A Frontier Myth Turns Gothic: "Blood Meridian: Or, the Evening Redness in the West"

Author(s): Ronja Vieth

Source: The Cormac McCarthy Journal, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Fall 2010), pp. 55-72
Published by: Penn State University Press
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A Frontier Myth Turns Gothic: Blood Meridian: Or, the

Evening Redness in the West
Ronja Vieth
McCarthy'sAppalachiannovelsand earlyshortstories
Gothicstylebecauseoftheirsettingas well
evoketheSouthern
Cormac
as theiruse of Gothicelementsincludingincest,necrophilia,
OuterDark and Childof God areperhapsthemost
and doppelgangers.
Gothicof the novels,exploringthe social taboos and repressedurges
whichcomprisetheGothicunspeakable.In Blood Meridian
, McCarthy
a stepfurther.
takestheGothicsensibility
Althoughit has resistedthe
fateof McCarthy'sSouthern
novels,whichhavebeencomparedto the
worksof SouthernGothicicons such as WilliamFaulkner,Flannery
O'Connor, and James Dickey, Blood Meridian also exhibits
characteristics
associatedwiththe Gothic.Set in a distinctly
Gothic
landscape of the Southwesternfrontierin the United States,
bloodcurdlingdescriptionsof violence are renderedin strikingly
beautifullanguageto play on the sublimeeffectsof attraction
and
withthe violenceand bloodshed
repulsion.The novel's engagement
servesas a Gothicdoubleof
duringour conquestof theWest further
ourcivilizationand setsit apartfrommorecomfortable
cowboymyths
told as bedtimestoriesor in historybooks. Due to its preoccupation
withtheunspokenrealitiesofAmerica'smythologized
past,a paststill
celebratedin countlessWesternnovels,pulp biographies,
ballads,and
calledFrontier
Gothic.
films,Blood Meridiancanthusbe properly
In contrast
whosevoices of
to theBritishGothicliterary
tradition
dissentcritiquedstructures
of class and gender,AmericanGothic
literature
has beena voiceofcautionaboutan optimistically
prosperous
new nation.Early novelistssuch as Charles BrockdenBrown,for
withintheyoungnation's
instance,recognizedinherent
discrepancies
social systemsand addressedthemin theiressentiallyGothicworks.1
Despitethiscritique,the nationwas drivenby the idea of creatinga
better New World. U.S. unanimitywas furthercreated by
thenation'sexpansionist
mythologizing
past,a historical
whitewashing
was written
enabledby thefactthatthenation'shistory
bythevictors,
theconquerorsof thenew territory:
whiteEuro-Americans.McCarthy
in
this
version
of
the
the
, subverting
challenges
past Blood Meridian
with
the
of
violence.
official,mythologized
history
eclipsed reality
withinthatprocessas
Moreover,he disclosestheethicalcontradictions
ruthlesslyas the violence he describes.This crueltyis mitigated,
uses to describe
though,
bythelyricalbeautyofthelanguageMcCarthy
thescenesof horror,
thesublimenarrative
intoa Gothicmirror
turning
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55

