I enjoyed reading The Road, despite the depressing storyline. Normally I like happy endings, something which this class has a shortage of. One thing that stood out to me was how McCarthy matched diction and syntax to the tone of the book. Set after a worldwide catastrophe, maybe a nuclear fallout, the book maintains a bleak, almost apathetic view towards the end. McCarthy only gives one character in the book a name, referring to the main characters as “the man” and “the boy.” The only named character, a hobo that the man and the boy meet on the road, gives them a fake name because he “doesn’t want them to be able to use [his real name].” The sentences are concise and to the point, not using much figurative language, because the characters focus on the facts and staying alive. In syntax, McCarthy doesn’t use apostrophes in his contractions, which fits in with the book’s hopeless air. Why bother using apostrophes when it’s the end of the world?
I found the relationship between the man and the boy interesting. Both try and keep their humanity and morality in the face of a harsh world. The man is forced to be calculating and sometimes cruel to ensure his family's survival. The boy, in spite of the fact that he is used to an existence of cold and hunger, is idealistic and compassionate, always wanting to help others. Unlike the man, the boy reaches out to people they meet on their travels, and volunteers to do without to give others more of a chance to survive. He is upset by the man’s actions to protect his family, from shooting the cannibal to taking everything back from the thief on the beach, including his clothes.
I wondered what thoughts people had about the phrase “carrying the fire,” that the man and the boy use to describe themselves. I thought it symbolized carrying the torch of humanity, or maybe the morality that most of the human race has lost--hence the man's separation of the remaining population into "the good guys" and "the bad guys". I thought it was interesting that “the fire” is one of the few images with a color connotation in the novel. A lot of the description in the novel deals with gray and black ash, and the gray refugees and cannibals.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I absolutely loved this story. The first ten pages or so I thought I was going to be so incredibly bored. I mean just reading about sleeping outside and finding food didn't seem at all interesting to me. Then after I read on a little bit I found myself so enthralled at the idea of the man and son finding food or shelter. When they found the bunker with the boxes and cans full of food, I felt like it was Christmas morning!! I felt myself pulling for them. I was also blown away by McCarthy's ability to get me so interested in such boring tasks. I didn't even really expect anything major, I just wanted them to find the next resource that would help for survival.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I thought the ending was sad (and I definitely teared up), I thought it was actually very positive too. The whole idea that the man could not kill his son was very touching. He gave his boy a chance at life, a chance to pass the fire along. The boy's innocence and connection to humanity was painted beautifully. Overall, I was just very surprised and impressed with this book.
I agree that The Road was an extremely enjoyable read, especially when it creates a different post-apocalyptic theme. For the past few year, many movies and books have been written with similar themes, but most of them involve the use of the supernatural (zombies, aliens etc.). Not only does the book does an excellent job in portraying the post-apocalyptic world, it blames and involves the good and bad within the humankind only, and not some outer super power. Even though being a fiction, it creates a scenario that makes the readers think that this might actually happen, in desperate of times, people might and will resort to the most evil of things, including cannibalization. For obvious reasons the book deals with sadness, depression and death, but on the way (the path/the road), it creates a glimmer of hope by maintaining humanity within the father and the son who, as the opening post mentions, carry the fire. All in all, an excellent book, very well written, and involves a typical depressing story with a bit of hope, and leaves the readers to ask the question: what next?
ReplyDelete