Blood Meridian

Holden slowly emerges as the antagonist of Blood Meridian. He is introduced to the novel early in the narrative, but he exists mostly as a form of spectacle. Emerging during the sermon of Reverend Green, he accuses the preacher of heinous sins and then allows the crowd to enact the violent spectacle of a public execution on his behalf. His appearance itself is a spectacle: Holden is very tall, bald, pale, and very often naked. Added to his aesthetic spectacle are his feats of strength: He can hurl a heavy meteorite farther than anyone believes and wields a cannon in his hands. Added to this, Holden is an intellectual. He speaks many languages, can lecture on many subjects, and is well-versed in law and philosophy. Holden, through his sheer existence, is a spectacle distinct from the rest of the world. Whether he is sitting naked in the desert, waiting for passersby, or playing fiddle on a stage and demanding that people dance, Holden arrests people’s attention and forcibly positions himself as the center of their immediate universe. He is skilled in every respect; he is imposing, and he is charming. Holden forces his way into the narrative, and he forces his way into the kid’s life, refusing to leave until he is absolutely satisfied that he has made his point.

The desire to dominate is a key part of Holden’s character. He is referred to as the judge frequently throughout the novel, distilling his role into a simple verb. Holden exists to survey the world and impose himself on anything he does not consider to be worthy. Anything which does not measure up to his judgment is destroyed. This need to dominate and judge the world does not end with people. Holden examines, documents, and destroys natural objects, historical artifacts, and anything he finds interesting. As he explains to the men of Glanton’s gang, anything that he studies is brought under his control. He believes that he and he alone should be the domineering force in any universe and his violence and brutality are a means by which he can explore this idea. While he may be technically second-in-command in Glanton’s gang, Holden dictates where they go and what they do. He kills with the same dispassionate curiosity with which he sketches birds. Whether he is drawing, murdering, or talking, Holden is exercising his desire to dominate the world around him.

In this respect, Holden is less a man and more a force of nature. He seems not to age throughout the novel, and he seems invincible to any form of violence. His entire existence is an intellectual exercise in domination, in which he toys with people like Glanton and the kid to see how far he can push them. He pushes Glanton to the edge and Glanton is executed as a result. When the kid shows hesitancy, Holden passes judgment and deems the kid not worthy. In doing so, Holden turns himself into a force of nature. He is the arbiter of life, death, morality, loyalty, and everything else he can describe. Because he can describe these abstract concepts in such florid flourishes of rhetoric, he believes that he has dominion over them. He can judge others for their failures and inflict punishments on them when he deems them unworthy. Holden is a force of nature because he establishes his own set of laws and seems impervious to the laws that guide the lives of others. Rather than be forced to live by the rules which govern everyone else, Holden has asserted control over the universe, and now he forces people to live by the rules that he invents. This is the warlike dance that he enjoys and the dance that he will never give up.