addressedinBlood Meridian.Movingfrom
imageofthecontradictions
the darkside of humanity
on an individuallevel in his Appalachian
scale in Blood
Gothic to a larger,national and meta-historical
Meridian
ofthearidSouthwest
, McCarthy
populatestheGothicsetting
withsimilarly
Gothiccharacters
thatmakeit notsimplyanothernovel
GothicthatlikeotherGothicworksin
aboutthefrontier,
buta Frontier
American literature subverts and interrogates nationalistic
ofinnocence.
presuppositions
and its
Classificationof Blood Meridianhas been controversial
designationas Gothicindecisiveat best. Critics,such as Guillemin,
usually recognizethe novel's biocentrismor its extremeviolence
which,accordingto Alan Bourassa,createsa sense of the nonhuman
whichthehumancouldnotexist.A novelwillonlyhauntus as
without
a great work when it goes beyond the human by exhibitingthe
he explains(19), concludingthatin the worldof Blood
nonhuman,
Meridian's world the humanis rendered"uncannyand grotesque"
Perceivinga sense of the
(126), bothof whichare Gothicattributes.
sublime,CarynJamessees a connectionbetween"the Faulknerian
books and
violence"of McCarthy'sformer
languageand unprovoked
the demandin Blood Meridian's to "witnessevil not in orderto
it butto affirm
itsinexplicablereality"(31). His language,
understand
Jamesinsists,"inventsa worldhingedbetweenthe real and surreal,
McCarthy'scomplexrevisionof the
joltingus out of complacency."2
frontiermyththus reveals that, as Idiart and Schulz phrase it,
is theideologicalconstruction
"embeddedwithinthenationalnarrative
inthe
nationalsolidarity"
'other'whoseexclusioneffects
oftheinferior
formofwhitesupremacy
(127).
The Gothicnovelin GreatBritain,and as it was lateradaptedin
againsttheAge of Reason.
Europe,developedas a countermovement
In a letterto Madamedu Deffandin 1767,HoraceWalpole,authorof
the allegedly firstGothic novel, The Castle of Otranto (1764),
but
forthisage whichwantsnothing
explainedthatitwas "notwritten
to
all
His
work
came
cold reason"( Correspondence
260).
provide the
in
to
invoketerror
to
have
order
novel
was
a
Gothic
supposed
tropes
and horrorin itsreaders,butmostimportantly,
Walpolefashionedthe
Gothicnotionofguilt.In hisprefaceto thefirsteditionof TheCastleof
to the
arevisitedon theirchildren
Otranto
, he says:"thesinsof fathers
thirdand fourth
(7). Whiletheelementsof theGothicas a
generation"
forceof
genrehavechangedovertime,guilthas becomethepropelling
talesofPuritan
whether
in Hawthorne's
AmericanGothicin particular,
the infamyof slaveryin Toni Morrison,or McCarthy's
sinfulness,
renditionof how the West was won.3 The Gothic in
mythoclastic
America serves to addressthe nation's otherwiseunacknowledged
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ournation's
ghosts,ghoststhatcriticssuchas JohnCantsee haunting
of innocencethatseek to submergeour
exceptionalist
presumptions
As Leslie A. Fiedler
awarenessof our genocidalsocial foundations.
pointsout:
in theUnitedStates,certainspecialguiltsawaitedprojection
intheGothicform.A dreamof innocencehad sentEuropeans
across the ocean to build a new society immuneto the
compoundedevil of the past fromwhichno one in Europe
of theIndians,
could everfeelhimselffree.But theslaughter
who wouldnotyieldtheirlandsto thecarriersof utopia,and
of theslave trade,in whichtheblack man,
theabominations
entwinedin a knotof guilt,
rum,and moneywereinextricably
new
evidence
that
evil
did
notremainwiththeworld
provided
thathadbeenleftbehind.(143)
mode forAmerican
It seems,then,thatGothicis theappropriate
literature
to deal withparticular
aspectsof itsexperienceas itaddresses
containment
and excess,
thelatenttensionbetweenorderand disorder,
officialandunofficial
history.
utopiaandreality,
suchas JamesFenimoreCooper
AlthoughearlyAmericanwriters
dismissedthe Americanscene as unsuitablefor the Gothic genre
because Americais based on principlesof commonsense, his own
works display Gothic elements.Folsom identifiesThe Last of the
Mohicans (1826) as a Gothicquest narrativein whichunconquered
AmericanforestsreplacetheBritishsubterranean
passagesto become
"a symbol of an interiorstate of mind which may or may not
recognizably
equate witha definableexternallandscape"(31). Thirty
years later,NathanielHawthornesimilarlyclaimedthat"No author,
withouta trial,can conceiveof the difficulty
of writinga Romance
abouta country
wherethereis no shadow,no antiquity,
no mystery,
no
and
nor
but
a
picturesque
gloomywrong,
anything
common-place
in broadand simpledaylight,
as is happilythecase withmy
prosperity,
dear nativeland" ( The MarbleFaun 3). He addedthat"romanceand
poetry. . . needRuinto makethemgrow."
SinceHawthorne'sworkis preoccupiedwiththedarkerside ofhis
own as well as America'sPuritanpast, his statement
is ironicand
reflectsAmerica's Utopiannotions of prelapsarianinnocence.In
"Young GoodmanBrown"and otherworks,Hawthorne'scharacters
are the embodiments
of the paradoxof AmericanGothic.As David
Scott
P.
and JoanneB. Karpinskistate,"In a sense,
Sanders,
Mgen,
theveryconceptof AmericanGothicis paradoxical,sinceso muchof
Americanculturedenies the possibilityof the Gothic[supernatural]
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57

experience"(13). And yetAmericans,who so willinglyengagedin,

approvedof, or at least ignored"the slaughterof the Indians,who
would not yield theirlands to the carriersof utopia"(Fiedler 143),
provedto be an avid audienceforGothicfiction.One reasonforthisis
that,as PeterN. Carrollpointsout,"beneaththe floridplentyof the
inthewilderness"
New World,"Puritanssaw "theDevil lurking
(1 1), a
andthemonstrous.
As
wilderness
associatedwithboththesupernatural
of thePuritanwas to discover
JamesFolsom says,thepreoccupation
"whether
ornothe was one oftheelectorone ofthedamned"(35), and
"theliterary
resultof thisculturalobsessionhas oftenbeen an uneasy
statement
of thefactthatperhapsmanis both."Accordingto Folsom,
thereis "a dualityat theheartof humannature"whichis also a crucial
elementinGothicworks(35, 36).
This dualityat firstremaineda thingoutsidethe mind;evil was
projectedonto the inscrutablewilderness.Before Edgar Allan Poe
turnedthe Gothicinto somethingdistinctly
psychological,however,
CharlesBrockdenBrownadaptedGothictropesto theAmericanscene,
aspectsof humanduality.
playingwithbutnotfocusingon theinternal
toEdgarHuntly(1799):
He writesinhisforeword
It is the purpose of this work...to exhibit a series of
adventures, growing out of the condition of our
Gothic castles and chimeras,are the materials
country...
usuallyemployedforthisend [toappealto thereader,but]the
and the perils of the western
incidentsof Indian hostility,
are farmoresuitable;and fora nativeof America
wilderness,
to overlookthese,wouldadmitofno apology.(3)4
Brown's "western wilderness" soon expanded into the
AmericanlandscapeoftheSouthwest
withitsintensifying
unconquered
Indianwarfareand conflictswithMexico,thuschangingtheterritory
Gothic.ScottP. Sanderscalls the"immense
intosomething
distinctly
and various formations"
of the deserts"the tangiblesubstanceof
Southwestern
Gothic[and] thefundamental
spiritof thisplace whose
is inscribedin the landscape" ("Southwestern"
56). To
prehistory
a "geologicalGothicism,"
theSouthwest
Sandersandothers,
represents
a Gothiclandscape thatwe helpedpeople withghostsduringour
expansionistpast. ChallengingFrederickJacksonTurner's"frontier
thesis"of 1893 in whichhe claims that"the advance of American
settlement
westwardexplains[s]Americandevelopment"
(79), Patricia
Nelson Limerickcountersthatthe "originmyth"of Anglo America
thecruelrealityofAngloAmericanconquest(322). With
romanticized
the Gardenof the Lord
"the [American]dreamturnednightmare,
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into the Great AmericanDesert" and the Western

