Summary: the Story Begins by Giving a Description of the Kid, Drawing an Image of Poverty

Chapter 1

Summary: The story begins by giving a description of the kid, drawing an image of poverty and malnutrition.His father was a schoolmaster but now he has taken to a life of drinking, while his mother died during childbirth. His father never mentions his mother and he doesn’t know her name. The author also mentions a sister that he will never see again but does not say where she is or why.At the age of fourteen he runs away from his home in Tennessee, and he goes as far as Memphis. One year later he makes his way to St. Louis and goes to New Orleans by way of flatboat.Once in New Orleans he lives in a room behind a tavern and gets into fights with a variety of different men on a nightly basis.During one of these fights a man shoots him, once in the back and again just below the heart.After spending two weeks being healed by the tavern keeper’s wife he leaves and takes another boat to Texas.

Once in Texas he works for day wages at various locations and at one point receives payment in the form of an old mule.In 1849 he reaches Nacogoches. He attends a revival held in a tent out in the rain while The Reverend Green is preaching.While he is at the revival a large man with no hair enters and informs the town that the reverend is an imposter.This man makes allegations that the reverend violated an eleven year old girl and even had “congress with a goat”. This goat the town riled up and everyone began shooting at the reverend.The Kid and a man he had met at the revival who was described as looking like a “teamster” left the tent and went across the street to the hotel were they found the man that had made the allegations.He was already at the bar and was referred to as Judge, when asked about how he found out about the allegations he replied that he had never seen or heard of the reverend beforethat night.

The Kid was leaving the bar when he met a man on the street named Toadvine, as Toadvine was coming one way he told the Kid to move and the Kid kicked him.This turned into a huge brawl in the muddy street when a man came along and knocked them both unconscious with a club. When they woke up they were in the road covered in mud, and had lost the urge to kill one another.This was the first chance the Kid had to look at Toadvine and observed that he had no ears and had the letters H, T, and F burned into his forehead.After they had found their boots and Toadvines’ hat the Kid followed him into the bar where Toadvine began asking for Sydney.They found Sydney upstairs in a room after they lit the door on fire and he came out, the book does not go into detail about why Toadvine wants to kill Sydney, but they proceed to hold him down and kick him to death.Once the job is done they leave the bar and the Kid goes to get his mule where he has had it boarded. After getting his mule he rides back through town to leave and sees that the bar is fully ablaze and is watched by the judge as he rides out of town.

Chapter 2 brief summary:After leaving the town the Kid continues to migrate with no apparent destination.He has a brief encounter with a hermit whom he stays the night with and then finds gone the next morning, and then comes on another town. He tries to work for a drink at a bar and ends up getting into another fight. The chapter ends with him looking for his mule.

Definitions:

Teamster - 1. a person who drives a team or a truck for hauling, esp. as an occupation 2.member of a teamsters union

Questions:

1. Why does the author mention his sister yet not give an exclamation?
2. Why does Toadvine have the letters burned into his forehead?
3. Why does Toadvine want to kill Sydney?
   

Chapter 2

1. Chapter Summary:
2. The first chapter describes the childhood of the main character and his first couple of experiences after running away from home. The child, who grew up poor with his father, lost his mother the day he was born. At the age of 14 he ran away to Memphis. After spending a year there, he traveled to St. Louis where he was taken aboard a boat traveling to New Orleans. In New Orleans he lived above a courtyard where he consistently got into bar fights. One night he was shot in the back, then again just below his heart. The tavenkeeper’s wife mended his wounds for about 2 weeks, then without paying her, the child snuck out one night and made his way onto a boat bound for Texas. In Texas the child witnessed a slave being hung and worked in a sawmill. After his time there he rode his mule down to Nacogdoches where he walked into a tent where a reverend was preaching. Soon aftera judge walks in and accuses the reverend of being a fraud, which causes an uproar and gunshots. With everyone franticly running out of the tent, the child manages to go to a bar and hears the judge confess that he was lying about the accusations of the reverend being a fraud. The child then meets a character named Toadvine and manages to help him beat up a man at a hotel and then set the building on fire. The chapter ends with the boy grabbing his mule and riding out of town. In chapter 2, the kid travels as a beggar and a thief. Along his travels he runs into a hermit who offers him food, water and a place to stay for the night. After leaving in the morning the kid comes across a group of cow herders and decides to travel up to Abilene. In Abilene he gets into a fight with a barman and wakes up the next morning in a church.
3. Child- pale and thin, very poor and travels a lot.

