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Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:
The setting of Blood Meridian is the American southwest—states such as Texas and California, among others—as well as Mexico. The story itself is a sort of pilgrimage, beginning with the kid in Tennessee and winding across the country, down through Mexico, up to California, and back again. McCarthy is incredibly detailed in his descriptions of specific towns and villages and often names precisely where the kid is journeying to or from, be it Chihuahua, Gypsum Lake, Yuma Crossing, or San Diego.
The specificity of place and setting grounds McCarthy's work of fiction. His fictional odyssey involves characters drawn from history and geographical settings drawn from the world itself. The physical setting is of particular importance to McCarthy: his prose is filled with detailed descriptions and powerful imagery that paint pictures of unimaginably beautiful places side-by-side with destitute towns and villages. His mention of individual towns, inspired by his travels across the South to many of the same places he names, are described with an almost anthropological precision. The vividness with which he writes about the settings that make up Blood Meridian are a direct consequence of his prior research and travel.
Indeed, the setting itself is often an antagonizing figure, and at other points a foil, for the kid, with harsh and unforgiving landscapes threatening his life and survival at various moments. The setting itself juxtaposes the native Mexicans and Americans against Glanton and his crew: the natives, who are often at the receiving end of brutal violence at the hands of Americans, are far more capable of surviving in the adverse environment than the Americans are. The setting then frames the scalp-trade-driven conflict that dominates the novel.
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