metamorphosed
Americanwriteracknowledgesthatthe "landscapeof the West is as
mucha projectionof ourmostdeepseatedfearsas it is a reflection
of
ourideals" (Folsom39, 40). QuotingWaltKelly's Pogo, Folsomadds
thatitis "a place where'we havemettheenemyandtheyis us'" (40).
Whatwe face,then,in the FrontierGothicis the enemywithin
ourselves or as D.H. Lawrence says "the grinning,unappeased
aboriginaldemons[and]ghosts"which"persecutethewhitemen"and
have a "powerful
influence
disintegrative
uponthewhitepsyche"(56).
The Gothicnovel,and especiallythe FrontierGothic,is a meansof
ourdemonsandrewriting
ouroriginmyth.As MarkBusby
confronting
writes,thereare "two sides of the Americanmyth:the hope and
on theAmericanfrontier
and the
promiseof thedreamof regeneration
has
that
the
dream
often
been
violent
and
thatit
destructive,
recognition
as
a
'lie
of
the
mind'
to
and
appears
continuing entrap destroy"(92).
and cometo termswithourdarker
One way to escape thatdestruction
past is to rewriteour country'smythsto includeall of theaspectsof
In Blood Meridian
our originsas a country.
, CormacMcCarthydoes
just that.He seemsto have realizedthat,as Fiedlernotes,"behindthe
Gothiclies a theoryof history,
a particular
sense of thepast"(136), a
andpastthatneedto be retoldas a counternarrative
to allowfor
history
a healthyequilibrium
ofhumanandliterary
experience.
If Sara L. Spurgeonis correctin sayingthatthe"still-unresolved
conflictsand tensions inherentin the historyof conquest and
colonizationin theAmericaskeeptraditional
mythsalive and demand
their metamorphosisin response to the realities of life in an
increasingly
globalizedworld"(5), how does McCarthyemploythe
The
Gothic in Blood Meridian to achieve that metamorphosis?
is alreadyreflectedin the protagonist's
metamorphosis
fairlysimple
story:a fourteen
year-oldboy named"the kid" runsaway fromhis
home in Tennessee with an alcoholic fatherwho used to be a
schoolteacher
butfailsto teachhis son howto reador write(McCarthy
3). The kid's motherdied when he was bornin 1833 and his only
who "lies in drink"and "quotesfrompoets
familybesideshis father,
whosenamesarenowlost,"is "a sisterinthisworldthathe willnotsee
a pariahin hisown
again."Pale and unwashed,neglectedand illiterate,
therealreadybroodsin thekid "a tasteformindlessviolence."
family,
Aftera detourto New Orleans,thekid fallsin withfilibusters,
who,
with the tacit supportof the governorof Californiaaccordingto
to provokeanother
warwithMexicoand
CaptainWhite,areattempting
fortheU.S. Aftertheir
therebyacquireeven moreMexicanterritory
entiretroopis wipedout,thekidjoins CaptainGlanton'sgang,a band
of scalphunters
hiredbythegovernor
oftheMexicanstateof Sonorato
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59

