing the barn door after the horse escaped” moment, and his punishment was this cruel denial of being able to help this woman. In short: it’s too late. One other note regarding the violence of the novel - McCarthy has such a commanding authority over both his stories and his worlds (Blood Meridian in particular), something so few authors are capable of. And because of this authority, you don’t disbelieve a single word on the page, and because of that, the violence and brutality is that much more disturbing. It just feels “real,” even though we know it’s fiction. I’ve read other books with copious amounts of violence, and almost none were quite as bothersome to me on a physical level as this one was, and I think that McCarthy’s sheer authority over the text has a lot to do with that-even more so than just the depravity of the acts themselves. Where as seeing violence in other novels is like watching it on a slick and shiny feature film with CGI blood, in Blood Meridian, it’s like seeing it on a cell phone video, or even worse, with your own eyes. Jack Ketchum is the only other author I’ve personally encountered that can evoke a similar feeling.

Thanks for recommending this book. The ending still has my brain scrambled. I feel like i have to cleanse my brain after that one. And i was an infantry soldier for 20 years and a combat vet. The scene where the judge bought 2 puppies from the little Mexican kid, then threw the dogs into the river and shot them. I am a combat veteran and I've never encountered anyone as cold and ruthless as the Judge. He never sleeps dancing and dancing, he says he will never die. the judge reminds me of Casca or Cassius, the roman soldier that jabbed Jesus with the spear while he hung on the cross. He was cursed to live until the end of time and cannot die. his curse is eternal war and suffering.

Reading Blood Meridian was like taking penance. The omnipresent evil of The Judge and the meat grinder of ceaseless, casual violence paint a grim and hopeless canvas.

I had never noticed that the towns which contained churches resisted the glanton gang. Fascinating! Thanks for sharing. Always finding new meaning from ERITW

Took a few times to read but damn it's a fine novel. McCarthy is my favorite living American writer. I'm not easily shook by violent stories but this one shook the shit from me. McCarthy is one of those writers who earns multiple rereadings.

This is the best review and discussion I've seen of the novel, thank you!

I love how well you understand & explain this book.

Holy heck, that bit with the abuelita was powerful. I loved your analysis!

I finished the novel and want to thank you for that thought provoking analysis. Like you said, there are many trails and threads to think about. Like you I thought of Mephistopheles from time to time, the judge embodying - like Mephisto - the evil principle. Now that you mention the magic-like scene where Holden creates fire like an Übermensch, it comes to my mind how Mephisto lets flames appear out of nowhere among ordinary men. Then again the Judge claims authority over everything (like a luciferian god-wannabe) while Mephisto mocks humen for their pathetic striving. And what Holden explains to the boy at the end in the bar, how to perceive life and fate - I wonder how this is compatible with his goals you mentioned (rightfully, imo) in your analysis. What’s so special about this book in my opinion is that it not only leaves me thinking, like cognitively speaking, but that it also leaves a nagging indefinite feeling that there are things in life which are even more obscure than I already thought. Holden and the boy will for shure be on my mind for a long time.

Great video! I read BM almost a year ago and since then it has become my favorite novel and it made me go after every Mccarthy novel I could find. I still think about this novel from time to time, especially the ending with the Judge. What I love about this book is how rich it is. On the surface, this is only about a group of outlaws scalping people, but if you're willing to look for it, you can certainly find so much more

What a great video. You pointed some things that I did not notice. I might read it again at some point.

This is probably the review on the book that I've seen on KZfaq. You have an inquisitive mind.

The scene that sticks with me the most, is the scene of the native hoard attacking specifically the the one in the bloody weeding veil. I fill like that scene was the kids literal marriage to violence and is bound to his bride of violence until his death

Loved your summary! Indeed it is a bizarre dream where one wonders what the problem is amongst senseless violence

Oh, one thing i forgot to mention in my other comment: While it is true that McCarthy's early novels were in the Southern Gothic genre, Blood Meridian itself is in the Western genre. McCarthy's writing centers around the regions he lives in, so when he moved to the southwest that meant that his writing changed setting as well.

This is my second favorite book of all time, and McCarthy is my favorite author. Just an absolutely stunning experience. Great review!

