In my last post on Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, I looked at some examples of the Quest structure to be found in the work, and opened up some questions about the Trickster structure.
To what extent does the kid’s story line follow a Trickster structure when he skedaddles off into the wild unknown without paying or thanking the tavernkeeper’s wife for either her care or for her provision of board and lodging?
For starters, there’s a clear intention to dupe which maps to the first Trickster step in the Trickster structure, shown again below for convenience. You’ll find it at step 6.
Backtracking to step 3, his problem is that he can’t pay his way, so he escapes. What’s interesting about this sequence in Blood Meridian is that at step 6, the meeting between the kid and the tavernkeeper’s wife isn’t a meeting in person – it’s a meeting in absence.
The kid gets away with it – for now.
For the tavernkeeper, it’s left open-ended. All of the 18 Linear story structures have the potential to end tragically.
There are three key elements to tragedy:
Tragic stories typically start with a problem the protagonist has created unwittingly that they want to prevent but fail to.
The drama unfolds primarily in people’s internal worlds.
At the end, the initial problems remain unresolved.
I say more about this in my book The Unknown Storyteller (The Squeeze Press, 2022).
Does this sequence end tragically for her, with her being unable to seek justice, vengeance, or restitution? Or will McCarthy close this later? It remains to be seen.
Later on in the chapter, further instances of the Trickster structure appear. Let’s look at the intersection between the Reverend Green’s story line and the congregation’s. Whether the Reverend Green’s story line follows a Quest structure or a Trickster structure here depends on whether you think he’s genuine in his beliefs, and whether you think they have a basis in truth. Either way, they take a tragic turn.
The Judge’s story line intersects with the Reverend Green’s story line and with the congregation’s. When the judge denounces the preacher, in the preacher’s presence, to the assembled congregation, he’s clearly (as we learn later) intending to dupe the congregation. The congregation, successfully taken in by his ‘arguments’, collectively follow a nested Quest structure, with firearms as their friends/helpers which results in the preacher fleeing. Later on, the congregation’s story line turns out to be following a tragic Trickster structure when they’re given the justification for the judge’s denouncement, the free booze the judge dispenses providing the antidote to any potential hostile move on their part.
By the end of the chapter, we’re none the wiser as to what happens to the preacher.
Further tragic Quests and Trickster structures unfold in this chapter. Sidney’s story line is interesting in that it shows how characters can be tricked by internal tricksters – in this case, Sidney’s powers of reasoning. He thinks he’ll be safe enough in his room, with his firearm for protection, despite his drunken state. It doesn’t end well for him. One might argue the same for the tavernkeeper’s wife, but that depends on whether she trusts the kid to pay, or whether she’s prepared for the event that he’ll cut and run.
There’s also the possibility one might follow the same ‘internal trickster’ pattern in the quality of the intersection between Toadvine’s story line and the hotel clerk’s. Did Toadvine realise his use of the tinderbox would have the consequences it did? Does he get away with it? This part of his story line is left open-ended at this point.
Finally, where the kid’s story line intersects with the Mexican family’s at the end of the chapter, whether or not his story line follows a Quest structure or a Trickster structure depends on whether or not he’s paid for his mule’s board and lodging in advance. Where the wife’s story line intersects with her husband’s, her story line probably follows a Trickster structure, as she’s expecting her husband to behave as a friend/helper to her, but his behaviour to her is more like that of an enemy/hindrance. Again, McCarthy leaves this open-ended.
How do you feel about this? Does McCarthy over-play the open-ended card? Does he favour tragedy too much? Did you notice any light-hearted bits? Does he use comedy to offset the tragedy? If and when he does do so, is it effective? What do you think?
If you enjoy story, find out more about The Unknown Storyteller project. It maps 18 distinct story structures (excluding comedy and tragedy) identified so far using only 6 simple basic visually intuitive symbols that will enable you to find out more about how story ‘stories’ on my website at leonconrad.com — not to mention some very cool writing exercises that will help you tell the stories you want to tell more effectively.