kill as manyApachesas possible.As theyare paid by thescalp,they

and employespeciallycruel tactics,not
lose all sense of humanity
between tribes or between Native American and
differentiating
thevictimis stillalive.Afterthe
Mexican,andnotevencaringwhether
decimation
oftheGlantongangbytheYuma,thekid,now called 4the
man," works in and around Californiafor several years before
comrade,JudgeHolden.
beingkilledbya former
presumably
The storylinehas similarities
withthequestmotifof manyGothic
setsouton a journeyand experiences
novels,in whichtheprotagonist
variousformsof evil on theway. Althoughthekid is lookingforan
outletforhis angerand findsit in theviolentactionsof thegangs,one
getsthenotionthathe is bothpartof andyetoutsidetheviolence.One
could envisionthekid as leadinga doublelife,forthereare instances
thatcall forunanimity
in whichthekidis theloneexception.The kid's
occasionaldissociationfromtheevil reflectsa Gothic,or Manichean,
doubleconsciousness
withinall ofus. In one instancethekidrefusesto
killthejudge evenforhis own protection
he risks
(285 ff);in another,
whenhe painfully
extractsan arrowfromtheleg of a
beingmurdered
comrade(162). The moststriking
incident,
however,occursafterthe
kid has arrivedin Californiaand has escaped a prisonsentenceby
all his deedsand beingbaptized.His attempt
to helpan old
confessing
womaninthemountains
is coupledwithhispersonalconfession
to her:
He spoketo herin a low voice. He told herthathe was an
Americanandthathe was a longway fromthecountry
of his
birthandthathe had no familyandthathe had traveledmuch
and seen many thingsand had been at war and endured
hardships.He told her thathe would conveyher to a safe
who would welcome
place, some partyof hercountrypeople
herandthatshe shouldjoin themforhe couldnotleave herin
thisplace orshewouldsurelydie. (315)
Perhapsit is thesightof anothermassacre,withpilgrims'bodies
mutilatedand strewnamong the landscape despite his refusalto
partake,that makes him care about the woman; perhapsit is his
fromthe gang thatallows him to be compassionate
disengagement
towarda Mexican.Whateverit is, his changeof heartseems in vain;
theold womanturnsoutto be "justa driedshelland she had beendead
in thatplace foryears"(315). This disconcerting
twistin thenarrative
does notdistract
fromthepossibility
forhis metamorphosis,
however.
The kid'sopenresistance
to giveinto completeevilpersiststhroughout
thenarrative,
notonlya Gothicdualitywithinhumansbut
suggesting
also hopeforredemption.
Thisdualityandpotentialformetamorphosis
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is further
in thenovel's settingon the Southwestern
reflected
frontier
and McCarthy'suse of language.A closer look at the settingand
narrativereveals how McCarthy'swritingfostersthe dichotomyof
Gothic attractionand repulsionthat keeps the reader wantingto
continuereadinga textinwhichthemainthemeis violence.
Blood Meridianis interspersed
withdescriptions
of naturewithin
whichone can hardlydistinguish
betweenthebeautiful
andthesublime
and in whichKant's distinction
of "quality"and "quantity"
is blurred.
Kant's definitionof the beautiful,as postulatedin 1790, refersto
something"having [definite]boundaries,"whereasthe sublime is
relatedto "a formlessobject,so far as in it or by occasion of it
boundlessnessis represented"
(82). Since the boundlessnessof the
landscape in Blood Meridian is both enticingand impossibleto
itaccountsforthesenseof attraction
and repulsionin the
comprehend,
reader.Kant's maindifferentiation,
relies
on
theinherent
"life
though,
force"thatis eithera continuousflow (beautiful)or a momentarily
haltedand thengushingoutpour(sublime).The sublime,accordingto
admiration
Kant,"containsnotso mucha positivepleasureas [rather]
andrespect"(83). A linesuchas "darkfallsherelikea thunderclap
and
a cold wind sets the weeds to gnashing"seems sublimedue to its
underlyingthreatof danger. The threatevokes both respectand
but whenwe read nextthatthe "nightsky lies so sprent
admiration,
withstarsthatthereis scarcelyspace of black at all and theyfallall
nightin bitterarcs and it is so that theirnumbersare no less"
thatthesublimegoes
(McCarthy15), thelanguageitselfis so beautiful
The pleasingastonishment
almostunnoticed.5
of a skyfullof starsis
whatJosephAddisoncalls "Greatness...
[or] theLargenessof a whole
View" (540). However,the stars' "bitterarcs" suggestsomething
Not only is the whole novel set in the "vast uncultivated
troubling.
desert"with"hugeheapsof mountains,
highrocksand precipices"that
like
Kant
after
withgreatnessor thesublime,
identifies
Addison,
him,
butitsscattered
death
andfearinvoke"ideas of
descriptions
suggesting
and
a
notion
that
Edmund
Burke
addedto thedefinition
pain
danger,"
of the sublimein 1757 (86). This idea of dangeris more clearly
apparentinpassagessuchas thisone: "In twodaystheybeganto come
upon bones and cast-offapparel.They saw halfburiedskeletonsof
muleswiththebonesso whiteand polishedtheyseemedincandescent
even in thatblazingheatand theysaw panniersand packsaddlesand
thebonesof menand theysaw a muleentire,thedriedand blackened
carcasshardas iron"(McCarthy
46).
These remainsof deathwithina vast and hostilecountryside
fit
Burke'sdefinition
ofthesublimeas "rugged,""darkand gloomy,"and
"foundedon pain,"but are interspersed
withinpassages of beautiful
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61

in whatBurkeexplainsis a mixingof thesublime

languageresulting
withthebeautiful:"In theinfinite
we
varietyof naturalcombinations
mustexpectto findthequalitiesof thingsthemostremoteimaginable
fromeach otherunitedin thesame object"(157). Anotherexampleof
thisintricate
mixtureis in the followingdescription
of a snakebitten
whose
horse,
of agonyand
eyesbulgedoutoftheshapelessheadin a horror
it totteredmoaning toward the clusteredhorses of the
companywith its long misshapenmuzzle swingingand
droolingand its breathwheezingin thethrottled
pipes of its
throat.The skinhad splitopen alongthebrideof itsnose and
theboneshonethrough
pinkishwhiteanditssmallearslooked
like paper spills twistedinto eitherside of a hairyloaf of
dough.(McCarthy115)
In thispassage,and muchmoreso in other,moregruesomeones,
we getclose to Burke'sextendeddefinition
of thesublimeas evoking
pain, danger,and terror.He says: "Whateveris fittedin any sortto
excitetheideas of pain,and danger,thatis to say,whateveris in any
sortterrible,
or is conversant
aboutterribleobjects,or operatesin a
manneranalogousto terror,
is a sourceof the sublime;thatis, it is
productiveof the strongestemotionwhichthe mind is capable of
, ranging
feeling"(86). Sources of terrorabound in Blood Meridian
from"a bushthatwas hungwithdeadbabies"(57) to vividdescriptions
of massacredmenwith"strangemenstrual
woundsbetweentheirlegs
and no man's partsforthesehad been cut away and hungdarkand
strangefromout of theirgrinningmouths"(153) and pilgrimsthat
"werescattered
aboutbelowhimin a stonecoulee dead in theirblood"
(314). Kant,and laterJean-Franois
Lyotard,elaborateson thestrong
emotionsofthemind,explaining
thatthemind'sagitation
derivesfrom
the"quicklyalternating
attraction
and
thesame
toward, repulsionfrom,
He
continues:
"The
mind
feels
itself
moved
in the
(97).
object"
of the sublime in nature," because we cannot
representation
buthaveto intuittheexcessive(sublime)thing,beforewe
comprehend
fearsto
perceivethethingas "an abyssin whichit [theimagination]
lose itself'(97). Lyotardsays further
that"because of thistransitory
anguish,thesublimeemotionis notlikeplay"and adds thatin "it the
imaginationis seriouslyoccupied" (68). Intuitingthe excessive,
sublime,even dangerousthingwithinthe beautifully
lyricaltextof
Blood Meridianis what causes the Gothic effectof engagingthe
reader's unconsciousand thus threatening
the reader's aesthetic
whichallowsfortheterror
orhorror
to takeeffect.
distance,
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Kant explainsthatbecausethe sublimeconsistsof terrible