I read this for the first time many years ago. Found it very hard to understand. I have re-read twice since and I definitely agree with it being the most profound novel I've ever read. And I'm sure when I read it ten more times I will always find something I had previously missed. Until I read McCarthy, I thought " Oh, this book means more than just what the words say", was a cliche'. McCarthy was the first person I've read that has proven that perspective wrong in spades. By far my favorite author. Even movies made from his books are good. Great video. Thanks.

Fantastic review, I’ve only read this novel once and I really let it wash over me. I was so taken by McCarthy’s elegiac prose, his impossible descriptions that I am certain I missed a lot of the symbolism going on. I was excited for a re-read before, now I can’t wait

One third of the way through the book and my first McCarthy book. His prose is crazy good. Amazing. Like Proust or Nabokov

Fantastic review! While I do believe this novel is the kind of novel that has so much meaning under the surface, i also think the book is violent for the sake of being violent. The judge is all of us; everyone has the capacity for evil, some are just more in touch with it than others. I could talk about this book all day. Again, great review!

Really enjoyed the review. Greetings from Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

I read it this summer. Its a story that will stay in my mind for the rest of my life. Especially since in from El paso Texas and have been to some of the places featured in the book.

I'm subscribed already, I envy you for having ready many of the great novels.😎 Now I embark upon climbing that mountain. "He who reads lives and dies thousand lives, he who doesn't lives only once" #George R.R. Martin 🙌🏾Barakha✊🏾🌾 Salema 💯🙏🏾

It's been a while since I've read it, but to me, the kid, the judge, and the priest, and possibly other characters were all aspects of a single man with multiple personality disorder.

I just finished it and liked it. I’m glad you went through the symbolism and connection to the bible because being an atheist these didn’t jump out at me, but they make sense now. I’m reminded of what Bob Dylan said of some of his songs. He said each line, each sentence, could have been the basis for another song. Reading McCarthy, every sentence is so full of imagery and dense with texture that it feels like you should spend a few minutes just savouring it, like each mouthful of a fantastic meal. This is what I liked about the novel even more than plot or characterization. Pretty astounding

Brutal, intense, colorful, visceral, real, and infinitely layered. Blood Meridian is the best book I ever read. It was a god damn *experience* reading that thing. You brought up really amazing points and observations. Especially about how the Glanton gang had people of every race, color and origin as if to say nobody is blameless here.

I loved your take on the religious themes throughout the book. Most people get so transfixed on the violence it's hard for them to consider the other elements.

That was a very good review, and BM seems typical of Cormack's work, always examining what morality is and of its taken-for-granted existence. You seem to be insightful and thoughtful. I'm going to read this thanks to you !

If this is the most violent thing you've read, obviously you have no experience with warhammer 40,000 books.

Excellent vid ! Subsribing now. I've been thru that book at least 6 times. More times to come, I'm sure. I've been a western history and lifestyle student since I could first read. Luckily for me, I also by chance lived and worked in the west, cowboyed, wrangled and packed, Rodeo and old saloons, (The Palace Saloon in Prescott Az was the best) and meeting the oldest, old timers I could find. I listened to stories from a 103 year old man whose family owned a trading post in SW Colorado. And supplied Butch Cassidy when he was on the lamb. And the first female deputy in the Four Corners. She helped chase down on horseback and hang heroin smugglers coming out from San Francisco to the Colorado mining towns. I was a very fortunate young man. Anyways, Cormac, as always, dug deep and got it right. "Violence is but the truth of men whose souls are un encumbered" imagine almost no law of any kind ? It doesn't take long for Beast and Man to become one. The old west was definitely not a romantic paradise. The history of this corner of Colorado is insanely violent. The Judge ! Based on a real person, as are the events in the story. The Delawares, I've found reference to them here, in the Four Corners. Ive had hrs of talk with people in the film trade about making this book a movie. If it wasn't perfect, it would be the worst film related disaster we could imagine. And making that story perfectly ? Maybe not possible. Cheers !

This is the most intriguing review I've seen. Definitely interested in this book.

I am reading this book currently. It is arguably more violent than No Country For Old Men, which was the first book of McCarthy's that I read. Very dark. His depictions of the Old West, Mexico, and the desert are incomparable with any other author that I have read.

Stella I recently got blood meridian myself and have been watching reviews on it and yours is one of my favorites. If you like music, which who doesn't, you should check out The Last Pale Light In The West album by Ben Nichols as well as his song Old Death. All of those songs were written and inspired by Blood Meridian. You'll love it if you love this book as much as I do. I was born in Tennessee and ended up living in Texas as an adult so I relate to The Kid quite a bit. I didn't join a gang of scalp hunters but his story really resonates with me.

