Date of Award
1-1-2017
Document Type
Masters Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Organizational Unit
College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences
First Advisor
Billy J. Stratton, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Eleanor McNees
Third Advisor
Richard Clemmer-Smith
Keywords
American West, Amoral, Cormac McCarthy
Abstract
The history of the American West, of conquering the frontier, forms the very backbone of national identity in the United States. Cormac McCarthy's southwestern works probe the Western mythic: Blood Meridian, No Country for Old Men, and his screenplay The Counselor offer an alternative to the romantic, antiseptic Western American tradition, exposing the necessary complexity of a realm that cannot be encapsulated in the binary dualism that has so long defined it.
The amoral nature of Cormac McCarthy's antagonists demonstrates that the story of expansion is more complex than is/has been typically understood, both by scholars and the public. McCarthy is offering a different lens through which to examine a foundational period for the nation - one characterized not simply by the traditionally recognized ethos of rugged determinism, but also by depravity and bloodshed. This work seeks to reveal that lens, in an effort to demonstrate the importance of reconceptualizing American identity.
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Rights Holder
John Thomas Arthur
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
File Format
application/pdf
Language
en
File Size
76 p.
Recommended Citation
Arthur, John Thomas, "Amoral Antagonists: Interrogating the Myth of the West in Cormac McCarthy's Fiction" (2017). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1252.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1252
Copyright date
2017
Discipline
Literature