things
whichoccupythemindto suchan extentthatstrongemotionsbecome
involved, due to the mind's inability to comprehend the
" of those
"boundlessness
things(Kant 41), we are simultaneously
attracted
and repulsedby thesublime.Thisparadox,Kantsays,lies in
our frustrated
and ourdelightin thehumanactivityof
comprehension
to
mustbe soughtonly
understand,
attempting
although"truesublimity
in the mindof the [subject]judging,not in the naturalObject [sic]"
(95). Comparingit to a mentalsensationthatexceeds our natural
senses,Kant thus offersan explanationforwhy not all readersare
similarlyaffectedby sublime or Gothic writing.However, this
inevitableparadoxof the sublimeis a fascinating
qualityof Gothic
narratives and explains their potential for metamorphosis.
thedistinction
betweentheGothicelementsofterror
and
Consequently,
horrorinBlood Meridianis less relevantthantheeffectofthesublime
on the readerin general.6Both the horrorand terrorin the novel
threaten
thereader'saestheticdistance(Heller 186) by contributing
to
the sublime seesaw of emotions.The intermingling
of scenes of
withthe beautyof
genocide,indiscriminate
killing,and mutilation
Blood Meridian's language creates a well wroughtnarrativethat
provideswhatLonginuscalls "muchfood forreflection"
(139). It is,
definition
of
the
sublime
that
best
the
perhaps,Longinus'
exemplifies
effectand importance
ofBlood Meridianas a Gothicnovel.Longinus,
in the firstcentury,argued that sublimity"is difficultor rather
on
impossibleto resist,and makesa strongand ineffaceable
impression
the memory."Genuinesublimity,
he wrote,affords"grandeur[that]
produces ecstasy ratherthan persuasionin the hearer; and the
combination
of wonderand astonishment
to the
alwaysprovessuperior
merely persuasive and pleasant" (138). Instead of strivingfor
persuasion,then,Blood MeridianprovideswhatBourassa calls the
nonhuman
elementin literature,
whichis whatmakesa good workof
literature
but
more
thesublimeis arresting
and
trulygreat;
importantly,
conducive to the metamorphosis
of humanitythroughhistorical
- a reflection
reflection
thatblursand challengesthecleardemarcation
of themythologized
Manicheanrolesof good Anglocowboysfighting
evilIndiansandMexicans.
as a mythoclastic
the GothicBlood
Therefore,
counternarrative,
Meridian deals withhistoricalatrocitieswhose implicationsremain
and frightening.
ThatfearderivesmainlyfromJudge
incomprehensible
Holden,whose paradoxicalcharacter
signifiesthedualityof mankind
as well as of civilizationin generalby servingas a satanicfigure.
the novel,thejudge's creationof evil is juxtaposedwith
Throughout
his seeminglybenignphysicality:
"An enormousman dressedin an
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63

oilclothslickerhad enteredthetentand removedhis hat.He was bald

as a stoneandhe hadno traceofbeardandhe hadno browsto his eyes
norlashesto them.He was close on to sevenfeetin height.. . . His face
childlike.His handsweresmall"(McCarthy
was sereneand strangely
as
a
man
witha baby-smooth
hairless,giant,white
6). Thoughdepicted
is
evil
incarnate
who
commits
atrocities
and spews
the
body,
judge
that
leave
little
for
hope humanity.
prophesies
He firstappearsat a tentrevivalinNagadochesanddisingenuously
and bestiality,
whichleadsto
of childmolestation
accusesthereverend
choosesto
thereverend'spersecution
by a mob thatindiscriminately
believe the judge withoutseekingproof to convictthe reverend.
People's credulityseems to be promptedby the judge's childlike
recallsa senseof innocencethatis
appearancethat,save forhis height,
whiteness
and
his
furthered
his
tendencyto stand naked in
by
theJudgenakedatop
withnature:"Someonehad reported
communion
of lightning,
the
thewalls,immenseandpale in therevelations
striding
perimeterup thereand declaimingin the old epic mode" (118).
Curiouslyenough,however,a scene depictingthejudge as a god-like
infantis inevitably
followedbythediscoveryof eithera childmissing
or a childkilled.At one pointhe allowsa "halfbreed
boy"to tag along
theboy is found"lyingfacedown
withthegang,butthenextmorning
nakedin one ofthecubicles"withhis neckbroken(118). Later,aftera
massacreof an Indiancampsite,thejudge saves a littleApache boy,
whomthegang feedsand coverswitha blanket,but"in themorning
thejudge was dandlingit on his knee while the men saddled their
horses.Toadvinesaw himwiththechildas he passed withhis saddle
butwhenhe came back ten minuteslaterleadinghis horsethe child
was dead andthejudge had scalpedit" (164). This notionof thejudge
as murdererand sodomitesits uneasilywith his depictionas the
and unblemished
civilization:he ownsa rifle
embodiment
of righteous
"withan inscription
fromtheclassics"(125), givesaddressesthatare
"like a sermon"(129), saves a group of men pursuedby Indians
throughhis knowledgeof nature'sresourcesto create gunpowder
ofnatureand civilizationin his
(131), recordsandsketchestheartifacts
Whatevertheknowledgeof "this
book (139), and lecturesfrequently.
manof learning"(116), though,theManicheandualityof civilization
thatthejudgeembodiesis notloston thereader.
The menaceof thejudge is further
epitomizedby his evangelizing
the gang membersinto "proselytesof the new orderwhereuponhe
laughedat themforfools"(116) and his claimthatnothingcan exist
he is referred
to as a "greatpale deity"
without
hisconsent.Frequently,
(92) or calledthedevil:"Thejudge.Givethedevilhisdue" (125). As if
unbalancedin his duality,he "appearedto be a lunaticand thennot"
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(127). Sometimeshis comradesreverehim by tellingstoriesthat

