Introduction
The Son is a Western-style saga with twists and turns in the plot. The author shows the family in three generations: father, son and granddaughter. They are in constant confrontation and do not agree with each other’s opinions. Through their voices, author Philipp Meyer brings a retrospective of their opinions to different circumstances. One of these narrators and protagonists of the book is the older generation of the family – Eli McCullough. Due to the difficult circumstances of his life, the murder of his mother and sister and his kidnapping in childhood, he becomes a cruel man. Eli McCullough is obsessed with family blood and wealth, which are his main characteristics.
Appearance and Character Building
On the one hand, the character of the protagonist is transmitted through his external data. The author chooses this technique in order to show how inner experiences can affect external data. In his teenage years prior to his abduction, he grows up to be an ordinary young man, tall and slightly thin. Eli is like the rest of the children and grows up in a complete family consisting of a brother, sister and parents. He does not differ in particular cruelty and does not demonstrate outstanding immoral qualities (Meyer 23). However, his features later coarsened along with the circumstances.
During his life in the tribe, he is absolutely unkempt, and dirty, with long hair let loose. Through such an external image, his emotional experiences and childhood fear of losing his family, rude attitude from members of the tribe and misunderstanding of his position are transmitted. After living in the tribe, he becomes like an ordinary resident of Texas (The son). However, this does not indicate his peace of mind. Eli is just trying to fit in and be on par with others. Subsequently, Eli appears to the reader in the prism of an adult, in whose appearance one can see inner strength and stamina. He is a man with a loose mustache and beard, who tries to dress in comfortable and formal clothes. Eli is a wealthy oil tycoon and through his appearance and clothes, you can trace his self-confidence, wealth and position in society. Thus, the author shows how the character traits of the protagonist are reflected in his appearance throughout his life.
On the other hand, Eli’s character appears in various situations, and, as a rule, these are the traits of a cruel and hardened person. Since childhood, Eli McCullough has shown a strong and resilient character with a great desire to survive. His life begins with his teenage years in the mid-19th century (Gwynne). He lives in a family and has every chance to grow up as a worthy person. However, later the story acquires shades of cruelty and brutal violence, characteristic of the West of that time. The Comanches attack Eli’s house, where his sister and mother are, while his father is involved in the hunt for horse thieves. The women are raped, killed and scalped, while the boy turns out to be a useful labor force. He is shocked, but despite his kidnapping, he fights for his life, sometimes through the perspective of feigned courage and sarcasm.
Tribal Influence
Eli does not back down and shows a strong character, even as a teenager. He accepts the rules of the Comanches tribe and learns to hunt, shoot and scalp enemies despite what the tribe has done to his family (Meyer 37). This is beautifully illustrated by the example when, in his youth, he comes across to his enemies and they hang him by the wrists. At this point, Eli does not panic or beg for forgiveness. He has the audacity to ask the kidnappers to bring him water, as he suffers from thirst, despite the fact that they threaten to burn him alive. This is partly due to his difficult position in childhood and subsequent upbringing in the tribe. Eli is not afraid to die or fight for his life. He is trained for constant survival and every year it becomes more and more cruel features.
The hard fate and desire to survive leads Eli to the fact that he becomes cold-blooded and cruel. The combination of these traits in the character is one of the key revelations of his character in the story. He retains his right to a worthy existence with all his might and does not give up in the face of difficulties. Eli adopts the point of view of the Comanches tribe, in which he spends a long time and this develops into a peculiar picture of the world (Meyer 53). He is aware of the suffering the indigenous peoples have gone through and the persecution the people have been subjected to. This convinces the protagonist of the injustice of circumstances and decisions and forces him to rejoice in victories in bloody battles, where he kills on a par with members of the tribe.
Further, life in the tribe and the subsequent departure from it shaped Eli into a misanthropic personality whose education is the result of constant and cruel bloodshed for ideals. As a result, he stopped feeling pity or sympathy for other people (Gwynne). Eli was interested only in himself and his needs, for the realization of which he did not stop at nothing. In part, this shows the firmness of character and the desire to fulfill their goals. However, the other side of his behavior has a more tragic explanation. As a boy who saw his family murdered and learned to kill constantly, he was deeply traumatized. Accordingly, as an adult, he continued to develop the attitudes and rules that he received during his life in the tribe.
