Outer Dark

by Cormac McCarthy

John Character Analysis

John is a man whom Culla Holme encounters on his journey when John catches Holme sleeping in John’s father’s abandoned cabin. He hauls Holme before the lawman and demands that he be charged with and punished for trespassing and is disappointed and angry when he learns that he will not and cannot benefit personally from Holme’s sentence of 10 days’ hard labor.

John Quotes in Outer Dark

The Outer Dark quotes below are all either spoken by John or refer to John. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Nihilism  Theme Icon
).

18. Pages 195-208 Quotes

The old lady’ll fix ye a bed here in the kitchen. You ain’t no desperate outlaw, are ye? Ain’t murdered nobody?

No sir. I don’t reckon.

Don’t reckon eh? The squire smiled.

Holme wasn’t smiling. He was looking at the floor.

Get ye fattened up a little here on the old woman’s cookin you’ll be all right, the squire said. Might get some work out of ye then. You reckon?

Yessir. I ain’t scared to work.

The squire had tilted back in his chair, regarding him. I don’t believe you’re no bad feller Holme, he said. I don’t believe you’re no lucky feller neither. My daddy always claimed a man made his own luck. But that’s disputable, I reckon.

Related Characters: Lawman (speaker), Culla Holme (speaker), Child , John
Related Symbols: Work
Page Number and Citation: 206
Explanation and Analysis:
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John Character Timeline in Outer Dark

The timeline below shows where the character John appears in Outer Dark. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
18. Pages 195-208
Nihilism  Theme Icon
Generosity and Kindness  Theme Icon
...the barrel of a shotgun held by a man with blue eyes (later identified as John). John makes Holme get up and ushers him out of the house without letting him... (full context)
Nihilism  Theme Icon
Sin and Punishment  Theme Icon
The lawman is eating breakfast. John says that he found Holme squatting in his father’s old house. He demands justice. In... (full context)
Nihilism  Theme Icon
Sin and Punishment  Theme Icon
Love and Loss Theme Icon
...he has some breakfast. The lawman gestures to his wife to get Holme a plate. John wants to know how many of those 10 days Holme will be working for him.... (full context)