containprodigioustwo-wordsentencessuchas "Thejudge." (128). At
the evil he exudes musingthathe has
othertimestheycontemplate
"been sentamongus fora curse"(131) and "so likean iconwas he in
his sittingthattheygrew cautiousand spoke with circumspection
amongthemselvesas if theywould not waken somethingthathad
betterbeenleftsleeping"(147).
The figureof thejudge in Blood Meridiansignifiesthe Gothic
dualityof mankindas well as theAmericanDreamthatunderliesthe
genocide committedin the name of bringingcivilizationto North
America duringthe westwardexpansion.As Mgen, Sanders,and
derivesfromthis
Gothicliterature
Karpinskiclaim,"AmericanFrontier
andthehistory
of
conflictbetweentheinscripted
of civilization
history
the other[sic]" (17) and the judge, as a conflictedor dual figure
embodiesboth.He seemstojustifyAmerica'sconquestofthe
himself,
froma higherto a lowerorder
Westwhenhe saysthat"all progressions
anda residueofnamelessrage"(146).
aremarkedbyruinsandmystery
is frightening.
He
Thejudge's logicin explaining
theoriginsofwarfare
reasonsthat"beforemanwas, warwaitedforhim"(248). To him,war
"is thetestingof one's will" and "theultimate
game"(249). By saying
"war is god" (249), the judge assumes war to be inevitableand
- thenaturaldriveto fightforsuperiority,
to ruleovertheother.
infinite
Thatthenovelendswiththejudge dancingon a stageseemsa dreadful
portent:"He never sleeps. He says thathe will never die" (335).
us withthis
However,readingBlood Meridianas Gothicconfronts
dreadin orderthatwe notonlyfearevil butmitigateit by facingour
andrevisingourvisionofthepast.
dualityand acknowledging
Anotheraspectof mankind'sdual natureBlood Meridianexposes
is thatalong withthe sublimelandscapeof the unchartered
territory
withnativecultures,
whichthePuritans
cametheconfrontation
quickly
demonizedas the abject or evil Other,in contrastwiththeirown
cultureand beliefs.7BorrowingfromCarroll,David Mgen
righteous
describesthePuritans'initialreactionto theNew Worldas one fullof
and aspiration"
("Wilderness"
94). TheirPromisedLand
"apprehension
threatened
to "extinguish
was also theBiblicaldesertinwhichdarkness
theprecariouslightof Christianity"
and in whichtheyhad to fightthe
"agentsof Satan himself,the 'Black Man'" (94). Althoughthe term
"savage"hadbecomea commonlabelforNativeAmericansconcurrent
withthe Puritansettlers'earlyfearof them,theAngloAmericansin
Blood Meridianreferto anybodyother,includingNativeAmericans,
of
AfricanAmericans,and Mexicans,as "niggers."This substitution
the
racisttwistthatmirrors
theearliertermlendsthenovela distinctly
growingdisputesover the slaveryquestionas well as the inherent
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65

thatwould laterbecomea
racismwithintheUnitedStates,something
Gothictropeof itsown.8The settlers
of theNew Worldthusexhibited
a Gothicdualityintheirambition
forconquestandtheirconcurrent
fear
of the land and peoples theywishedto usurp,but incongruities
of
behaviorproper for the bearers of ChristianEnlightenment
and
civilizationwereeasilyresolved:paid armiesclearedtheirpathof the
demonizedIndiansor Mexicans.Yet a Gothicinstability
ariseswhen
the clear-cutboundariesof good and evil get blurred,and Blood
Meridianportrays
thegangthekidjoins as committing
atrocities
that
equal, if not exceed, those of the Native Americans.There are
of deceit and massacresinvolvingpeacefulas well as
descriptions
adversarialNative Americanwarriors,women, and childrenand
wholetribesbecausethe"slaughter
hadbecomegeneral"
extinguishing
(McCarthy155):
[T]he partisansnineteenin numberbearingdown upon the
wheretherelay sleepingupwardof a thousand
encampment
souls...[P]eople were runningout underthe horses"hooves
and the horseswere plungingand some of the men were
the
movingon footamongthehutswithtorchesand dragging
withblood,hackingat the
victimsout,slatheredand dripping
those who kneltfor mercy...[And]
dyingand decapitating
humanson firecame shriekingforthlike berserkers...
They
the long black locks with
movedamongthedead harvesting
theirknivesand leavingtheirvictimsrawskulledand strange
in theirbloody cauls...Men were wadingabout in the red
watershackingaimlesslyat thedead and some lay coupledto
thebludgeonedbodiesof youngwomendead or dyingon the
beach.(155-57)
Even so, the gang membersfeeltheirbehaviorjustifiedby their
Christianideologyand condemnthe"savages,"saying"Damn ifthey
aintabouta cautionto thechristians
[sic]" (56). Whentheylatersee the
headof theirformer
captainpickledin a jar at a bazaar,theycomment
that"That'stheworstthingI everseenin mylife"(70). The gorinessis
terribleon eitherside; Apachescut the soles offthe feetof a living
appearwith"the
person(77) and skinpeople,whilethescalp hunters
of
human
skin
and theirbridles
their
horses
fashioned
out
of
trappings
wovenup fromhumanhairand decoratedwithhumanteethand the
riderswearingscapularsor necklacesof driedand blackenedhuman
of boththeAmericansand the Mexicansis
ears" (78). Characteristic
The Mexicans
theunremitting
reference
to thejusticeof Christianity.
also referto the Native Americansas "barbaros"thatneed to be
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eliminatedfortheirviciousness,claimingthatMexico has alreadylost

