The Destruction of Innocence
The world is filled with irresponsible people who destroy innocence. They are left to wander aimlessly while others who can’t see their way are guided by faith. Their lack of faith and responsibility doesn’t provide a purpose for life. It is full of suffering from illness or blindness, and there are few who seek to try to surpass it. Innocence is destroyed, as it is swallowed up in our world of greed and evil. The unimportance of labels in this world leads to the extinction of virtue. Outer Dark, by Cormac McCarthy, demonstrates that the world devours innocence with its irresponsible and corrupted actions, and then leaves those destroyers to wander aimlessly with no faith as a guide, or purpose for a life without resolution.
Namelessness is a motif in the novel that shows how irresponsible actions lead to the destruction of innocence. In our world, no name implies insignificance. A baby embodies innocence, because a newborn baby is young and pure because they enter the world with a clean slate, and have done nothing wrong. They are new life, purity, and innocence. The namelessness of the child renders it unimportant to Culla, showing the way that innocence is unimportant to the world. It isn’t acknowledged, therefore, it isn’t important. For instance, Culla wants to kill the baby. He doesn’t want the baby, and doesn’t care to name the baby, and he wants it to be gone. To him, the baby is nothing. For example, when he’s talking with one of the Furies, they say, “What do you want with him? Holme said.”, “Nothin. No more than you do.”, “He ain’t nothin to me.”(235). This clearly defines the child as a useless figure in their minds. It shows that there is no reason they want him, so they can get rid of him. The namelessness implies that he is not worth anything to them. The lack of recognition of innocence, for example, like the baby who represents the innocence, shows how easy it is to destroy.
Another way Outer Dark tells how innocence is destroyed by corruption is by using the mythology and biblical allusions in the novel. It mentions Tierisias, a blind prophet. Blindness is a common detail in the novel. Culla is blind to the consequences of his choices and actions, because after his sister finds out he lied about the baby’s death, she runs out on him, and he is haunted by the furies. In the end, the blindness of Culla leads him to destroy the innocence in the novel, the baby. The blind man at the end of the novel that Culla is talks to shows how even though he’s blind, he is guided through his life by faith, whereas Culla is left to roam a life without a resolution. Culla has no faith, and cannot find it. And so, he wanders through the woods with no purpose, no place to go, and no way out. The biblical allusion of Mark of Cain, in which Cain had killed his brother and God had put a curse on him to wander aimlessly, unable to be harmed or die, is similar to what happened to Culla. He left his son to die, and ended up roaming aimlessly without a purpose or resolution to life. He was trapped, forever. At the end, he was talking to a blind man who said, “Them old eyes can only show ye what’s done there anyways. If a blind man needed eyes he’d have eyes. What needs a man to see his way when he’s sent there anyhow?” Faith is the guide for a blind man. Culla doesn’t have faith, so he doesn’t have a guide for his life to get anywhere, so he ends up with a life with no resolution. No faith, and no guide but himself, who, unfortunately, has executed nothing but wrong decisions.
The organization of the novel demonstrates how Culla destroys innocence and is left to wander aimlessly in a life without resolution. In the beginning of the novel, Culla is concentrated on getting rid of the baby. At the end, he watches his son get slaughtered and eaten. After all of this, he meets the blind man, who tells him that faith is what leads one down the path of life, and eyes aren’t necessary to go somewhere and find happiness, instead it is faith. Whereas Culla is left alone, questioning faith as a guide, for example, “He wondered where the blind man was going and did he know how the road ended. Someone should tell a blind man before setting him out that way.” Culla believes that the blind man can’t go anywhere because he can’t see. However, Culla is the one who doesn’t know where to go. He has followed his own decisions, and his own eyes, which have led him down the wrong path. He had just had to turn around because the way from which he came wasn’t a very beautiful place, so he was wandering and searching for the right place to go, but he had no guide. He questioned the best and only guide, certifying his doom.
