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Definition of Tone
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical, and so on. For instance... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical... read full definition
Tone
Explanation and Analysis:
Blood Meridian's tone is heavily critical of the U.S. imperialism baked into the westward expansion inherent in Manifest Destiny. By portraying the life of the kid from birth to death, the novel paints a glum picture of what life is like when it is centered on ethnic violence. In fact, this is equally true of all members of Glanton's crew, who suffer brutal deaths as a consequence of their sins (except the Judge, who is himself an embodiment of evil in the novel). These brutal deaths serve as a condemnation of greed, most specifically the greed of those who go out west seeking gold in the scalp trade.
McCarthy's insistence on detailing the violence and its subsequent blood and gore serves to indict the characters which the novel centers around, who all play an active role in brutalizing innocents. Any feelings of goodwill developed for the characters are intentionally dispelled in abrupt, shocking fashion: for example, after the Judge appears to save a child he himself has orphaned, the Judge murders that child without fanfare or remorse, only after the reader has been lulled into believing the child's life was spared.
The religious references contribute to a tone of disapproval and damnation, reminding the reader that the characters' actions are in violation of any moral code, specifically a Christian one. While there is no explicit tone conveyed by a narrator or speaker, the novel is written in such a way that it nevertheless makes its perspective on the events clear. The closest thing the novel has to a protagonist, the kid, is largely silent throughout the novel, which is as much a condemnation as it is an implicit permitting of the novel's acts of evil. The small acts of mercy the kid indulges in— like sparing Dick Shelby's life—are a faint light of hope in the darkness. While this hope is present in his somewhat ambiguous death, his demise is strongly implied and serves to affirm the already-established tone: sin and violence thrive unchecked in the world of Blood Meridian.
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