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Cormac McCarthy's literary masterpiece, Blood Meridian, published in 1985, serves as the definitive "anti-Western"; the definitive deconstruction and demolishment of the Western genre and everything it stands for. Whereas Westerns of the past, such as John Ford/John Wayne films served as racist historical revisionism which depicted the white man and cowboys as heroic purveyors of freedom, liberty and civilisation dominating the "evil, savage Indians"; Blood Meridian serves as the complete antithesis to everything those works stood for. Rather than brave "civilised" heroes, the white cowboy men in Blood Meridian are depicted as psychopathic, mass murdering, genocidal and rapacious monsters who torture, rape and murder Native Americans for profit and pleasure. Borne out of the more critical thinking lens to US history brought upon by the Vietnam War, McCarthy produced a work that is a national epic which could be considered on par with "The Odyssey" or "Moby Dick".
The plot of the novel follows a 14-year-old male outlaw runaway known only as The Kid, who after various mishaps with the law, soon finds himself joining the Glanton Gang, a group of ruthless state-sponsored mercenaries headed by John Joel Glanton, who are paid by the U.S. and Mexican governments to hunt down, kill and scalp Native Americans fighting off white settler invaders. Among the Glanton Gang is a mysterious and sinister figure known as Judge Holden, a bald, 7-foot-tall, muscular, pale and hairless man with vast intelligence and unlimited knowledge of arts, history, sciences and culture. As the gang rape, pillage and massacre their way across the West, they become increasingly corrupted by the Judge's nihilistic, socially Darwinistic philosophy that "War is God" A novel that shows in visceral bloody detail, the horror and murderous sadism of Manifest Destiny and Native American genocide, Blood Meridian not only serves as a dark mirror to America's dark past, but also as a deconstruction of the very idea that Western nations were founded on "honourable means" or the utterly fanciful notion that they stood for "freedom, liberty and justice" What emerges is a dark, gruesome, violent, bleak, haunting and disturbing novel about both the atrocities of Manifest Destiny and Native American genocide, and humanity's almost unlimited capacity for violence, evil, barbarity and cruelty.
"You can find meanness in the least of creatures, but when God made man the devil was at his elbow. A creature that can do anything. Make a machine. And a machine to make the machine. And evil that can run itself a thousand years, no need to tend it."
This quote, spoken by the old hermit who only appears briefly towards the beginning of the novel, both speaks volumes of the book's literary power, and encapsulates many of the core themes central to the novel. If Blood Meridian could ultimately be summed up as one thing, it would be this: the nature of human evil. The "machine" that the old hermit speaks of could possibly indicate the genocides of Natives presently happening in the novel, but it could also serve as a meta prediction of the wars and genocides to come in the following century. World Wars I and II saw the birth of heavily mechanised and machine-like warfare, causing levels of deaths and suffering almost untold in human history. Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler also engineered the first industrialised genocide of European Jews in the Holocaust, giving a possible double meaning to the "machine... an evil that can run itself a thousand years"; as Hitler infamously also wanted the Third Reich to last a thousand years. The highly mechanised warfare deployed by the U.S. in Vietnam, including the use of deadly chemicals such as napalm and Agent Orange against Vietnamese civilians, once again hints at the "machine" that the old hermit predicted. Evil has been here since the dawn of humanity, and Blood Meridian serves as a dark reminder not only of the evils of the past, but of the very evils that continue to this very day.
"Men are born for games. Nothing else. Every child knows that play is nobler than work. He knows too that the worth or merit of a game is not inherent in the game itself but rather in the value of that which is put at hazard. Games of chance require a wager to have meaning at all. Games of sport involve the skill and strength of the opponents and the humiliation of defeat and the pride of victory are in themselves sufficient stake because they inhere in the worth of the principals and define them. But the trial of chance or trial of worth all games aspire to the condition of war for here that which is wagered swallows up game, player, all. War is the ultimate game because war is at last a forcing of the unity of existence. War is god."
This is arguably the novel's most infamous quote, spoken by its main villain, Judge Holden. The Judge is one of the deepest and most thought-provoking characters ever conceived, literature or otherwise. His aforementioned limitless knowledge of arts, sciences, culture and history makes him stand out as a mastermind; a genius among geniuses. With all of his knowledge of humanity and the vast resources at his disposal, he should use that to help humanity for the cause of good, right? Wrong. The Judge as is later revealed is a nihilistic, psychopathic, genocidal warlord who wishes nothing short of permanent war and eternal violence upon the world, believing cruelty and barbarism are the true nature of humanity.
"Moral law is an invention of mankind for the disenfranchisement of the powerful in favor of the weak."
Judge Holden is to me personally, easily the most evil and terrifying fictional character ever created. An unstoppable warmonger who genocides, tortures, murders and scalps Native Americans and who frequently rapes, murders and scalps numerous innocent young children; the Judge is the epitome of evil. He is war and barbarity personified. He represents all of humanity's atrocities throughout the course of history. Believing war and violence to be the true state of humankind, the Judge is a symbol for all of the atrocities humanity has committed throughout history. His violence and depravity, shocking and horrifying as it may be, serves a deep historical, socio-political and philosophical purpose in the novel. His complete disregard for morality as "an invention of mankind" for disenfranchising the strong in favour of the weak is echoed throughout various mass murdering dictators and leaders throughout history, including Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Emperor Hirohito and many, many others. If we are to better ourselves as a species, we must reject the philosophy of men such as the Judge and work towards making the world a better place for us all, rather than the Judge who wishes to make the world a place of permanent violence, war, chaos and barbarity.
"He never sleeps, the judge. He is dancing, dancing. He says that he will never die."
At the end of the novel, as the Man is about to leave the town he's visiting, he is mysteriously lured into an outhouse in the middle of nowhere. Inside is the Judge waiting for him, pale and naked. The Judge violently grabs him and shuts the door. It is never explicitly revealed what happens to the Man but after the Judge leaves, a group of men arrive in and shout "OH DEAR GOD!" It would be very safe to assume that the Judge raped and killed the Kid/Man in a manner too horrifically gruesome to be depicted. The Judge likely did this because the Kid/Man refused to commit to the "dance" most likely the "dance of death".
Judge Holden, now having rid himself of the Kid/Man dances frantically at the tavern and celebrates his victory, completely getting away with every horrific act he's done and emerging victorious at the end of the novel, laughing, and "dancing, dancing, He never sleeps. He says that he will never die." The novel's ending is as bleak, haunting and ambiguous as any in fiction. The fact that the monstrously evil Judge gets away with everything, is never punished, and emerges victorious most likely demonstrates that evil has won. Evil never sleeps, and as long as humanity is alive, evil will never die. As the novel's living embodiment of evil, the Judge never sleeping and saying that he will never die is deeply symbolic of how as long as humanity is around, there will always be evil, violence and depravity in this world. Like the Judge, evil never sleeps. And evil... will never die.
Overall, this novel is by far, the darkest, bleakest, most violent and disturbing piece of fiction I've ever come across, written or visualised. A seething indictment of America's dark past of violence, greed, racism and genocide, the novel is indicative of the nature of evil and how war and barbarity dominates the pages of history. The novel's graphic content and philosophical density has made it near-unapproachable to adapt to film or TV, despite multiple failed attempts. personally hope it is adapted as a HBO miniseries with Glenn Fleshler, notable for his villainous role in "True Detective, plays Judge Holden, but even if it never is adapted, we still have a searingly haunting piece of fiction with the most bleak, ambiguous and haunting ending this side of Twin Peaks: The Return. An amazing novel and piece of art that remains seared in my mind and will undoubtedly stay with me forever.
By @tvnerdaran
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