{"id":{"repo_id":"uno","oai_identifier":"oai:scholarworks.uno.edu:td-1519"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uno/oai:scholarworks.uno.edu:td-1519","repository":{"repo_id":"uno","name":"University of New Orleans","base_url":"https://scholarworks.uno.edu/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"Slapstick Carnage: The Absurd Universe of Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian","abstract":"The purpose of this thesis is to examine the function and effect of black comedy in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. Several different explanations for the presence of comedy in such a relentlessly violent novel have been made: that this humor is simply a realistic depiction of the folksy, dry vernacular of the time; that it reinforces the idea that the characters are so morally bankrupt that they are able to make jokes in the midst of so much destruction; or, that it serves to keep the reader's sensibilities in a state of flux between attraction and revulsion: relieving tension, then increasing it again and again, thereby defying easy structuring of how one should feel. This essay proposes that the gallows humor in the novel helps to establish an absurd universe (as delineated by Camus in The Myth of Sisyphus), and as this existential void is circumscribed, anything and everything in the novel becomes potentially farcical.","abstract_html":"The purpose of this thesis is to examine the function and effect of black comedy in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. Several different explanations for the presence of comedy in such a relentlessly violent novel have been made: that this humor is simply a realistic depiction of the folksy, dry vernacular of the time; that it reinforces the idea that the characters are so morally bankrupt that they are able to make jokes in the midst of so much destruction; or, that it serves to keep the reader's sensibilities in a state of flux between attraction and revulsion: relieving tension, then increasing it again and again, thereby defying easy structuring of how one should feel. This essay proposes that the gallows humor in the novel helps to establish an absurd universe (as delineated by Camus in The Myth of Sisyphus), and as this existential void is circumscribed, anything and everything in the novel becomes potentially farcical.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Marler, James"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"M.A.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"English","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Lackey, Kris","White, Les","Cooke, John"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2007,"date_issued":"2007-05-18T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2007-05-18T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:28:36Z","subjects":[],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/519","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Lackey, Kris","White, Les","Cooke, John"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Marler, James"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.A."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/519"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The purpose of this thesis is to examine the function and effect of black comedy in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. Several different explanations for the presence of comedy in such a relentlessly violent novel have been made: that this humor is simply a realistic depiction of the folksy, dry vernacular of the time; that it reinforces the idea that the characters are so morally bankrupt that they are able to make jokes in the midst of so much destruction; or, that it serves to keep the reader's sensibilities in a state of flux between attraction and revulsion: relieving tension, then increasing it again and again, thereby defying easy structuring of how one should feel. This essay proposes that the gallows humor in the novel helps to establish an absurd universe (as delineated by Camus in The Myth of Sisyphus), and as this existential void is circumscribed, anything and everything in the novel becomes potentially farcical."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Slapstick Carnage: The Absurd Universe of Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Lackey, Kris","White, Les","Cooke, John"],"dc:creator":["Marler, James"],"dc:description.abstract":["The purpose of this thesis is to examine the function and effect of black comedy in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. Several different explanations for the presence of comedy in such a relentlessly violent novel have been made: that this humor is simply a realistic depiction of the folksy, dry vernacular of the time; that it reinforces the idea that the characters are so morally bankrupt that they are able to make jokes in the midst of so much destruction; or, that it serves to keep the reader's sensibilities in a state of flux between attraction and revulsion: relieving tension, then increasing it again and again, thereby defying easy structuring of how one should feel. This essay proposes that the gallows humor in the novel helps to establish an absurd universe (as delineated by Camus in The Myth of Sisyphus), and as this existential void is circumscribed, anything and everything in the novel becomes potentially farcical."],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/519"],"dc:title":["Slapstick Carnage: The Absurd Universe of Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.A."]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:28:36Z"}