Outer Dark: Analysis of Major Characters
"Outer Dark" is a novel that delves into the complex dynamics of its major characters, primarily focusing on themes of innocence, guilt, and the pursuit of redemption. The story revolves around Rinthy Holme, a young, uneducated woman who faces profound betrayal from her brother, Culla, who has likely raped her. After giving birth to their child in isolation, Culla abandons the infant, prompting Rinthy to embark on a desperate journey to locate her son, driven by unwavering determination and a childlike innocence that elicits kindness from those she encounters.
Culla, in contrast, grapples with his guilt and the moral implications of his actions, yet he displays a troubling lack of remorse, fixating instead on evading discovery. His path becomes increasingly intertwined with three ominous strangers, who may symbolize darker forces at play, as they commit heinous acts linked to his own past misdeeds. The tinker serves as a pivotal figure, initially seeking to care for the abandoned child but ultimately rejecting Rinthy when he learns of her incestuous circumstances.
Throughout the narrative, the child, who remains nameless, embodies innocence and suffering, ultimately becoming a victim of tragedy. Together, these characters illustrate a haunting exploration of the human condition, reflecting on the consequences of actions and the elusive nature of redemption. The novel's themes resonate with the complexities of morality, familial bonds, and the quest for understanding in a harsh, unforgiving world.
Outer Dark: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Cormac McCarthy
First published: 1968
Genre: Novel
Locale: Indeterminate, but probably southern Appalachia
Plot: Surrealism
Time: Not specified, probably the early twentieth century
Rinthy Holme, a young, uneducated countrywoman about nineteen years old. Her brother Culla has (probably) raped her, though she seems to bear him no great ill will for that. When her pregnancy becomes obvious, Culla moves them to a remote cabin in the backwoods and refuses to allow anyone to come near for fear that his deed will be discovered. After a long, painful labor with no midwife (and very little help or sympathy from Culla), Rinthy gives birth to a male child. While she sleeps after the birth, Culla takes the child and leaves it alone in the woods, later telling Rinthy that it died. When Rinthy discovers that there is no body in the grave, she learns the truth and sets out to find the son that she has never seen. Rinthy has the innocent, trusting attitude of a child, accepting whatever comes her way, except in this matter of locating her child. She pursues that goal with steadfast and single-minded determination, ignoring the immense difficulties that confront her. Her innocence seems to touch those she meets on her travels; almost everyone that she encounters treats her with kindness, offers her food and lodging, and invites her to return to share their hospitality again. She never finds the baby and possibly loses her mind in her futile search.
Culla Holme, Rinthy's older brother. He has sufficient knowledge of right and wrong to recognize the evil of his incest with his sister, yet he tries to undo the deed by destroying the evidence. He does not seem to realize that he is thus compounding his error rather than atoning for his guilt. In fact, he never seems to regret the deed; he only worries that others may find out about it. When Rinthy sets out in search of the tinker, whom she is convinced has her son, Culla tries to follow her. Although the people he meets are initially open to him, the miasma of guilt that surrounds him leads to trouble for him on every side. The three evil strangers who seem to roam in tandem to him commit several grisly atrocities, which are invariably blamed on Culla, yet he always manages to escape retribution. Near the end of the novel, Culla, the tinker, the child, and the three strangers finally meet. The unholy three first kill the tinker, who has apparently told them what he knows of the child. When Culla arrives, he watches helplessly as they kill the boy, now about one year old, and as one of the three drinks the child's blood. The three do not harm Culla, however; he is left to wander aimlessly in a dead landscape, on a road that ends in a dismal swamp.
The tinker, an itinerant wanderer too poor even to afford a mule to pull his wagon. He is permanently bent from the backbreaking labor. He arrives at the Holme cabin a few days before Rinthy gives birth to her son. When Culla takes the baby and abandons it in the woods, the tinker happens upon it and seeks a wet nurse for the child. Later, Rinthy finds the tinker and begs for the return of her son. The tinker bargains for the repayment of the wet-nurse fee, expecting sexual indenture from Rinthy, as she has no money. When he learns that the child is the result of incest, however, he is horrified, curses Rinthy, flees from her, and forbids her to follow him. Possibly the tinker retrieves the child and mistreats it: When the boy next appears, in the tinker's custody, he has a healed burn and is missing one eye. The tinker is killed by the three strangers.
The three strangers, perhaps a symbolic parody of the Holy Trinity, seeming to be supernatural creatures of some sort. The only whole one is the spokesman and leader of the group; he has a beard and wears the black suit that he has taken from a corpse he dug up from a church cemetery. His two companions are a mute and a mindless being. They seem not only to perpetrate unspeakably foul, evil deeds as they roam over the countryside, but also to be drawn to Culla's milder expression of evil. Possibly they represent some form of dark justice or retribution; possibly they can sense the darkness in a person's soul, for, except for killing the child, they do not touch Rinthy, whose innocence protects her.
The child, a male infant, the result of incest between Rinthy and Culla. He is stolen immediately after his birth and abandoned in the woods by his father. He is never given a name, perhaps to enlarge his role as a symbolic sacrifice. He is abused and finally is killed at about one year of age.