Demystifying the Judge: Law and Mythical Violence in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian

Since its publication in 1985, the extreme scenes of violence in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian have posed a central problem for critics. So far, they have addressed its violence by either historicizing it in the context of American imperialism, or by naturalizing it as part and parcel of the human condition. Through a reading of Judge Holden's character as a figure of the law, I propose instead to read its violence as the result of a metaphysical yearning for meaning to brace us against the fear of the unknown. I argue that this is what forms the basis of the judge's rule in Blood Meridian, and by extension, what the novel reveals as the dark underside of modern society. By demystifying the judge thus, the illusion of the rational ground of society falls away, thereby opening up new possibilities for meaning.