First, to address the “men of the country,” I have no idea who they are. I assume the Captain’s malice and misdeeds extend beyond John Grady, Rawlins and Blevins, and that these people are taking him away to answer for his deeds. They strike me as a lawless group, and that is hinted at later when John Grady assumes the Captain is dead. The biggest question is why do they leave John Grady alone? He has several horses, including one very valuable one. I find nothing in the text to explain this.
Much like my problem with a pistol going off at a random time, McCarthy leaves us totally in the dark and if there is some kind of stylistic or literary reason, I certainly don’t see it.
In my post after they go to jail, I remarked that I hoped the book did not turn into a “thrill-ride” and to my dismay that is just about exactly what happened. I do not mind the action at all, but it seems to have taken place at the expense of more interesting themes that were developing in the novel. Just for instance, we know it is at Alejandra’s insistence that John Grady is bought out of jail, but we never really see her struggle. Does she ever truly consider leaving Mexico with him? Is she staying because she loves her family? Is she staying because she likes to be wealthy? She just hops on a train and leaves.
What I was looking forward to even more was John Grady’s meeting with Don Hector. Don Hector immediately takes a liking to John Grady, but does it all evaporate upon finding out he has had an affair with Alejandra? Perhaps it was not out of fear of losing Alejandra, and perhaps he was trying to come to terms with it? Perhaps as Ryan said earlier, he sees something special in John Grady and can not forget it. We never find out. And Perez, I predicted we would see him again, and that was not the case. Why introduce his character to great extent only to have him play no role beyond jailhouse intermediary?
I assumed that as part of the “Border Trilogy” we would see these characters again, and while there were too many loose ends for my liking to end even a portion of a series, I thought that many of the questions would be answered in future books. However, Jake tells me that the characters do not appear in the other two books, which makes me question why it is called a trilogy. Is McCarthy responsible for that too, or was it some kind of publishing gimmick? Either way I am not pleased about it.
John Grady’s meeting with the judge is very interesting, and I thought a nice bit of storytelling. What is the significance? Why is it important to hear John Grady say that he is haunted by his deeds? The entire adventure was a disaster. Is this final admission necessary to show that the adventure left him emotionally damaged as well as scarred physically and broken hearted? The rotten icing on the big crap-cake?
What do you make of the encounter with the other Jimmy Blevins?
Is there a silver lining? Is there anything positive that comes from the trip?
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