Journey through Hell in Blood Meridian Essay -- Blood Meridian Essays

Journey through Hell in Blood Meridian Cormac McCarthy's novel Blood Meridian details what can only be described as the kid's journey through hell. Throughout the novel McCarthy gives the reader the sensation of being in hell. The is brutal and unforgiving physical setting adds a hellish atmosphere in which there is no evidence of any morals or sympathy for the innocent. Judge Holden is even described in terms reminiscent of the devil. All of these factors lead the reader to compare the kid's journey through the Mexican-American border country with a descent into hell. Blood Meridian is set in a place and time period where there was little societal structure and a lot of racial hatred. The very land that the kid travels is full of dirty saloons and people in poverty. As McCarthy writes, "bone palings ruled the small and dusty purlieus here and death seemed the most prevalent feature of the landscape" (48). The country is definitely not travel-friendly. There is an added element of godlessness in the kid's journey. When the kid signs up with a group of renegade nationalists, t...