Father- schoolmaster, lost his wife in childbirth and his son ran away

Mother- deceased , age 33.

Judge- tall, bald, no hair on face, smokes cigars, wrongfully accuses Rev. Green of being a fraud.

Toadvine- branded on his forehead, crazy, tough, burns down the hotel and beats up Old Sidney.

1. Scullery-The department of a household concerned with the care of the plates, dishes, and kitchen utensils. Also the room or rooms in which the work of this department is carried on.

Hewer-One who cuts wood or stone

Visage-To look upon or at; to regard or observe.

Maltese-A native or an inhabitant of Malta.

Divested-To vest, invest.

Chattels-A movable possession; any possession or piece of property other than real estate or a freehold.

Effigies-A likeness, image, portrait, whether drawn, painted, or sculptured, or of any other kind.

Teamster-The driver or owner of a team; a teamer.

Coiffure-A style or fashion of attiring the head and dressing the hair; head-dress, usually of women.

1. This book can be easily connected with a few of the works we’ve read this semester. The first that popped into my head was The Odyssey. I wouldn’t call Blood Meridian an Epic, but there are few aspects of the two novels that are similar. Both main characters do tons of traveling and meet new people and they also learn from their interactions with these new people. Another book that Blood Meridian reminds me of is Inferno. In both of these works the main characters seem to me like lost souls searching for themselves; they could be called “wanderers”. Although Dante is searching in a more religious atmosphere, while the child is in the regular world, they both can share the characteristic of being wanderers in a general aspect. Also, both characters come in contact with unholy things. Dante faced demons, the dead, and sinners, while the child in Blood Meridian faces alcohol, killing/beating people, and stealing.
2. 3 questions I have about this novel are:
3. What’s the point of the author writing in this style? (fragments, etc.)
4. Why does the judge smile at the kid as he rides out of town after burning down the hotel?
5. What is the kid searching for? (he has passed up job opportunities…)

Chapter 2

We learn in the first chapter of the Blood Meridian that “the kid” is about fourteen years old. His mother died during his birth and the father is seemingly angry at him for this. The kid decides to leave in hopes of finding a place in the world.

In chapter two, the kid meets a hermit. This hermit was a man in the middle of prairie land that resided there. The boy asks for water for himself and his mule and the hermit provides it. The hermit then convinces the kid to stay with him in his hut. The kid hesitates, but the hermit talks him into it. While in the hut, the boy asks the man how long he had lived there. The hermit explains he is from Mississippi and used to own slaves but left after growing tired of “niggers”. The hermit then pulls out a blackened heart stating it cost him 200 dollars since that was the price of the “nigger it hung in”. When the hermit and kid went to sleep, the kid woke up during the night with the hermit leaning over him. The hermit crawled away after the kid asked what he wanted. When the kid woke, the hut was empty, so the kid left. That next night the kid stayed in a herders camp. They offered him to join them on their trip to Louisiana. He declined and carried on his way the next morning. On his trip he ran in to a “dead cart.” A cart that carried corpses. The kid then found himself in a small town. Here he saw dancers and heard music. He entered a bar and asked for a drink. The kid told the bartender he had no money but he would work for some drinks. The bartender then yelled in spanish to an old man playing dominos. Some spanish dialogue was spoken between the two but they ignored the kid. The kid then did a sweeping motion which led the bartender to give him a broom. After finishing the sweeping, the bartender ignored him. The kid was angry and pulled out his gun. The old man got up and left while the bartender and kid got into a fight. The kid basically won and grabbed some liqueur and went to his mule. He woke up the next morning in a church, hungover. He couldn't find his mule. He went and followed the mules tracks which led him towards a river where he saw blacks washing a carriage. The kid called out to them asking if they had seen his mule. One of the blacks told him the direction it went and the kid then found it about a hundred yards down the river.

CHARACTERS FROM CHAPTER 2:

Hermit

Bartender

Old Man

Man on the Bench

Herders

Black men at the River

Terms:

groundshloth

hermit - A person living in solitude.

tailorwise

transgressor- One who transgresses; a law-breaker; a sinner.

Three Questions:

Where is the boy trying to end up?

How did the kid feel he could survive leaving his father?

What did the hermit want that night when he was leaning over the boy?

Chapter 3

I.

