/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.15136617]

Is the kid the Mary Sue of depravity and nihilism? Is the antithesis to regular Mary Sues in epics ie Odysseus, Hunger Games, every novel of all time accept those of the opposite sort, which are those of the exact same sort, Kafka and Camus and other nihilistic readings such as my nigga B.M? Is the kid the ultimate symbol of horrible things to happen to; as apposed to the mary sue of Great Things happenings to, or is he just the victim as all bad stories go? Or is his life actually pretty cool?
>be a badass
>get away with any sort of crime
>hunt tons of redskin nigs
>collect literal gold for their skins
>drink and rape/fuck prostitutes until your mid 30s
>meet the devil you have known your whole life and get raped and die like you deserve
>the one who cause your whole life of debauchery

[Anonymous No.15136892]

>>15136617
I think that the kid represents the natural propensity of man to engage in violent acts. Whereas the the Judge represents the justification for this innate will to be violent .The whole manifest destiny and Americas Westward expansion thing specifically and more broadly the the ultimate trade of war. The Kid isn't a Mary Sue at all. Many times he fucks up, and i don't think surviving all the situations he gets himself into is the result of him being perfect.If anything the Judge is 'Mary Sue' but that is a very stupid criticism of him. Also i know that many people shun the idea that he is the Devil but he is at least supernatural. All of his inhumane traits (Insane intelligence, Hairless, White, 7ft, Strength) can be easily explained as just what god has gifted him but one thing i don't understand is when in the final scene in the bar how did the judge know that 1. The Kid didn't kill Shelby and left him to the mercy of the Elias in the desert and 2. That he abandoned Tate on the mountain. The first you could explain away by the Judge believing that the Kid didn't have the heart to kill his comrade? the second i don't know, you would have to think in a fairly lateral way to come to that conclusion. How could he have known. Did he just guess?

[Anonymous No.15136914]

>>15136617

archetypes are beyond mary sues, you are just as frustrated tvtropes geek

[Anonymous No.15136942]

>>15136617
It's a wonderful book, beautifully written. The prose is vivid and finely chiseled, without a single superfluous word. The imagery is unique and majestic, of a biblical flavor. The author shows off his wide lexicon and always uses precise terms instead of vague, generic ones. Sometimes he even invents his own. The vegetation is described with the precision of a botanist, and the desert and the mountains with that of a geologist. The descriptions of the landscape are evocative and suggestive without ever being purple. Sometimes they get very close to being poetry. The battles are told in a very crude, matter-of-fact way that fits very well with the atmosphere.

Now, this isn't an easy book to read. It doesn't have that je ne sais quoi that makes you forget you're reading a story. It doesn't flow effortlessly. In fact, in some passages you feel like you're mudding through a swamp. Crucial details are thrown into long sentences devoid of punctuation and full of metaphors and complex analogies. It takes legit effort to picture in your mind what the hell is going on, but it's effort that always pays.

The author also refuses to use internal dialogues and even dialogue tags. He purposefully restricts his own writing arsenal in order to hone to perfection the few tools he does choose to use. He only shows us his characters through their actions and bare words, without any sort of commentary. There's no filter, as if we're witnessing what happens through a camera instead of through a person. The result is a style occasionally difficult to absorb, but certainly a perfect fit for the story he was telling.

Finally, Judge Holden is one of the best characters I've ever come across. But did he really have to rape the Kid in that latrine? That felt so gratuitous.

[Anonymous No.15136966]

>>15136892
>many people shun the idea that he is the Devil
Because it's not the interpretation that fits the best and explains the most. It's shallow and rudimentary, a pleb interpretation.

The Judge is Manifest Destiny incarnate (great erudition + brutality).
Even more broadly, he is War incarnate. Which is why he's a master at every science, because as he says "war comprises every science". And why he's called the Judge, because war is the ultimate judge of men, the ultimate test, the ultimate game.
Even more broadly, he's Violence itself. Which is why everyone knows him and he's everyone's favorite, why he never sleeps, why he'll never die.

[Anonymous No.15137350]

>>15136966
My thoughts exactly but would you put him knowing the certain events in the Kids life ( the two i outlined) that he has not been told and has just somehow ascertained them down to his great erudition and that there is nothing supernatural about him at all. When i say supernatural i am not trying to suggest he is the devil or representative of the devil merely just other worldly in his abilities.