too many lives: "The blood of a thousandChrists"(102). The
Americans,
though,even sell thescalps of Mexicanstheyencountered
to theMexicanstheyproposeto protectfromthe'barbarians'andthey,
unknowinglyand ironically, hang "the scalps of the slain
villagers...fromthewindowsofthegovernor'shouse"(185). Thiskind
of ironypermeates
Blood Meridian
, in whichthosewho professto be
mostcivilizedand Christiancommitthe mostrepellentcrimes,thus
and a Gothicblurringof
reflecting
earlyPuritan'sself-complacency
boundaries.
theworst
The reader'staskis neither
to determine
who committed
crimesnorwho was moreevil,butto "explorethenatureof evil...[and
the characters']innerconflicts[that]splitthemin two" (MacAndrew
79). Especially withthe characterof the kid, who partakesin the
atrocitiesyet remainsthe most humanof themall, the "deepening
confusionover moral absolutes" leads the reader to a "growing
awarenessof the depthand complexitiesof the humanpsyche,"as
MacAndrewsuggests.Louis S. Gross explainsthatit was Charles
use ofthetransformed
or
BrockdenBrownwho firstmade"mtonymie
characteras the locus of evil [whichlinkshim to]
metamorphosed
Gothic"andadds that"Ifthereis one centralareaof fear
psychological
theGothicnovelexploitsitis thefearof losingone's senseof selfas a
thestate,and God" (8). It is the
humanbeingin relationto thefamily,
andreaderfear,butitis the
dissolution
oftheselfthatbothprotagonist
and
which
of
human
duality acceptanceofmoralrelativism
recognition
createsmetamorphosis.
Accepting changes of our origin myth or alternative
of historyis a slow and difficult
process.Like the
representations
we fearthedualityin humannatureand rejectits darkside,
Puritans,
buttheGothicnovelsuggeststhateventhoughwe feartheOther,the
Other is oftenus. Spurgeonargues correctlywhen she says that
[s] the consequencesof our
McCarthyin Blood Meridian"interrogate
hero
them"to
of
Western
myths"and rewrites
acceptance archetypal
the
between
the
of
the
American
discontinuity...
mythic
past
bridge
Westand itsmodernrealities"(20). ButBloodMeridianis notmerelya
thefrontier
Westernnovelrewriting
myth.It is muchmorethanthat;it
Gothic.Thatdistinction
is
has metamorphosed
intoa piece of Frontier
essential,becausethenovelrelieson thetropesoftheAmericanGothic
historical
notonlyto presentan alternative
pastbutalso to inducean
in
the
reader.
of
that
alternative
history
By heavilyloading
acceptance
the narrativewiththe beautifuland the gory,McCarthycreatesthe
sublimedichotomy
of attraction
and repulsionthatenthralls
thereader
of Gothicliterature.
The characters
of thekid,symbolizing
theduality
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67