I really enjoyed your overview. Easy sub 😃

Great job!

Great review, just subscribed.

the judge is not god or devil. the idea is that he is man. the eternal evil of man. but yes, he is an abstract figure in the sense that he is real but with 'supernatural'/symbolic qualities. also the main ending theory is a clear giveaway that most readers take this story too literally. it is part literal and part symbolic.

McCarthy is one of if not my favorite writer. This was the hardest of his books to get through & I had to set it down multiple times because some of the violence is so anatomically horrific & bleak. Biblical & Homeric in scale.

Holden puts ever Disney villain to shame. Honestly, switch out any villain with him and all the side characters saying to don't test him would make sense. Heck, if The Little Mermaid had someone like Holden, Sebastian saying to Ariel not to go see him, but she says, "Why don't you go tell my father? You're good at that.", only for him to do exactly that would make sense. Since I guarantee that any adult should be informed that they're child's making a deal with the devil.

I finished Blood Meridian about an hour ago and went straight to KZfaq for some sort of closure on what the epilogue meant. Still vague as to what it could mean. I enjoyed the book and for me its about evil and its positives, during war. The war theme in the book I think is both an allegory for life as well as the actual act of war, we all fight until the bitter end however difficult the road ahead is and sometimes we will do things, evil things, to survive, things that ordinarily we might not do. The Judge represents that, for me. My only criticism is that I found some of the endless descriptions of the desert plains and mountains etc a little laboured at times, but the story was great. Might read again, might not. Your insight was useful too, the confession section especially.

Thank you for the focus on the scene where the kid tries to help the old woman. It's not as famous as some of the other scenes, like the "war is god" speech or the dance in the saloon at the climax, but it has always been the most affecting moment in the entire novel for me. I think it's the moment where the tragedy of the Kid/Man's life is fully encapsulated. The Kid/Man, as a representative everyman in this spiritual wasteland, is a failure (as repeatedly and correctly pointed out by the Judge) because he understands what is right but isn't strong enough to act on it. He can never bring himself to help his friends without holding back, is never able to act decisively to stand up to evil and kill the Judge, etc. After decades of experience and encountering numerous examples of truly good people, the Kid/Man fully understands that love is the greatest good, but when he expresses this to the old woman, she crumbles and blows away. The Kid/Man has done far too little, far too late. It's only a matter of time before he is finally consumed by the evil that thrives in this spiritual wasteland, symbolized by what happens to him in the jakes at the end.

What i love about this novel is the ultimate violence of it, and how absolutly everyone are involved in one way or another. For me it´s almost a Past-Dystopian book. It was however a pretty difficult read for me as an Icelandic guy, so maybe i missed a few underlinings or subplots. Anyways Great Review Ms.Stella :) P.s. I have actually been likened to Judge Holden on more than one ocation :) :)

At this stage in my life, I still think All The Pretty Horses is the deeper and more beautiful CM work. That book made me cry. Not really, I'm a dude. Sigh. I just love CM. We lost a giant. He was probably the last of the greats of American lit.

Great video! What did you make of the ending? I saw it one way - the judge murdering the kid in the jakes - but recently have changed my view. Now I see the possibility - after many readings and listens and reading various analyses of the end that in fact the kid, now the man, was not killed by the judge, but instead had abducted and murdered the crying girl who went missing sometime after the scene with the bear. A ‘man’ is described being near the scene inside the jakes who tells two others that they shouldn’t enter. Was that man the kid and was what was inside the jakes the missing girl? I’m not 100% sure but this angle has completely changed my perspective about the kid.

haunting piece of work

A great book to read in tandem with this book is John Steakley's Armor, it is a very unique variation on war and violence and offers an interesting difference of opinion, the character Felix, of Armor, is a fascinating juxtaposition to The Judge, of Blood Meridian, as Felix is the ultimate practitioner of war and very unlike The Judge; both Steakley and McCarthy were Texans.

It truly is a masterpiece.

