/lit/ - Literature

>posting your wrist once on /lit/ and beholding the seething midwit cope

Thread about the ending, so spoilers.

Do you guys think the judge killed the kid? Or do you think the ending represents the kids embrace of the Judge’s philosophy and he is actually the one who rapes the little girl that goes missing around the same time? I have seen this meaning suggested other places online and I honestly think it makes for a better ending. I also feel like it makes sense due to the language McCarthy uses in describing the event:

“The judge was seated upon the closet. He was naked and he rose up smiling and gathered him in his arms against his immense and terrible flesh and shot the wooden barlatch home behind him.”

However, at the same time it kind of ruins the kid’s character arc as well. What does lit think?