Wow, where to start with this book? This book was a lot like “Never Let Me Go” because I couldn’t turn the page fast enough to try and figure out what was going on. Like in “Never Let Me Go,” the more we read the more we find out, but in the end we are still deprived of the information that we want so badly. McCarthy spends so much time just describing the everyday activities of their lives (granted it is no the “everyday” things of our lives). Even though this book is a lot about the routine in their lives, there is some very powerful writing in it. One of my favorite example was the bottom paragraph on page 130 starting with the sentence “He walked out in the gray light…” I have a lot of things to talk about from this book but I want to propose some questions for you to think about while you read:
1) Is this a Christian parable? What connections can you draw? Obviously, this is a post-apocalyptic novel and the Bible has a whole book devoted to that. But past that, what do you see?
2) Is this a morality story? What morals do we learn? The boy seems to always want to help people but the father is more reluctant to do so. Is the father callous? Immoral? Selfish?
Now think about some of the motifs/trends in this book:
-The motif of dreams. Dreams are mentioned many, many times in this book, especially towards the end. What do each characters have to say about good dreams and about bad dreams?
-Tied closely to the theme of dreams, the father has a line where he says “What you can put in your head you can never take out.” To what extent does the father try to protect his son from seeing some of the atrocities and why does he do it? I think this applies to the reader as well. McCarthy is creating an image in our head that we will always remember
-The relationship between the father and the son – the boy seems to be growing apart from his father even though his father has only the best intentions in mind. After his father confronts the man who stole their cart on the beach, the father says to the son “You’re not the one who has to worry about everything” and the son replies defiantly “I am the one.” Do you think they grow apart because the son disapproves of his father’s interaction with other people, or do you think this is just part of the boy growing and maturing (we all went through a phase where we got annoyed by our parents)
What other comments did everyone have about the book? Did you like it? Were you frustrated by it? Go to this website and look at the screenshots from the movie coming out and I think you will really like it. It helps put a visual on some of the most memorable scenes
http://the-road--trailer.blogspot.com/
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I must say that I loved this book. It is a true testament of an author to make a 287 page book with two main characters and all in all very little action into an engaging masterpiece, but I certainly feel like McCarthy succeeded.
ReplyDeleteI want to address Caldwell's question of the book as a Christian parable vs. a story of morality.
I initially saw this book as more on the side of morality. I feel like McCarthy is making a social comment in regards to humanity and the way in which many of us live our lives. It's as if he is saying that it won't necessarily take an Apocalypse for use to transform from moral humans to wild animals. Therefore, I can see the father and son as the rare breed (the good guys) who carried the "fire," who held on to morality and God and faith when the rest of the world crumbled around them. In this sense, the world the father and son live in doesn't necessarily have to be one of darkness and death in a literal sense, but rather it is a metaphorical world which is not too far from the truth in regards to the decaying morals, values, and family focus that is evident in today's society. This may be somewhat of a stretch, but I felt as though this alternate universe of good vs. bad was paralleled to modern society instead of just to the end of the world.
However, in regards to this story as a Christian parable, the quest of faith is also evident.
One passage stood out to me throughout the entire book:
"Do you think that your fathers are watching? That they weigh you in their ledgerbook? Against what? There is no book and your fathers are dead in the ground." (197)
I thought such a statement could be a religious allusion.. disciples, books of the Bible, etc.. but regardless of interpretation this passage just really struck me at the exact moment that I read it. What do y'all think?
I just wanted to respond to the question of whether the boy was just annoyed with his father or if it was something else. I definitely don't think it was the typical childhood annoyance here. I think that the boy was somewhat resenting having to accept the harsh reality of survival. Trying to survive required the father to be "mean" in the boy's eyes to the few people they met on the road. In normal conditions this would be absolutely terrifying to a child, to see a parent be so outwardly cruel to another human being. In this tragic situation the father had to protect his son and his own life. Any child would have a difficult time discerning between right and wrong here. Also, throughout the story the boy displayed such innocence and purity. He was a symbol of hope for the future against the cruel world.
ReplyDeleteLike most of the people that have posted so far, I also enjoyed this book. For me, this book says a lot about what separates us from wild animals. The boy and the love the father has for his son is in many ways what keeps his father from devolving into the inhumane activities occurring all around him. The ability to love and act in the best interests of another is for me what makes us human rather than simply animals. Also, the man we meet at the end of the novel acts in the same humane manner as the main character and also happens to have children and a wife that he cares about. This seems to correlate with the way the boy kept the man human throughout the novel.
ReplyDeleteAs for the religious aspect of the book, did anyone else make a connection between "carrying the fire" and the religious festival of Pentecost in which the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples in the form of fire? Since Christians believe that the Holy Spirit guides believers toward moral behavior, "carrying the fire" could be a reference to having the Holy Spirit in your lives within a Christian context. This might be a little bit of a stretch but its what I thought about when I read the novel.
I thought this book was definitely interesting. One of the points that Caldwell has brought up that we also discussed in class was the idea of whether or not the father was being selfish in his reluctance to help others. I don't think that he is being selfish; rather, I think he is relying on one of the most basic human instincts-survival. In the context of the book, I believe that you cannot fault him for only looking out for himself and his son. Essentially, his son is his reason for living, which creates an interesting situation. His son is his reason for living, and he is relying on his survival instincts, which implies that he does all that he does in order for his son to be able to live. In that sense, he is obviously not being selfish. I agreed with the point that the presentation group brought up on Tuesday- asking how the man would be without his son is a moot point, because he would ultimately just be a dead man.
ReplyDeleteI also think that the philosophical and religious speculation on this book is interesting. What is so different about this book is that we attempt to apply philosophical ideals to this post-apocalyptic world. In my opinion, in the situation the man and his son are in, all bets are off. The issue of morality in the book is definitely open for interpretation. I believe that morality is best viewed as relative when taking into account the situation of the characters. For example, while the father is not helping others, he has not stooped to cannibalism. Someone in class brought up the parallel of the son being Jesus, which I think is an interesting comparison. I agree that there is definitely a sense of parallel there- the pure and good son born into a world filled with sin and hopelessness, etc. Another way it could be a metaphor is the fact that the man's reason for living, and his hope, is all focused on his son. This might parallel the Christian viewpoint of living for Jesus. Overall, what makes this book such a good read is its ambiguity and complexity that is extremely thought-provoking.