In Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian it tells the twisted journey of a young kid out in the west following the disturbing Judge Holden. Holden can be considered a frightening influence to the kid convincing him once or twice to commit murder. It could be said that the judge is the Devil itself within this book or is the ultimate evil. In the epilogue of the book Blood Meridian it may also vaguely tell of another character who can be considered an “ultimate evil” and can even become a mirror figure of the judge. The epilogue basically interprets a character who becomes an evil influence just like the judge which shapes the novel’s basis of plot.
In the beginning of the epilogue is states that of a man digging holes in the plain all over the place. He puts rather strong force into digging the wholes and starts to “enkindles the stone in the hole with his steel hole by hole striking the fire out of the rock which God has put there. (McCarthy 337),” basically sparking fires within these holes. Fire in a way can symbolize destruction or war to whom the Judge in Blood Meridian states that War is God saying that destruction is always on a keen eye towards humanity to which they cannot escape (McCarthy 249). Those who can become recognize as the ultimate evil seek out for destruction as the Judge did seeking the destruction of the innocence and as the man in the epilogue can be symbolically doing sparking up fire, sparking up destruction.
After the introduction of the man digging holes in the plain it comes across followers of the digger whom which some are searching within these holes and some who are not. In the epilogue it is explained that these followers are being restrained always being monitored with escapement and pallet (McCarthy 337). This power of restraint is just like the judge able to keeping some of his followers restraint through violence, fear or even hope. When the Judge is able to manufacture gunpowder with urine it gives his followers some sense of...