The Crossing - post IV

After thinking that everything was clear in a matter of pages McCarthy has changed the direction of the narrative and things get slightly more confusing. You read like a man stumbling through the tall grass trying to get back to the road trying to work out not only who killed Billy’s parents but whether or not they are going after them.

Thoughts on pages 131 – 191

After the wolf has gone Billy heads back to the US and home but not before meeting a priest who tells him about a man who had lost everything and decided to challenge God. He died realising that God was not so easily beaten but managing to dislodge the priest’s faith in the process. Billy sets off to find his own tragedy with his parents killed and his brother disturbed by the incident.

The culprits appear to be the Indians – the one that the brothers managed to walk away from instead of giving money for? Billy meets up with his brother and they head off together back into Mexico. They come across a house where someone has recently died and you sense that the brothers think it might be the residence of the people who killed their parents but it turns out to be harmless and they continue on their way.

The relationship between the brothers is strained partly because one cannot talk about events the other wants to know about and also because Billy disappeared for so long without telling anyone where he was going and was absent when the killings took place.

Quite what is going to happen is far from clear but just like the first crossing over the border this is going to be a growing experience for both brothers and their relationship.

More tomorrow…