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Outer Dark

184 statements
35 feature instances
2 referencing feature instances

Outer Dark	type	TVTItem
Outer Dark	label	Outer Dark
Outer Dark	page	OuterDark
Outer Dark	comment	Outer Dark is the second novel by famed author Cormac McCarthy.A Southern Gothic tale set around the turn of the 19th century, the story follows siblings Rinthy and Culla Holme. Rinthy has just given birth to Culla's child, only for Culla to lie to her about the newborn's fate. When Rinthy finds out the truth, she goes on a search for her child, while Culla follows her, all while trailed by a band of sinister, murderous strangers.
Outer Dark	fetched	2023-10-16T22:30:59Z
Outer Dark	parsed	2023-10-16T22:30:59Z
Outer Dark	processingComment	Dropped link to thebible: Not a Feature - ITEM
Outer Dark	isPartOf	DBTropes
Outer Dark / int_15b09af9	type	Heelâ€“Face Door-Slam
Outer Dark / int_15b09af9	comment	Heel–Face Door-Slam: At the end, after being an unrepentant jackass throughout the entire novel, Culla tries to convince the strangers to give Rinthy her baby back. It doesn't work, and the baby is killed and presumably eaten.
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Outer Dark	hasFeature	Outer Dark / int_15b09af9
Outer Dark / int_21d70919	type	Crapsack World
Outer Dark / int_21d70919	comment	Crapsack World: As to be expected, given its author. The tinker makes this explicitly clear. However, it's a downplayed example compared to McCarthy's later works, as Rinthy is (for the most part, anyway) treated with hospitality throughout her journey.
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Outer Dark	hasFeature	Outer Dark / int_21d70919
Outer Dark / int_22071825	type	I'm a Humanitarian
Outer Dark / int_22071825	comment	I'm a Humanitarian: It's all but stated that the strangers are cannibals, when one of them offers a piece of bloody meat to Culla.
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Outer Dark / int_22071825	featureConfidence	1.0
Outer Dark	hasFeature	Outer Dark / int_22071825
Outer Dark / int_225d8ff9	type	Ambiguously Human
Outer Dark / int_225d8ff9	comment	Ambiguously Human: The strangers are given certain supernatural attributes such as always knowing where Culla is and showing a distinct awareness about his incestuous relationship with Rinthy, are comparable to the three fates in Classical Mythology and referred to as "revenants", but it's left vague if they're just evil humans or they're something else entirely. Even Culla is uncertain whether they're actually human or not.
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Outer Dark / int_24e51e8	type	Mistaken for Murderer
Outer Dark / int_24e51e8	comment	Mistaken for Murderer: Culla is accused of murdering Vernon. He nearly gets lynched for it.
Outer Dark / int_24e51e8	featureApplicability	1.0
Outer Dark / int_24e51e8	featureConfidence	1.0
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Outer Dark / int_2bfb1856	type	Beard of Evil
Outer Dark / int_2bfb1856	comment	Beard of Evil: One of the strangers is denoted by his beard.
Outer Dark / int_2bfb1856	featureApplicability	1.0
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Outer Dark / int_2d363f63	type	Frame-Up
Outer Dark / int_2d363f63	comment	Frame-Up: The strangers kill anyone that Culla runs across, leaving the impression that he's responsible for their murders.
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Outer Dark / int_2d363f63	featureConfidence	1.0
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Outer Dark / int_470bff94	type	Eats Babies
Outer Dark / int_470bff94	comment	Eats Babies: Rinthy's baby is murdered and eaten by the strangers.
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Outer Dark / int_470bff94	featureConfidence	1.0
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Outer Dark / int_47fea76b	type	Butt-Monkey
Outer Dark / int_47fea76b	comment	Butt-Monkey: Culla has quite a slew of bad luck. Nearly everyone he meets ends up hating him for one reason or another, he's framed by the strangers for theft and murder, arrested for breaking into a house he didn't realize was inhabited, is nearly hanged, and the ferry he takes to cross the river is destroyed, leaving him to get across himself.
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Outer Dark / int_4e3d253b	type	Downer Ending
Outer Dark / int_4e3d253b	comment	Downer Ending: Would you expect any less? Culla makes a last-minute attempt to save his and Rinthy's baby, but the strangers kill it first, rendering Rinthy's year-long journey to find it completely pointless, and it's strongly implied that the rest of Culla's days will be a total living hell.
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Outer Dark / int_4ef92d0b	type	The Atoner
Outer Dark / int_4ef92d0b	comment	The Atoner: Rinthy seeks an atonement for letting Culla take her baby and leaving it to die, going on a journey for it.
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Outer Dark / int_771f6307	type	Brother–Sister Incest
Outer Dark / int_771f6307	comment	Brother–Sister Incest: A major part that drives the plot is Culla leaving Rinthy's baby to die, presumably because it's the fruit of their incestuous union.
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Outer Dark / int_82accf22	type	Gainax Ending
Outer Dark / int_82accf22	comment	Gainax Ending: The focus just sort of shifts away from Culla at the end to show the blind man's journey into the swamp.
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Outer Dark / int_851dda8f	type	Humanoid Abomination
Outer Dark / int_851dda8f	comment	Humanoid Abomination: Entirely up for debate, but the strangers might be this. At times, they come off as almost entirely inhuman, and it almost seems like they exist solely to punish Culla for giving away his and Rinthy's baby.
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Outer Dark / int_863fa679	type	What Happened to the Mouse?
Outer Dark / int_863fa679	comment	What Happened to the Mouse?: While looking for a place to work and to stay, Rinthy comes across a woman, who goes inside and never comes out.
