10
votes
Accepted
Can absence of information be considered a stylistic choice?
Omission is an extremely important part of style. Often what is said is actually less important than what is left unsaid, sometimes referred to as the subtext. Hence the critical importance of the oft-...
- 356
7
votes
Accepted
How did they track Llewelyn Moss in "No Country for Old Men"?
I know this question is old, but...
Yes, the businessmen who hired Chigurh also hired other hitmen to track Moss down. Chigurh finds this insulting and infuriating and it's one of the reasons he goes ...
- 136
5
votes
Accepted
Origin of "give a watermelon a pure fit" in "Blood Meridian"
I interpret the sentence as meaning, “the Apaches are so frightening that they would give even a watermelon a feeling of intense fear.” Elrod’s grin and the man’s reaction suggest that the sentence is ...
- 40.1k
5
votes
What is the meaning of the epilogue in Blood Meridian?
More than likely the tool the man was using was a post hole digger. I'm speculating but I've used one and I can't think of what else it could be. He was probably digging post holes for a fence. When ...
- 136
4
votes
What is the meaning of the epilogue in Blood Meridian?
Rereading Blood Meridian after about a dozen years and this is something I just thought about the Epilogue: Could the author have meant simply to refer to the spread of the telegraph in the West, a ...
- 41
4
votes
Can absence of information be considered a stylistic choice?
Wallace's answer is definitive, so this answer is merely in way of commentary on the issue.
Hidden information is not only a stylistic choice, but a strategic choice
Viewed from the standpoint of ...
- 4,000
3
votes
Accepted
What's the significance of The Idiot in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian?
Partly, I'd argue that the idiot, or James Robert Bell, is a continuation of the novel's Moby-Dick allusions. In Moby-Dick, Captain Ahab takes the young sailor Pip under his charge after a whaling ...
- 156
2
votes
What is the purpose of the surrealist content in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian?
Aside from contributing to the novel's (at least partly) "Acid Western", dreamlike style, I think that the novel's surrealistic elements are intended to strengthen its themes of violence and ...
- 156
2
votes
Origin of "give a watermelon a pure fit" in "Blood Meridian"
I had always taken this to be questioning whether the ears had, in fact, come from live Apache warriors. As in: the "Apaches" in question were so feeble they would only frighten ("give .. a pure fit") ...
- 14.6k
1
vote
What is the meaning of the epilogue in Blood Meridian?
I see it as just a simple allegory for life. One of the topics I remember from Blood Meridian is that of agency, whether free-will or determinism. I think the epilogue is life. Those who do the hard ...
- 11
1
vote
What is the meaning of the epilogue in Blood Meridian?
I think striking fire from the earth is a reference to nuclear weapons, uranium. McCarthy describes in detail how gun power was made from, things from the earth. He also describes weapons and what ...
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