How we cite our quotes:
Quote #7
"Before the last poor n—r reached the bottom of the slope there was fifty-eight of them lay slaughtered among the gravels" (10.78).
The violence in this book is almost always mixed with some sort of racism. Sometimes it's enough to make you want to put the book down. But eventually it all gets so excessive that the violence almost gets kind of boring. And that's exactly the kind of thing McCarthy wants to confront you with—your own boredom at the suffering of others. Kind of creepy, right?
Quote #8
"The man as they rode turned black in the sun from the blood on their clothes and their faces and then paled slowly in the rising dust until they assumed once more the color of the land through which they passed" (12.53).
In a symbolic moment, the blood on the riders' clothes makes them blend in with the color of the red and black land around them. It's almost as if their violence has brought them to a more primal and essential kind of humanity. It's almost as if they are more connected to the land because of their violence. But now we have to do the tough work of deciding the bigger implications of what this means.