some said they'd heard of pilgrims borne aloft like dervishes in those mindless coils to be dropped broken and bleeding upon the desert again and there perhaps to watch the thing that had destroyed them lurch onward like some drunken djinn and resolve itself once more into the elements from which it sprang. Out of that whirlwind no voice spoke and the pilgrim lying in his broken bones may cry out and in his anguish he may rage, but rage at what? And if the dried and blackened shell of him is found among the sands by travelers to come yet who can discover the engine of his ruin?
In Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian," the portrayal of pilgrims caught in a chaotic whirlwind reflects themes of destruction and the futility of seeking purpose. These pilgrims, likened to dervishes, experience a violent journey that leads to their suffering and despair, with their fates seemingly decided by an indifferent universe. The image of being dropped broken upon the desert underscores the brutal realities of existence, where once-vibrant beings become mere shells, lost...
