The American West is one of the places that contain the world’s historical aspects of literature. Western America is an adventure of new discoveries. Literature and art are the symbolic dimensions of the western American region that are used to explain the mythical beliefs of living. However, most of the historical events have not been documented due to lack of proper mechanisms of engulfing the truth for future reference. Because there have been no proper records of happenings in western America, we believe that it is hard for one to document much about prior incidents to today’s activities.
However, in the novel Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy has related the past happenings to bring out a better presentation in today’s aspect. McCarthy has proven that what we believe as myths are events with a cause. The American West, characterized as the new and the old west, has many disparities in their literature context. The old West has no proof of documentation and so what people know about the past is only through myths. On writing Blood Meridian, McCarthy has revolved the current world to the previous setting of the culture and traditions of the western Americans.
In the novel, McCarthy has used Judge Holden to say that “Men’s memories are uncertain, and the past that was differs very little from the past that was not” (McCarthy 26). The author notes the past can be used to give an interpretation about what is believed to be myths.
In his article, Baym states that: “students in the western literature think that, the old west has one kind of story to tell while the New West has many different stories to tell.” However, he believes that there is a relation between the old and the new that keeps the New West with more activities. He explains that “there is no separating the place that is the west from the history that has made the West” (Nina 826). Therefore, at no point would the people of West America have a culture today that is different from their traditions.
Therefore, there is the need to accept West America as a source of mythical information for understanding the present scenery of the region.
- Nina Baym. “Old West, New West, Postwest, Real West.” American Literary History 18.4 (2006): 814-828.Project MUSE. Web. 5 Jan. 2016.
- McCarthy, Cormac. Blood Meridian, Or, the Evening Redness in the West. New York: Vintage Books, 1992. Internet resource.
