The Historical Consciousness Of Cormac McCarthy In Blood Meridian

Blood Meridian (1985) is American writer Cormac McCarthy’s western novel which incorporates various elements such as war, history, philosophy, etc. It narrates about the historical massacres that happened in the Unites States-Mexico borderlands in the1850s from a fourteen-year-old boy’s perspective.Applying the notion of power, subversion and containment in New Historicism, the present author first focuses on Judge Holden and the kid in the novel. Through anatomizing their identity, it is perceived that they are respectively the representation of power and that of subversion. Besides, it can be found that the novel ends with Judge Holden’s triumph and the kid’s death, which symbolizes containment. In light of the above analyses, the present author asserts that Cormac McCarthy has integrated his historical consciousness into characterizing the heroes, representing the American West, using the extreme violence as dominant discourse and arranging the end of novel. It is also maintained that Cormac McCarthy stands by the Imperialism. In Judge Holden, we can see McCarthy’s hope that his representation of this bloody historical period can inspire a new generation of Americans to pull together and strive for a better future.