Great video!

well... the actual real story was a little bit bloodier than the novel... the actual events took place in my hometown (and it's still kinda the same there ) ... at the same time as the glanton gang was roaming around, abraham lincoln's cousin was working a ferry on the colorado river at the confluence with the gila river (which was mexico at that time)... the glanton gang kinda took over the ferry and started killing off the nearby village of quechans/yumans who were competing with lincoln's ferry (and then selling the scalps to the state of sonora, mex.)... so the quechans massacred the gang in return. the survivors of the gang made their way to san diego and so the state of california sent an "army" to take back the ferry. this set off the yuma war. the state of california went bankrupt because of this war and requested federal troops. the federal troops established a fort as well as re-establishing the ferry to california and communication via the camino del diablo (the devil's road) to the new mexico territory.... well, at the same time as this war was going on at the river crossing, a group of mormons (mainly the oatman family) were heading to the baja and the colorado river delta from far west, missouri (cause they believed it was the new zion and had broken off from the mainstream mormons of brigham young)... well, about 50 miles east of present day yuma (which was mexico at that time), these mormons were massacred by some apaches (and to me, the oatman massacre set up the 2nd mormon war/mountain meadow massacre a couple of years later , cause the mormons definitely didn't trust other americans after this) and olive oatman and her sister were taken as captives (and for whatever reason, olive oatman is portrayed in the hell on wheels tv series) and then olive and her sister were traded off to another tribe... you can kinda understand, the tribes were pretty pissed off at anyone that was white and so the oatmans got caught up in all the killing going on... this yuma war lasted bout til bout 1855 but things had started settling down after the gadsden purchase and the area came under u.s. control... but that's when the filibusters started showing up from san francisco and set up a base at a place called filibuster camp (present day wellton, az) and that's kinda when the real bloodbath starts... two guys who were the most notorious filibusters was a guy named henry crabb and gaston de raousset-boulbon... crabb tried to take over sonora, mexico by land and boulbon by sea... both of them ended up having their heads on sticks and their "armies" massacred ... well, the heros of this whole mess were, the u.s. army officer named heintzelman (who also saved washington dc after the federal army was defeated at bull run in the civil war ) and the greatest lady of the west, sarah bowman( aka "the great western"), who was finally able to locate olive oatman and bought her back via a yaqui friend. sarah bowman is kinda like a real life legend and definitely has not received her status as a true american warrior, madam, and pioneer savior but she is buried at the presido in san francisco with full military honor as a colonel of the u.s. army (yup, there were female officers back in the day)... anyway, the novel blood meridian was based on samuel chamberlain's confessions ... and every story that i ever heard or read about these events had the judge somewhere in it but he was just bald not necessarily hairless and the novel made him out to be some kinda of devil (most pioneer people knew how to make gunpowder back in the day and had their own "recipes" and a lot of us still know some of those old skills ). anyway, i believe he died at the massacre at the river or fleeing from it (dying out in the sand dunes) but some stories got him going up to the california silver mining area and i've heard a story of him hooking up with tiburico vasquez (the real life zorro)... so anyway, as a kid i would hunt for lincoln's gold (supposedly he had bout $50,000 in 1850 dollars and it was never found ) and i hunted deer, javalin and snake around the oatman massacre site and well as the grave site... and i've seen men crufixed on crosses down there and families firebombed ... just a couple of years ago another mormon family was massacred on the mexican side of the border on hwy 2 down there ... and some of the towns have problems with keeping their police chiefs (one got his house firebombed and another one got a few bullet holes in him and a couple of others took the pay but never showed up for the job) and there's plenty of ex federal agents doing their time in prison ... heck a few u.s. army dudes got busted as a murder for hire crew for one of the cartels and if you go down to the border and wander around the desert, well, pay attention to the big warning signs there and don't go pass them... most of the dirt roads crossing the border are watched by guys with high powered rifles up in the mountains protecting the routes... and don't pick up garbage out there ( it might be a "bundle" waiting for a pick up ) and if you go down in mexico on either hwy 3 or 8 don't stop driving til you get to rocky point (there a huge burial area down there for the "disappeared") and you might get a watcher anxious by you stopping near them... i came across your video here cause i wanted to listen to ben nichols (lucero ) who did a musical score for the james franco attempt at making a movie of the novel... good music... he did the music for movie mud (matthew mcconaughey and reese witherspoon) and does a great concert as well...

Great analysis.

You have to be a botanist to understand half this book

I started reading it today and couldn't stop...until my daughter came telling me she wanted a braid 🤣 Anyway... I really dig his writing style, it reminds me of a book I read in highschool.

