Title: Who Is American: Blood Meridian and American Identity in the Mid-19th Century

Abstract: In Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy reexamines the discourse of American identity in the mid-19th century. Constructed from the perspectives of racism, sexism and civilization, the ideology of Manifest Destiny helped shape American identity in the mid-19th century, provided legitimate discourse for westward expansion, and became the key for Americans to understand their national identity and their relations with rest of the world at that time. The Mexican-American War, filibustering and scalp hunting involved in this novel provide an important clue to McCarthy’s attitude towards civilization, nation, empire and race, and also a footnote to current relations between the United States and the world.

Keywords: Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian, manifest destiny, American identity

Author: Lin Fu, Ph.D. Candidate, School of Foreign Languages, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China; Shidan Chen, Professor, School of Foreign Languages, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China.