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Outer Dark / int_8767b1f3	type	Black-and-Gray Morality
Outer Dark / int_8767b1f3	comment	Black-and-Gray Morality: On one hand, there's Culla, who's not exactly a shining example of human goodness, and then there's the strangers, who are a malevolent band of spree/serial killers leaving death in their wake.
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Outer Dark / int_8c5afdf0	type	Gutted Like a Fish
Outer Dark / int_8c5afdf0	comment	Gutted Like a Fish: The farmer that Culla met earlier is stabbed and gutted alive by the bearded stranger.
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Outer Dark / int_90e31482	type	Laser-Guided Karma
Outer Dark / int_90e31482	comment	Laser-Guided Karma: Culla goes through hell, with everyone he meets abusing him and treating him like shit as some sort of karmic retribution for his actions. The ending implies that the rest of his days will probably be thoroughly miserable.
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Outer Dark / int_95b7c400	type	Faux Affably Evil
Outer Dark / int_95b7c400	comment	Faux Affably Evil: Whenever they meet Culla, the strangers are welcoming to him, letting him sit down with them at the fire... while they eat human flesh in front of him.
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Outer Dark / int_95c2a9dd	type	Outliving One's Offspring
Outer Dark / int_95c2a9dd	comment	Outliving One's Offspring: Rinthy and Culla's child is murdered, while both of them live to the end of the book.
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Outer Dark / int_a2b38d3b	type	Eye Scream
Outer Dark / int_a2b38d3b	comment	Eye Scream: By the time Culla finds the baby, the strangers have gouged out one of its eyes.
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Outer Dark / int_a70223	type	Karma Houdini
Outer Dark / int_a70223	comment	Karma Houdini: The strangers murder Rinthy's baby and get away with it.
Outer Dark / int_a70223	featureApplicability	1.0
Outer Dark / int_a70223	featureConfidence	1.0
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Outer Dark / int_adfd3165	type	For the Evulz
Outer Dark / int_adfd3165	comment	For the Evulz: The strangers wander around, murdering those they encounter, seemingly for their own amusement.
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Outer Dark / int_aed65980	type	All for Nothing
Outer Dark / int_aed65980	comment	All for Nothing: At the end, the tinker is revealed to have been murdered, and Rinthy's baby eaten by the strangers, making her journey pointless.
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Outer Dark / int_bd4264a3	type	Slasher Smile
Outer Dark / int_bd4264a3	comment	Slasher Smile:
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Outer Dark / int_bd4264a3	featureConfidence	1.0
Outer Dark	hasFeature	Outer Dark / int_bd4264a3
Outer Dark / int_bef696dd	type	Mind Screw
Outer Dark / int_bef696dd	comment	Mind Screw: The entire book is, in true McCarthyan fashion, bizarre and trippy.
Outer Dark / int_bef696dd	featureApplicability	1.0
Outer Dark / int_bef696dd	featureConfidence	1.0
Outer Dark	hasFeature	Outer Dark / int_bef696dd
Outer Dark / int_c3c18143	type	Hope Spot
Outer Dark / int_c3c18143	comment	Hope Spot: Rinthy gets one in the form of a doctor visit. The doctor tells her that since she's still lactating, her baby is still alive. By the time she finds the baby, it's dead and cannibalized by the strangers. It almost seems like the strangers are willing to return the baby to Rinthy, but then one of them slashes its throat.
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Outer Dark / int_c75df49a	type	Shout-Out
Outer Dark / int_c75df49a	comment	Shout-Out: The title of the book comes from The Bible, specifically Matthew 22:13: There's also references to Classical Mythology, such as the strangers, who are — as mentioned above — thought to be expies of the three fates, and Culla crossing the river at night is a direct reference to the crossing of the River Styx.
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Outer Dark / int_c8c7fb4f	type	DomesticAbuser
Outer Dark / int_c8c7fb4f	comment	Domestic Abuser: Rinthy meets a woman and her husband, and the husband certainly appears to be this, given his temper. She's forced to flee shortly after.
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Outer Dark / int_dda99fa8	type	Despair Event Horizon
Outer Dark / int_dda99fa8	comment	Despair Event Horizon: Strongly implied Rinthy has a final breakdown when she discovers the death of her child.
Outer Dark / int_dda99fa8	featureApplicability	1.0
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Outer Dark / int_e542d889	type	Gorn
Outer Dark / int_e542d889	comment	Gorn: Not much, compared to, say, Blood Meridian, but it is certainly gory in parts.
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Outer Dark / int_e8b0f099	type	Dark Is Evil
Outer Dark / int_e8b0f099	comment	Dark Is Evil: It's in the title! Plus the strangers are clad in dark clothing, further adding to their malevolence.
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Outer Dark / int_eabb8130	type	Swamps Are Evil
Outer Dark / int_eabb8130	comment	Swamps Are Evil: The way the swamp the blind man wanders into at the end is described gives this impression. It sounds more like something out of Hell than it does a swamp.
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Outer Dark / int_f42f96fa	type	Would Hit a Girl
Outer Dark / int_f42f96fa	comment	Would Hit a Girl: The tinker slaps Rinthy for trying to tell him that the baby is hers and Culla's.
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Outer Dark / int_name	type	ItemName
Outer Dark / int_name	comment
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Outer Dark / int_name	itemName	Outer Dark

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

	Outer Dark	hasFeature	American Literature (N to S) / int_bc007724
	Outer Dark	hasFeature	Dramatic Irony / int_bc007724

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