Chapter two was about the kid traveling down into Texas. On his way, he meets a hermitthat offers him shelter before a storm. After the kid wakes up, the hermit is gone and so he travels on his mule. Ho goes into to a town where almost everybody speaks Spanish. He ends up getting into a fight with the bartender and he steals a bottle of liquor. Chapter three was full of action in the beginning he is under some bushes and a man walks by and sees him, but he is naked and does not want to come out. The man ends up being Sergeant Trammel and he persuades the kid to join the some kind of army but it was not the U.S. army. Sergeant Trammel promises him a saddle, horse, ammunition, a rifle, and some clothes.Then Sergeant Trammel takes him to the Captain and the captain talks about the Mexican war and the Treaty and how it is disgraceful that America signed it. Then the Captain turns his attention to the kid and ask him question about what he thinks. The kid answers very indifferent about the question till it comes to the saddle and supplies. Next Sergeant Trammel takes him to the camp with the rest of the recruits. The recruits then take him to town sale his mule, get him a saddle, and then they go to the bar. At the bar they meet a Mennonite who foretells what might happen to them when they cross the river. Then the recruit, who name is Earl, is found dead when they are leaving the bar. Chapter four is abouthow the kids travels on earl’s horse. During their travels about three men die, and the sergeant kills some animal for their suppers.

II.

Major Character in Chapter Three

-The Kid: does just fine in this chapter; gets a new horse, saddle, clothes, rifle

-Sergeant Trammel: he is the guy that persuades the kid to join the “army”

-Captain: In this chapter he shows his detest for the treaty

-Mennonite: a guy at the bar that foretells what might happen to them

-Earl: from Missouri, dies at the end of the chapter

-The Texan: convince the kid to spend his money on drinks for them

III.

Terms

Impunity- Exemption from punishment or penalty

benighted- Involved in intellectual or moral darkness

mollycoddles- Pampered; overprotected, over-indulged

benevolence- Favorable feeling or disposition, as an emotion manifested towards another; affection; goodwill

bobtails- not of unity

wikiups-?

Deputations- A document conveying such an appointment; a commission, warrant

Accoutred- Attired, dressed, equipped, arrayed; generally with the idea of being specially attired for some purpose

Laredito-?

Forgefire- smith's fire

Mennonite-A member of a Protestant sect which emphasizes adult baptism and rejects Church organization, military service, and public office.

IV.

I think that this work resembles something of realism because it deals with everyday stuff.

V.

Why are there no quotation marks in this work?

Why does the kid join the “army”?

Does the kid have an emotional connection the mule?

Chapter Four Summary

Chapter three of Blood Meridian begins with the Kid in San Antonio de Bexar the day after his fight with a local bartender. He is approached by a recruiter hoping to sign him into a company of filibusters led by Captain White. Captain White is a soldier who firmly believes in the idea of manifest destiny and lectures the Kid on why it is so important that he joins his group of irregulars. The Kid accepts, hoping to receive new clothes and a proper horse as well as his share of the spoils of war. Chapter four sees the Kid heading out with the company of filibusters. Although the group is well armed, they are modestly supplied with food and after little less than a week, the barren desert proves incapable of sustaining them with either meat or water. Several men become sick with a case of cholera and are dead shortly after their symptoms arise. After only ten days in the desert, the company of men is “ragged” and the horses are starting to die; it appears that the captain may be lost and the men start to mutter amongst themselves: “This looks like the high road to hell to me”. The filibusters move on only to be haunted by wolves and plagued by blowing sand. A soldier’s prayer for rain is answered, and the company stops at a village lying in ruins for the night. The next day the company sees a large group of animals being herded by what the Captain believes to be only a handful of Comanche Indians. The herd of animals is followed, however, by hundreds of Comanche warriors who slaughter the regiment of Americans leaving only a few alive, including the Kid. In Chapter five, the Kid finds his way out of the carnage and meets up with a fellow filibuster named Sproule who becomes a temporary traveling companion. He and Sproule encounter several dead babies who have been impaled through the back of the head onto the limbs of a mesquite tree; they move on finding more carnage in a town that has been ransacked by the same group of Comanches that impaled the infants. The next day Sproule complains that his arm stinks (a sign of gangrene) and the pair of travelers sees a lake mirage that all but destroys Sproule’s spirit to continue their journey. They join a family’s caravan, which takes them to a town where they spend the night. The next morning, the Kid finds Sproule dead and is arrested while urinating and is led to Chihuahua along with several other American prisoners. In Chihuahua, the Kid is reunited with Toadvine who is able to secure them places in an Indian scalping expedition led by a man named Glanton and the Judge.