51 pages • 1 hour read
Cormac McCarthyA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Dances and dancing recur as motifs throughout Blood Meridian. Dancing is used as a form of celebration, often associated with debauchery. When Glanton’s gang returns to the governor’s mansion, for example, its drunken revelry involves a great deal of dancing through the streets. Black Jackson becomes involved in a celebration one evening, and he is pushed onto a stage to dance with the traveling magicians. Even Cloyce’s brother dances without inhibition when he is released from his cage. Dancing in Blood Meridian is done by characters who do not feel constrained, either by social morals, racism, or physical restraints. They dance as an elemental, bodily expression of their freedom and their desire to have fun at any cost.
The character most associated with dancing is Holden, who dances, sings, plays musical instruments, and encourages everyone around him to join him in the dance. As Holden explains to the kid, however, the dance is not necessarily an expression of joy. Instead, Holden views dancing as a symbol of war. He dances as though he is performing a ritual that represents war and violence, insisting that neither the dance, war, nor Holden will ever stop. Holden views dancing as a form of social expression that follows a set order.
By Cormac McCarthy
All The Pretty Horses
All The Pretty Horses
Cormac McCarthy
Child of God
Child of God
Cormac McCarthy
Cities of the Plain
Cities of the Plain
Cormac McCarthy
No Country for Old Men
No Country for Old Men
Cormac McCarthy
Outer Dark
Outer Dark
Cormac McCarthy
Stella Maris
Stella Maris
Cormac McCarthy
Suttree
Suttree
Cormac McCarthy
The Crossing
The Crossing
Cormac McCarthy
The Orchard Keeper
The Orchard Keeper
Cormac McCarthy
The Passenger
The Passenger
Cormac McCarthy
The Road
The Road
Cormac McCarthy
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection
View Collection