Another feature that shaped the character of Eli McCullough can be called complete fearlessness in relation to death and enemies. This is partly due to the fact that the Comanche chief Toshaway adopted him as his son and taught him on an equal footing with everyone else and even better (Meyer 71). The attitude and bidding of the leader led the boy to realize how fleeting life can be in a cruel world. Thus, a person can have only two paths: kill or be killed. Having seen enough of countless bodies, Eli stopped perceiving death as something terrible and sacred. Now, he considers this as the reason for the weakness and inability of a person to defend his right to life. This opinion was facilitated by his three-year stay in the tribe and constant participation in bloody battles. Thus, Eli resigned himself to the vicissitudes of fate and decided to survive at all costs.
However, Eli has not completely disappeared as a person without good qualities, he has a sense of belonging to the people with whom he lives. The statutes of the tribe begin to become the norm for Eli, he finds a family and a worthy position in the community. After three years of his stay, the tribe begins to experience a series of misfortunes, including bloody battles and a disease that claimed the lives of his adoptive father and many other tribesmen (Meyer 87). Eli does not give up and gives himself to the work of white people in order to help the surviving members of society. Thus, he shows his belonging and devotion to those people who saved his life and taught him everything he needed.
After Tribe
Nevertheless, the new integration is given to Eli extremely hard and unusual. During the time that he was cut off from the usual civilization, his home has changed and the country was on the verge of a Civil War. His cruel habits of an uncivilized tribe interfere with his normal life in society. As Eli is accustomed to achieving everything with his fists and shedding blood, he is re-learning the norms of behavior (Meyer 105). This shows his features of helplessness and loss at the beginning of the journey.
In addition, it is important to consider the place of action and its influence on the formation of the character of the protagonist. Eli grew up in Texas, a remote state bordering the Mexican population. For the middle of the 19th century, Texas was a desert area known for cowboys, brutal murders, and constant skirmishes between the local population and the Hispanics. As a result, Eli is a typical prototype of a mid-19th-century Texas man who lacks the elementary basics of education (The son). He hasn’t even gotten a basic education and doesn’t understand the basic workings of mathematics or other science. However, he is confident in himself and his actions, which gives him the strength to fight.
Another attribute of the protagonist is his confidence in his omnipotence. He has no remorse when he cuts off the ear of a Mexican political radical under torture. Eli tries to get information of interest to him at any cost and does not consider bullying and torture as something bad. For him, this is just another means of obtaining those words that he can use for the benefit of his well-being (The son). His attachment to adherence to the rules of the tribe can be indicated by the Stockholm syndrome. Eli had no one to help but the leader, so he saw him as a father and adopted habits from him. Eli does not understand that the tribe cannot replace for him the family they killed. Therefore, he instinctively attaches himself to them and suffers further consequences.
Eli is distinguished by immorality, which will manifest itself from the very beginning of his training in the tribe. However, over time, it becomes more and more striking feature. During the Civil War, Eli McCullough becomes a colonel and leads a squad of rangers who, to everyone, call themselves RMNs. This is a contemptuous reference to the prevailing ideals of Southern chivalry (Meyer 211). Eli sets himself the goal of achieving a worthy position in society and the accumulation of wealth, which plays a paramount role for him. As a result, his main goal is wealth, which he attains by any means, cruel or not. Raised in cruelty and anti-moralism, Eli understands that money rules the world. He becomes convinced of this by observing the Mexican radicals and how well people without honor live in Texas. He becomes a magnate who has enough money to lead a decent life, get married and raise children. However, even this position, the protagonist accomplishes through tricks and lies.
It is important to mention that Eli’s immoral qualities are manifested not only in his cruelty but in unscrupulous theft. His desire to become rich is extremely high, as Eli understands that money is one of the main advantages in the world of lies and murder. Accordingly, for Eli, a kind of mercantile understanding of how Texas society worked in the mid-19th century is taking shape. He does not plan to earn his capital in an honest way, through trade or work. The first thing Eli does to get money is steal a huge bag of gold and use it for his own good (Meyer 310). Subsequently, he uses this money to buy land and capital in order to amass even more wealth. At the same time, Eli has no conscience regarding the stolen money and he is proud of his wealth.
