> muh all consuming evil corncob paints some pretty vistas

>>9437220
He is not evil you mong. He is the last man, the one who opened every door and defeated the wolves. He is always trying to make the world his and that's why he KILLS THE MAN, TO BE ONLY ONE in his twisted worldview.

>>9437241
Exactly hes evil

>>9437241

Do it. You won't. You won't do shit.

DUDE MEANINGLESS VIOLENCE LMAO *SPITS*

>>9437301
Lmao

>>9437288
The whole world is violence and those who are not wolves are killed by the group. The book is about survival, not morality. It`s pretty clear when Holden talks about how to rise a kid and when he speaks about war. In this book, existence is war and there is no way out. In the end Holden is alive and the Man is not, even if he showed mercy and was different.

>>9437300
I'll do it, when you have something to loose besides your mouth.

wouldn't say that his "theme" is the absurdity of life, but rather the weird absurdity that humans create for themselves, and the constructs we consider it necessary to uphold -- power, honor, violence, etc.

In his more "happy" novels (The Road, All The Pretty Horses), one of McCarthy's strongest devices is creating displays of beauty by showing the pain of loss: What better way can exemplify love than heartbreak? What better way can we exemplify the bond of a father and a son than by straining it to its natural conclusion?

McCarthy has been called the "heir" to Faulkner's tradition, and I think that's the key to what you're looking for. A common gripe about Blood Meridian is the excessive scenery description. However, McCarthy is never one to include that which is unnecessary -- juxtapose the beauty and peace of the landscape to the violence and carnage that follows man in a "new" frontier. McCarthy isn't implying that violence is inherent to our nature, but that we THINK that it is, and therefore we follow it to uphold the atavistic tendencies we can justify. All The Pretty Horses: The honor and loyalty of remaining with ones family instead of following one's heart isn't inherent to our nature, but we THINK that it is, and therefore we perpetuate our unhappiness.

Retaining the Faulkner point, look at books like The Sound and The Fury or Absalom!, Absalom!. Both of these seem to put the strange "have to's" of life under scrutiny -- the toxic, unspoken values and culture of the South exemplify the strongest the absurdity of social values. Unspoken rules and social gestures are key in navigating these societies, yet everybody can equally recognize their baroque and superficial nature.

Crossreference this to upholding the constructs of honor, violence, forbidden love, etc. and you've got a good look at McCarthy.

>>9437417
Nice post. Finally, one that makes me want to read the book.

>>9437405
>when you have something to loose besides your mouth.

We got a corncob over here!

>>9437417
bretty good son. You should write a longer review/analysis.

Someone post his dialogue on war, I would say that the judge tells us exactly who he is and why he is motivated to do the things he does plain as day

>>9437405

Hahaha, nice joke. You've had fucking years to do anything. You. Won't. Do. Shit.

>>9437417

How do you think like this about a novel? I'm not so educated, I enjoyed Blood Meridian, and a book like Moby Dick, but I feel as if I am not getting as much out of them as I could be.

>>9438870
Watch lectures, read criticial works, form your own opinions

Anybody is capable of this, just acquaint your mind to thinking like that

>>9437417
I'd just like to chime in with a reminder that talking about novels in terms of "theme" can be productive, but it can lead to the misconception that there is some deep philosophical meaning underpinning McCarthy's work and vision apart from the craft of the novels themselves.
I think this is a common and understandable temptation. But I think the value of someone like McCarthy is in his craftsmanship- he explores characters and moral situations with attention to detail, ethical difficulty, and vivid stylization. I think it kind of impoverishes The Road to talk about it (for instance) as a debate about the nature of goodness and futurity- I'd be more inclined to think of it as the exploration of a dramatically rich situation.
This is not to say that you couldn't do a viable theoretical reading of McCarthy from an ethical, postcolonial, or historiographic perspective. But I think it would be misguided to say that the novels are trying to "say" any more than they already do.

>>9437417
McCarthy has, in my opinion, an absolutely astonishing ability to put words to feelings and atmosphere, and a knack for picking out the one or two sensations or details that create something truly vivid.
The conversations between the Father and Son in The Road, the way John Grady(?) describes the love interest in All The Pretty Horses, the living, breathing landscape of Blood Meridian: to me, what separates McCarthy from other writers is the way his words directly translate to sensory feelings, the familiarity of love and love lost, and the feeling of being the metaphorical "stranger in a strange land".