Literary Elements In Cormac Mccarthy's Blood Meridian

Many people mistakenly take things in their appearance, missing out on the true depth that could otherwise be presented. In literature authors use literary elements, such as symbolism, to help the reader look deeper into a piece. Symbolism is when an object or an action has many layers of meaning in a story. These layers can reveal a story’s true meaning and the true feeling of the characters. Cormac McCarthy’s writing style in Blood Meridian does not allow the character to show emotion, so the symbolism gives the reader some insight into these emotions. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy we are given insight to the characters feeling through symbolism.

Authors Background (All the McCarthy Bio citation)

Cormac McCarthy, originally named Charles

This book was not heavily liked by everyone and it got some mixed reviews, but was good enough to win him the William Faulkner Award. This award granted him a traveling fellowship and the right to travel Europe. While in Europe, he met his second wife Anne DeLisle and they were able to travel Europe with one another. When they both returned from Europe McCarthy published his second novel, Outer Dark. This two novels were the building blocks for his career, but the real reason he is famous is due to Child of God and Suttree. These novels were dark and mysterious and the readers loved them (Cormac McCarthy Biography1). After McCarthy hit it big with Child of God and Suttree and established himself in the writing world he published All the Pretty Horses and this was his first mass selling novel. It almost sold 200,000 copies and won him the National Book Award. This book was the beginning of a three book set and he later on added The Crossing and Cites of the Plain, he called this the Boarder Trilogy. The Boarder Trilogy was successful and really put McCarthy on the map for writing. Around 2005 McCarthy wrote No Country for Old Men and this book was so successful that it was made into a move that went on to win an Oscar award. McCarthy wrote a second book, The Road, which hit the motion picture won the Pulitzer Prize. This was an award for his achievements in American journalism. Due to his success on the big screen he saw a career in screen writes so he went on to write The Councilor (Cormac McCarthy Biography