In addition, a mixture of commercialism and cruelty in Eli’s character manifests itself in further episodes of his life. He marries the girl, who is the daughter of a judge, which may indicate Eli’s selfish plans for the girl (Meyer 197). However, despite the monetary interest, the protagonist’s relationship with his wife remains strong. This is confirmed by the fact that when she and their eldest son are killed, he goes in search of the perpetrators. In this you can see the hot temper of the protagonist and the vindictiveness that is present in him throughout his life.
The desire for revenge is shown in many aspects and deeds of Eli. He easily tortures people for profit and the devotion to punish them for actions that seem wrong to him. This partly shows the presence of morality and Eli, despite the fact that in most cases he can be described as a person without honor (The son). He grieves for his family and hunts down the offenders who subjected him to suffering. Perhaps Eli never accepted the murder of his sister and mother as a teenager. Thus, punishing the killers gives him a sense of satisfaction that he was able to take revenge on them.
Family Relation
Despite his rudeness and immorality, Eli is not alien to feelings and family relationships. He marries and he and his wife have several children, one of whom is killed. However, relations with another son are extremely tough and unusual in the modern sense. Eli tries to be a good father in his own way, but his son does not accept it. Thus, a confrontation between them appears, stretching throughout history. In matters of raising children, the always fearless Eli gives up and begins to worry about them. He has experienced all the cruelty of the world and fears a similar fate for the most intelligent people (The son). However, due to the fact that he did not receive affection and care as a child, his upbringing methods are extremely rude. Eli is trying to teach children how to survive, as anything can happen in life. It is at such moments that one can see how early he is in relation to his relatives and how they influence him.
In Eli, one can notice the love for his children, although he cannot show it in the usual sense. His fear for the family is not expressed in conversations with children or indicative situations. Eli is rude and cruel to them, which pushes his eldest son away from him. The latter does not accept rudeness and violence, which fundamentally distinguishes him from his father. Eli cannot accept the position of a son and continues to raise children in accordance with his ideas (Meyer 411). Thus, one can see that he is used to relying only on himself and considers only his own opinion.
However, Eli is capable of being gentle, which is shown in his attitude towards one of the family members. His granddaughter is for him, the personification of the fact that something in Eli’s life is done wrong and needs to be changed. Lizzie is his favorite granddaughter and, above all, he loves her for her somewhat annoying character and lively, precocious mind (Meyer 397). Unlike many other women in the novel, she has her own personality and expresses her views on what is happening in the family. This is probably due to Eli’s attitude towards her, since he treats other women worse than men. Feminist attitudes and Eli’s installation on the interests of his granddaughter slip through this. As at that time the opinion of women was unequal with men and often, they did not have the right to vote.
Nevertheless, even love for her granddaughter is manifested due to the fact that she and Eli are similar in character and manifestation of cruelty, dependence and greed. For Eli, these are the main components in human nature, to which each individual sooner or later returns under the influence of various situations. His upbringing is formed on the fact that his children can always win their lives and names and emerge victorious (The son). Eli does not shy away from radical methods of upbringing and causes discord with his only remaining son. However, Eli continues to show him how tough and unwelcoming the world can be.
Finally, Eli is a master of changing events as he pleases and getting out of any situation. He produces a huge number of business frauds that are aimed at increasing his fortune. However, Eli cannot cheat all the time while sneaking around unnoticed. At one of these moments, he was convicted of theft and testimonies played an impartial role for him (Meyer 276). Nevertheless, even in such stalemate situations, he manages to find a moment that he can use in his defense. Eli uses any tricks and tricks in order to divert the attention of the accusers. This is the character trait that helped him survive in difficult circumstances and thanks to which he made a fortune and made a name for himself.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it should be said that Eli is a complex and multifaceted character. First of all, his development was seriously influenced by the tribe of indigenous people and the murder of his family. Through this, he acquired the skills to survive and strive for violent conflict resolution. Thus, in general, Eli is a negative character. However, he is not without something bright in relation to his family. He loves them in his own way and wants to protect them and prepare them for the horrors they may face in the real world. Therefore, Eli is a dual character who has good and bad qualities.
Works Cited
Gwynne, Edward. “Review: The son by Philipp Meyer”. Grimdark Magazine, Web.
Meyer, Philipp. The Son. Simon & Schuster, 2017.
“The son. Philipp Meyer. What the reviewers say”. BookMarks, Web.