Do the stated beliefs of an individual consistently affect their decisions? Is human behavior only determined by conditions 'in the moment'?
If the problem of nihilistic chaos is caused by the absence of moral order, then Blood Meridian tells a tale of such rampant savagery as could well describe a time of moral uncertainty or moral confusion. Rather than the influence of moral imperatives; Cormac McCarthy's novel demonstrates a "nihilistic chaos" in the human experience that is driven by fate or the 'givens' of nature; by human perception of threat, and animal-like survival instinct; and by pure chance. The saga could lead the reader to conclude that human behavior is meaningless.
If, however, human experience is based on moral absolutes, then, as a computer with a corrupt or missing operating system (OS); moral uncertainty or moral confusion could allow the human being to disintegrate into a state of nihilistic chaos, resulting in, behaviors not unlike those "survival-driven life-styles" 'observed' in lower or non-human life forms.
To the casual eye, it may seem that there is a pattern to life. One may be inclined to conclude that there is purpose in the endless cycle of life and death. In the 'animal world', we humans observe a consistent predatory cycle, yet it is not always the fittest that survive. McCarthy begins his story in the Tennessee home of a family with a child, a pale unwashed child. A dead mother. A drunk father. An 'estranged' sister. A meteor shower and wolves. A 'scene' that captures a wide swath of nature; at once depicting human and animal life as well as death and things beyond, he mentions the heavens. These givens of nature: people, childhood, animals, trees and the sky in this opening scene, quickly primes the mind with anticipation. McCarthy will now take the reader on a 'historic journey', through New Orleans to Texas and the Mexican borderlands. A saga of chaotic violence will play out; not mindless, but willful violence.
As the drama unfolds, the scenery is now set in Texas, a church, not the conventional edifice but a religious tent-meeting. If the author would have our attention drawn to the notion of human 'goodness', what better place to be than 'in church'. The reader, however, will soon be divested of all hope of the normal peacefulness and piety of such places. Chaos quickly overtakes the supposedly pious assembly. The persuasive preaching is interrupted by "the devil", so described by the preacher. There will be no desired penitence. The gathering quickly descends into pandemonium brought about by a tall noticeably hairless man who will become known throughout the remainder of the novel, as "the judge". He interrupts the meeting by making slanderous accusations against The Reverend Green, rousing a certain moral indignation among the congregants who are quickly transformed into an outraged and violent mob.
Having now witnessed chaotic unraveling in two basic institutions of moral authority, namely the family and the church the reader is 'moved' by the narrative from a whiskey drinking episode in a bar out onto a wild landscape where the author will describe a bloody altercation involving the runaway child who becomes known as "the kid". He fights an alleged horse thief named Toadvine who has no ears. Another savage fight is soon followed by the burning down of a hotel by the kid and Toadvine. The kid leaves town.
