The Cold Dish

Content Warning: This section mentions sexual assault.

In examining Melissa’s rape and its aftereffects as well as Turk’s subordination, Johnson raises questions about what constitutes true justice, as well as how justice ought to be administered in a civil society.

One conception of justice, as presented in the novel, holds that it doesn’t matter how justice is achieved—legally or extrajudicially. Broadly speaking, this concept is associated with the not-too-distant past and the mythology of the American West, where individual initiative was favored and encouraged while centralized legal authority was weak or nonexistent. For example, one of the most famous figures of the American West, Wyatt Earp, was a lawman but was most famous for his “vendetta ride” to avenge the deaths of his brothers. As Walt explains to a farmer who complains that Lucian would have allowed him to shoot trespassing hunters, “We’re living in more enlightened times. […] Ain’t it grand?” (74). As Walt’s predecessor, Lucian largely embodies this free-for-all approach, as when he offers to put Turk in his place: “If I had two good legs, I’d go out and kick that little son of a bitch’s ass myself” (121). Following Lucian’s lead, Walt proceeds to physically assault Turk the next time he sees him, leaving him severely injured.