Biv-wacked is how you say it. Great discussion. One of my favorite novels

-the long dead woman represents his long lost chance at redemption bc he failed to kill the Judge despite getting three chances. -this failure is further seen when he kills a young man out of sheer ego. The kid, though in manhood, never evolved into an adult bc he never faced down the evils of his main role model -this is why I think he committed suicide in the final scene -I also think this was foreshadowed in the beginning. Usually a protagonist meets a mentor early on. Someone they will eventually evolve into if they take the hero’s journey and do what’s right. The kid meets the murderous, bigoted and insane hermit.

Fantastic video! Really enjoyed hearing your thoughts on it, especially about the Kid's dialogue with the dead woman, i had forgotten about that part (i need to re read this book haha). For me, the most straightforward takeaway from this book is its total deconstruction of the Western genre's setting. The setting itself is not morally neutral, it's a colonized region in the process of ethnic cleansing (the gang is hired to kill indigenous people, after all). Most western novels ignore or downplay this, especially at the time the novel was published over 30 years ago. The immediate drive after reading this novel is to discern the hidden messages, so a lot of people (including myself for a while) ignore the more obvious messages: Western expansion, colonialism, and Manifest Destiny, were genuinely and horrifyingly evil. Also, the evils of the Judge are the evils of Western civilization (not everything about Western civilization is evil, but the evil aspects of it are distilled in the Judge). This is a bit of a tangent, but it baffles me that so many people assume McCarthy must be right wing because his stories are so centered around masculinity, when Blood Meridian's primary villain has an *existentially* hierarchical worldview, and the story itself is a deconstruction of our myths about "the old west," manifest destiny, and western civilization. The pathologies McCarthy portrays are historically male pathologies (because of patriarchy), so it makes sense that his stories would be centered on male characters. Of course, i myself am male so perhaps bias is shaping my analysis. Anyways, i hope you didnt mind the long rambling, I just love talking about this book and hearing others' opinions about it!

You made me wonder how the judge appeared to the other members of the gang before they joined. The epilogue of the book was very odd but I wonder if McCarthy was just saying that the more people read his book, the more light will be shed on thjs historical violence. Perhaps, agonizingly slowly, we'll fully reject violence by understanding it

The book is FUCKEDDDDDDDDDD up omg especially the ending I was just like wowwwww

The Judge - I've been wondering about him for a decade now.

You did a fine job. You may be a teacher. Perhaps you are. If not. You would do well. Thank you.

when you realize scenes of horrific violence are better written than your wholeass book:

I’m not well read… audible is to blame for that…. I found out about this book via KZfaqr Wendigoon, he is a great story teller and he has turned on millions to a vast array of fantastic stories and books. This book idk struck a cord … it is a masterpiece! I just want to share with anyone willing to listen or take my abuse lol telling them about this book 👀 don’t you want to scream when a story like this in found in the way?!! 😮🎉

I'm going to the library and reading this. A good friend told me about this book.

I just listened to the audio book read by the American actor/voice actor - Richard Poe. It's great to listen to. But I had a new thought about part of the ending. Before The Kid, now "The Man", goes and meets The Judge in the final chapter, he comes across a few young boys in their teens. One boy is named Elrod, whom The Man ends up killing because Elrod was antagonizing him. It made me wonder if Elrod reminded The Man of his younger self. Maybe it was an act of mercy, sparing the combative young man from winding up going through similar atrocities that he went through. Or maybe he just hated his younger self. Also the voice actor narrates Elrod much like he did The Kid. I don't know. Just a crazy thought.

It's one of the few novels I've read twice, my mother refuses to read it and my father dumped the copy I sent him, because of the language in it, cussing, cursing, etc. I think the violence in the novel points to how the US evolved out of violence and how central violence is to the country, even today. Not something most Christians and Liberals like myself like to be reminded of, we share in the fruits of that suffering and violence as a matter of historical fact, alas. It is, or is very close to, original sin. Not acknowledging that suffering and violence is an error and sin in itself.

This book is pure dissonance in written form. You'll be given the most beautiful, elegant descriptions of brutal needless violence.

My favorite book! Your analysis is very astute. The Catholic symbolism is rife throughout the book. Some reviewers are oblivious to it unfortunately. Thoroughly enjoyed this video! 👍

I see the Melville in Blood Meridian, but also Homer. Someone said it’s the most violent book since the Iliad. To me this book is the American Iliad. It has the same theme of the inevitability of war and cruelty.

