A Study On Masculinity In Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian

Cormac McCarthy is one of the most outstanding contemporary American writers.Blood Meridian along with his other western novels represented by Border Trilogy has established him as a master in the modern American literary world.Blood Meridian is hailed as the greatest western novel by Harold Bloom.Blood Meridian takes the kid’s venture to the west as the main story line,describing the fighting,adventure,massacres,and scalp-hunting activities of various armed forces among male characters in the west.McCarthy portrays the western space as full of masculine violence in the novel and reflects on war and American imperialism through the characterization of Judge Holden.The thesis focuses on masculinity embodied in the novel and analyzes how men gain masculinity through performance of physical strength and studies the influence of the reflexive social practice of masculinity for society.Raewyn Connell,an Australian sociologist,divides relations among masculinities into four modes:hegemony,subordination,complicity,marginalization.She sees masculinity as a dynamic configuration of social practice,and the reflexive practice of masculinity shapes social practice as well.Her theory of masculinity studies can provide a research perspective for analyzing the cultural motivations of men’s violent activities in the novel.The structure of this thesis can be divided into three body chapters embedding within the introduction and the conclusion.The thesis first introduces Cormac McCarthy and Blood Meridian,and summarizes previous studies,and then explains the research focus and structure of the thesis.The first chapter focuses on the performance of male power.Through the description of physical strength of male body,violence of characters,and the hostile landscape of the wild West,the violence in the frontier and the worship of masculinity are reproduced.The second chapter analyzes hegemonic masculinity in the novel,which is manifested by men’s controlling of discourse power.By marginalizing women and homosexual groups,McCarthy in Blood Meridian constructs a patriarchal social structure to secure the domination of men.Chapter three interprets the reflection of hegemonic masculinity on American imperial power.Hegemonic masculinity constructs a patriarchal social structure,which becomes the driving force for the expansion of American imperial power.What’s more,hegemonic masculinity is strengthened in the process of American expansion.By summarizing masculinity embodied in Blood Meridian,the thesis in the conclusion further digs into the gendered American imperialism,which represents the hegemonic masculinity,and analyzes the evil nature of American imperialist expansion and the hegemonic characteristics rooted in American cultural hegemony.Through the analysis of hegemonic masculinity on American imperial power,the thesis reveals McCarthy’s reflection on the evil nature of war in the novel and reveals the illusion of the theory of American Manifest Destiny.In connection with McCarthy’s creating background,the novel reflects on the evil nature of the United States in the Vietnam War.