(urth) Blood Meridian - still utterly and completely off topic

[Daniel D Jones]

On Wednesday 04 October 2006 12:29, Alexander, Bryan wrote:
> Why not horror... because it's a historical novel, an antiwestern,
> primarily.  The kid travels right from the old frontier through to
> California, and the novel touches on all sorts of western tropes along the
> way: naturalism, the imposition of law, the cult of the outlaw, Mexico,
> etc. It is horrific, I'll grant you that.  It felt like a very violent
> novel from the start.
>
> "regeneration through violence" is Richard Slotkin's classic formula about
> American frontier lit.  Heroes head out, confront horror, are redeemed by
> their violent response. What's weird is that _Blood Meridian_ isn't
> redemptive at all.  Had the blurber actually finished it?  No spoiler here,
> but cf the conclusion of Melville's _Confidence-Man_.

You don't think that the kid was redeemed by his experiences?  What does the 
Judge mean when he tells the kid he failed him?  Why do they part ways as 
they do?  Why does the book end as it does?