thedualitywithinourhistorical
in mankind,
andthejudge,symbolizing
and distribution
of civilization,
revealwhatGrosscalls "a
perception
fierceterrorism
at the heartof America'sfoundingideology"(36).
informed
Western,McCarthy's
Despite its disguiseas a mythically
of genocidalconquestthus continuesin the
Gothiccounternarrative
Gothic.
tradition
of theAmericannovelthatFiedlersays is essentially
"Untilthe Gothichad been discovered,"Fiedlerclaims,"the serious
Americannovel could notbegin;and as long as thatnovel lasts,the
Gothiccannotdie" (143). JustlikethekidinBlood Meridian, America
seemsto be on a quest,becauseas longas we refuseto acknowledge
of thepast,
thewholeexperienceof mankind,
ignorethe"significance
and refuseto accepttherealityof thoseghostsand devilsthatemerge
fromits gloomydepthsor lurk in the humanheart"(Ringe 176),
Americanswill not gain the knowledgethatcan only derivefrom
The moralambiguity
of
completeacceptanceof life's"darkunderside."
- especiallythe
of its leadingcharacters
thenoveland thecomplexity
kidandthejudge- makeus questionhow muchwe reallyknowabout
aboutgood andevil.
realityandhumanmotivation,
Notes
of his 2004 Charles Brockden
Peter Kafer, in the introduction
Brown's Revolutionand the Birthof AmericanGothic
, relatesan
anecdote regardingthe firstGothic and Americannovelist C.B.
Brown's novel Wieland(writtenat age 27). "Sens[ing] the dark
histories
alreadyweighingdownon theAmericanrepublic,"according
his novelto commenton the
to Kafer,BrownsentThomasJefferson
President's
(xxi).
closelykeptsecretofmiscegenation
slave-owning
to
David Hollowayassignsthe"historicizing
tag" of "latemodernist"
of their
McCarthy'sworks,assertingthat they are "characteristic
historicalmomentof production"and as assuming"a subversive
as RickWallach
posturetowardthequalitiesthatdefinethatmoment,"
not
This
subversive
does
onlyreferto
posture
explains(Wallachxiii).
butappliesto thehistorical
themomentofproduction,
settingofBlood
Meridianin particular.For Sara L. SpurgeonBlood Meridian is a
"whowritesfromtheperspective
frontier
mythby a writer
postmodern
associatedwiththehistories,
mostcommonly
stories,and mythsabout
American frontiersin the popular imagination,"but who
simultaneously
"savagely subvertsthe very mythshe evokes so
and our collective
"of culture,history,
lovingly"(17). As a narrative
with
the
westward
dreamsof thefuture"
expansionintoan
(4) dealing
and
withunfamiliar
unknownterritory
cultures,the frontier
peoples
coined
it
has
Jackson
Turner
as
Frederick
changedovertime,yet
myth
is stillevidentin our everydayculture.In Blood Meridian, Spurgeon
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and critiquesimperialideology,at
claims,McCarthy"bothreproduces
once problematizingand romanticizingtraditionaltropes in a
visionof a futuretied withbondsof blood to
complexlypostmodern
thelegacyofthemythic
past"(17). Expandingon Spurgeon'sconcept,
JohnCant sees McCarthyas a mythoclast
while KennethLincoln
in
that
Blood Meridian,
recognizes
McCarthy'searlyfiction,
including
"Gothichorror
no
his
but
references
to the
gets gorier"(18),
superficial
Gothicstop wherehe calls Gothica distortion,
a "perversion
of socalled normalcy"(21). Althoughnot entirelyincorrect,the term
carriesa negativeconnotation
thatdistracts
fromthereal
"perversion"
function
of Gothicliterature.
He comescloserto itsrealmeaningwhen
he saysthatJudgeHoldenis a reminder
that"theAmericanwestwas at
timesa holocaustofManifestDestinyandwhitesupremacy"
(87).
3JohnCantsees
McCarthyas a mythoclast
(a termcoinedbyMatthew
Guinn)who attacksthe Americanpastoral(the Appalachiannovels)
and Westernmyth(the Border Trilogyand Blood Meridian) as
embodyingthe destructivelies of Americanexceptionalismthat
McCarthyseeksto deconstruct.
4 In the American
Gothic,Leslie Fiedler concludes,the "heathen
wilderness"replacesthe decayingmonuments
of Europe,and nature
insteadof society"becomesthesymbolofevil" (160). The villainis no
buttheIndiansavage and theAmerican"novelof
longerthearistocrat
terror...
[is] becominga Calvinistexpos of naturalhumancorruption
ratherthan an enlightenedattack on a debased rulingclass or
entrenched
superstition."
5 David
Holloway,in his discussionaboutplacingMcCarthyin a late
Modernisttradition,
nicelysummarizesthe notionsof severalcritics
whohavewritten
aboutlanguageinBlood Meridian.He concludesthat
"[Steven] Shaviro,[Vereen]Bell, and Dana Phillipsare amongthe
who have traced the primacyof language
many commentators
in generating
effects...
this vision of a world fromwhichthe very
of
transcendence
has beennotionally
erased"(13). Holloway
possibility
with
those
critics
who
that
agrees
say
McCarthy'sis "a kindof prose
that collapses the distinctionbetweenhumanand "other"worlds"
(Holloway14). See David Holloway,TheLate Modernismof Cormac
McCarthy(Westport,Connecticut:GreenwoodPress, 2002). See
especiallyVereenBell, TheAchievement
of CormacMcCarthy(Baton
of
Press,1988). Bell's description
Rouge: Louisiana StateUniversity
use
of
in
Blood
Meridian
McCarthy's
language
alreadysuggestsa
Gothicdualityat playinthebook:"Whensimilesproliferate
as theydo
in Blood Meridian
, crowdingin upon one anotheror rhythmically
therole of the doubleimagethatsimilepresentsbeginsto
recurring,
takeon significance
in itself'(132).
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69

betweenterror
Althoughmostcriticsagree now thatthe distinction
at best,TerryHellerclaimsthatterror
and horroris tentative
refersto
the fearof harmto oneself,while horroris feltwhenanticipating
/
harmto others.Heller'sdistinction,
one and a halfcenturies
witnessing
aftertheone AnnRadcliffediscussesin "On theSublimein Poetry"in
theeffectof McCarthy'snarrative
to relateto
1826,woulddetermine
s earlier
the feeling of horror,then, merely refiningRadcliffe'
to referto an "uncertainty
and obscurity"
distinction.
She claimsterror
the "dreadedevil...expanding]the soul and awaken[ing]
concerning
to a highdegreeoflife,"whereashorror
freezes
thefaculties
"contracts,
andnearlyannihilates"
thesefaculties(150). In Blood Meridian, horror
thegorydepictionsof the
wouldemergefromthereader'switnessing
cowboys and trappersfighting"evil" Indians and
Anglo-American
while terror
Mexicansas knownfromthe classic frontier
narratives,
would be the reader'srealizinghis / her own nation'scomplicityin
these atrocitieswhose mythologized
versionsno longercover the
gruesomerealities.
7 Jeannette
Idiartand Jennifer
Schulz give an exampleof Othering
basedon CharlesBrockdenBrown'snovelEdgarHuntlyin which"the
butitalso functions
as a
wildernessis a veryrealand physicalthreat...
- the unassimilability
- of Native
metaphor for the "otherness"
thewildernessin
Americansand immigrants.
Wheretheformer
reflect
which they live, the latter,in effect,carrya wildernesswithin,
in superstition,
disease and anarchy[sic]." See Jeannette
manifesting
Idiartand Jennifer
Schulz, "AmericanGothicLandscapes:the New
World to Vietnam," in Spectral Readings. Towards a Gothic
, editedbyGlennisByronand David Punter(New York: St.
Geography
Martin'sPress,Inc., 1999), 127-139.For the"abject"as a conceptof
the Other,see JuliaKristeva,The Powers of Horror: An Essay on
Abjection(New York:ColumbiaUP, 1982).
For slaveryas a distinct
tropeof theAmericanGothicsee TeresaA.
America
Gothic
Goddu,
(New York:ColumbiaUP, 1997.
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