Outer Dark demonstrates how the world, filled with corruption and irresponsible actions can destroy innocence. Once they have made their choices, they deal with the consequences. The destroyers are left to wander without a guide or a resolution in life. It’s their own decisions, therefore their own faults they lose their way. The constant suffering from illness or blindness can kill innocence because it’s obsessed with power in the world. The baby dies, the way innocence dies. Once it happens, it’s done. Innocence is gone due to irresponsibility at fault, and life resolutions vanish.
Namelessness is a motif in the novel that shows how irresponsible actions lead to the destruction of innocence. In our world, no name implies insignificance. A baby embodies innocence, because a newborn baby is young and pure because they enter the world with a clean slate, and have done nothing wrong. They are new life, purity, and innocence. The namelessness of the child renders it unimportant to Culla, showing the way that innocence is unimportant to the world. It isn’t acknowledged, therefore, it isn’t important. For instance, Culla wants to kill the baby. He doesn’t want the baby, and doesn’t care to name the baby, and he wants it to be gone. To him, the baby is nothing. For example, when he’s talking with one of the Furies, they say, “What do you want with him? Holme said.”, “Nothin. No more than you do.”, “He ain’t nothin to me.”(235). This clearly defines the child as a useless figure in their minds. It shows that there is no reason they want him, so they can get rid of him. The namelessness implies that he is not worth anything to them. The lack of recognition of innocence, for example, like the baby who represents the innocence, shows how easy it is to destroy.
Another way Outer Dark tells how innocence is destroyed by corruption is by using the mythology and biblical allusions in the novel. It mentions Tierisias, a blind prophet. Blindness is a common detail in the novel. Culla is blind to the consequences of his choices and actions, because after his sister finds out he lied about the baby’s death, she runs out on him, and he is haunted by the furies. In the end, the blindness of Culla leads him to destroy the innocence in the novel, the baby. The blind man at the end of the novel that Culla is talks to shows how even though he’s blind, he is guided through his life by faith, whereas Culla is left to roam a life without a resolution. Culla has no faith, and cannot find it. And so, he wanders through the woods with no purpose, no place to go, and no way out. The biblical allusion of Mark of Cain, in which Cain had killed his brother and God had put a curse on him to wander aimlessly, unable to be harmed or die, is similar to what happened to Culla. He left his son to die, and ended up roaming aimlessly without a purpose or resolution to life. He was trapped, forever. At the end, he was talking to a blind man who said, “Them old eyes can only show ye what’s done there anyways. If a blind man needed eyes he’d have eyes. What needs a man to see his way when he’s sent there anyhow?” Faith is the guide for a blind man. Culla doesn’t have faith, so he doesn’t have a guide for his life to get anywhere, so he ends up with a life with no resolution. No faith, and no guide but himself, who, unfortunately, has executed nothing but wrong decisions.
The organization of the novel demonstrates how Culla destroys innocence and is left to wander aimlessly in a life without resolution. In the beginning of the novel, Culla is concentrated on getting rid of the baby. At the end, he watches his son get slaughtered and eaten. After all of this, he meets the blind man, who tells him that faith is what leads one down the path of life, and eyes aren’t necessary to go somewhere and find happiness, instead it is faith. Whereas Culla is left alone, questioning faith as a guide, for example, “He wondered where the blind man was going and did he know how the road ended. Someone should tell a blind man before setting him out that way.” Culla believes that the blind man can’t go anywhere because he can’t see. However, Culla is the one who doesn’t know where to go. He has followed his own decisions, and his own eyes, which have led him down the wrong path. He had just had to turn around because the way from which he came wasn’t a very beautiful place, so he was wandering and searching for the right place to go, but he had no guide. He questioned the best and only guide, certifying his doom.
Outer Dark demonstrates how the world, filled with corruption and irresponsible actions can destroy innocence. Once they have made their choices, they deal with the consequences. The destroyers are left to wander without a guide or a resolution in life. It’s their own decisions, therefore their own faults they lose their way. The constant suffering from illness or blindness can kill innocence because it’s obsessed with power in the world. The baby dies, the way innocence dies. Once it happens, it’s done. Innocence is gone due to irresponsibility at fault, and life resolutions vanish.