The Reverend Green doesn't get chased out of town. He gets killed by the crowd.

All The Pretty Horses is no walk in the park either.

The Judge's first scene is probably one of the most powerful introductions that I've ever read for an antagonist. As a mob was pummeling the innocent Reverend whom he accused of p*dophilia and bestiality, a group of wanderers, including The Kid find him at a bar across the street and question him. When he makes it clear that he didn't even know the man, nor laid eyes on him before that day, I actually got chills. Then all of the men started laughing and bought The Judge a drink for the vicious act. There are some parts of this book that are just hilariously malicious. I began to wonder if I was evil myself while reading it. But there were also times when I had to put it down because it was too much and kinda stressed me out. I think that's what good literature does. It confronts you and challenges you to make you think and question your entire worldview.

If you think that’s the most violent you’ve ever read then try stomaching American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. It only gets worse with every chapter.

The book is based off actual historical events, the Glanton gang and Judge Holden having been real people from that time. Even if some liberties were taken, it's in many ways a more honest depiction of the Wild West than you see in books and movies.

I have a message on behalf of Jane from the Methadone clinic. She needs a delivery for no. 15 Carson Street, Miami Florida. Quite a few patients need their medication tonight. More so then usual so please be discrete.

Violence is never senseless. Only divine law is.

McCarthy was a genius. No one else wrote such horrible things so beautifully

Brilliant review of my favorite novel. A little late to the game, but one thing I'd love to point out is that *so* much of the more gratuitous violence (that scene with the babies in chapter five, specifically; you know the one) seem like heavy handed aesthetic choices on CM's part, gore for gore's sake, until you learn that that instance is taken verbatim from the historical record, as are many others. It's something the Apache were said to have actually done. Once I learned this, the violence I had honestly thought a little convoluted became suddenly and horribly and resoundingly perfect.

If someone doesn't want a spoiler don't watch the video !

They say this is an "unfilmable" novel. Would you agree?

That is a great book! Man alive!

It seems to me Mccarthys' 3 main influences are, the new testament, William Faulkner and Moby Dick.

Uncomfortable but really good.

Glanton was even more interesting to me than Holden. The judge is almost framed as a supernatural entity, a pure force of nature, while Glanton is more relatable to me. He seems like a more extreme version of Brown, Toadvine and the kid. He's kind of a bad leader yet several wayward souls follow him all the same. He seems in control when they're on the move and barely surviving but right when they settle down a bit it seems he loses the little control he had, as though he'd abandoned his purpose to wander and murder. Its never clear what he or most of the characters really want but I still find myself drawn to the scalpers and killers in their desperation. As soon as they try to establish something grounded and turn their trade into something more mechanical they fall apart, which mirrors what the hermit says at the beginning about man's creation and destiny. I almost feel like both Glanton and Holden would be disappointed to see the more industrialized mass murder of the 20th century. I think they want some sort of freedom but not the kind that invokes ethics and spiritualism. Anarchy allows them to live as predators of broken and helpless prey and any chance any of them had at being more sedentary died long before they ever met one another.

Interesting analysis however violence is the reason I read it

1:33 i'm glad I already red the book because this is a major spoiler 😅

you iz great

I’m curious, how do you find Dostoyevsky? :)

You should listen to Ben Nichols album, “The Last Pale Light in The West” about the novel.

I tell people that Blood Meridian is 50% the most beautiful descriptions of the American Southwest ever written and 50% the most heinous and gruesome depictions of violence. It's a book like no other. Something I think is important to note is the role women play in the themes of the story. Men are almost wholly depicted as savage and murderous, but almost every woman in the novel who is given time on the pages will be a force of peace or soothing. Just as the Kid chose to leave his father, his first act was the (unknowing) killing of his mother during childbirth. I think there's a balance that McCarthy strikes there to create contrast.

Larry McMurtry’s Streets of Laredo is pretty close to the level of Violence in Blood Meridian.

Bivouacked is pronounced "bĭv′wăk"

I found this book to be very arousing.

Oooops! Am I going deaf ? Please say the mic had hiccups 😊

Loved your analysis but was very distracted by watching you read... rehearse lines then refer to brief bullet points.

Anyone seen my dog?