The Road: Week 1
Post your first response by Tuesday, February 6. Throughout the week, engage in discussion by replying to a combination of six posts and replies.
The Road: Week 3
Post your second response by Tuesday, February 20. Throughout the week, engage in discussion by replying to a combination of six posts and replies.
In “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, McCarthy has created this interpretation of how the world went through an apocalypse. It was an interesting take of how the world ended. It wasn’t a natural disaster, but instead something that humans caused. McCarthy didn’t specify what the humans did, and I take this to be a way of saying, ‘I’m not predicting what humans will do that will end the world, but rather I know that humans will be the one to destroy our world’. We also get that humans somehow killed nature. “There was a sharp crack from somewhere on the mountain. Then another. It’s just a tree falling, he said. It’s okay… all the trees in the world are going to fall sooner or later” (35). All the trees are made out as dead or dying and even falling. This isn’t something that appears to be new to the father, whereas this type of thing in our time would be major. Trees are important for existence and all of them dying would be catastrophic. One of the main characters - the father - showed no suprise or worry towards the trees when stating that eventually they would all fall.
ReplyDelete“Behind them came wagons drawn by slaves in harness and piled with goods of war and after that the women” (92). McCarthy wrote a wrong on sentence on page 92, and this part of that sentence made me question who they are prepared for war against. We know that the main characters hide from this apparent army, but we don’t recognize why the soldiers are after them. I couldn’t help but also notice that on page 92, McCarthy used the word “tramping”. This gave me the image of soldiers marching in lines in sync. It reinforced the thought of an army to my mind. The characters are clearly cautious and stay away from everyone. “They followed him a good ways but at his pace they were losing the day and finally he just sat in the road and did not get up” (49). These main characters don’t appear to be the bad guys to me. They are avoiding everyone else, so it’s clear that they’re not trying to accomplish anything other than mind their own business and survive. They’re being hunted, and they suggest that so are other people just like them. It’s basically said that there are others who are doing the same thing as them, and from how in the quote of page 92 stated earlier, those who are being hunted as they are are turned into slaves. I can only imagine that if they aren’t turned into slaves, then they’re killed. Neither are a good option, hence the people who are fleeing and attempting to survive on their own.
ReplyDeleteThe mother of the boy isn’t quickly spoken of. I question why, maybe thinking that it’s a hard subject for the man to think of, or maybe perhaps it’s just the father attempting to move on and take care of the boy. Reading further makes me question this though. It’s implied to me that the mother killed herself, and what’s even more concerning is when the boy starts speaking of wishing to be with his mother himself. “I wish I was with my mom. He didn’t answer. He sat beside the small figure wrapped in the quilts and blankets. After a while he said: you mean you wish that you were dead. Yes” (55). Personally, I’m not sure whether kids can fully grasp what death is. That’s not something that I could instantly think yes or no. But then again, I’m also not completely sure of this kid’s age. My current guess would be around five, and I’m not sure personally if he would understand. What I do know is that this kid wishes that he were dead, and that’s not something any kid should go through. But I can’t help but wonder, wouldn’t a lot of people want to just give up in this situation? It’s a hard life constantly being on edge and never stop moving. No home. Just a cart with their belongings and some bags for quick getaway in order to leave the cart behind. He’s been taught techniques for surviving, and at his age that isn’t something that he should be focused on. I also question when the mother killed herself or died, because the boy clearly knows of her and wishes he were with her. Did she kill herself when the boy was too young to remember her, and he has created his own little fantasy of her? Or did she do it when the boy was a bit old enough to remember her? That could scar a boy of such a young age. I also don’t know if she killed herself because she spoke of two bullets being in the gun instead of three, and at a different moment in the book the dad spoke of how there were currently two bullets in the gun. It also came off to me as if the mother wished she had never even had the boy. “My heart was ripped out of me the night he was born so don’t ask for sorrow now” (57). She also refers to herself a “faithless slut” (57), calling Death her new lover. He clearly loves her, but she seems done with everything and dead inside. She doesn’t want to fight anymore. I wonder if the boy will get to this point as well. Was she depressed? Or was it simply the hardships she had to go through of whatever apocalypse had happened?
ReplyDeleteThe repetition of the darkness that the father woke up to was hard to miss. What happened to the moon? Where is the moon and why isn’t it giving off even an ounce of light? The only thing that I can fathom is that it increases the point that McCarthy is trying to make. The father waking up to the darkness is representative. In what I’ve gotten out of it so far, I believe the darkness is supposed to represent this point in his life and how dark it is and how he’s kind of walking blindly trying to keep him and the child alive. When it’s pitch dark out when he wakes up, he can’t go anywhere without the possibility of getting lost, and I wonder if that is how he feels most of the time.
ReplyDeleteThe writing style of Cormac McCarthy is different from that that I’ve seen of most writers, especially in the dialogue area, yet it made for a different and interesting read.
You stating that the author has a different type of writing style interests me. How is it different?
DeleteThe major difference that I noticed with the writing style was definitely the dialogue. This is the first book that I've read where there weren't quotation marks around the dialogue followed by who said it. It made it a little harder to understand but it intrigued me and I still found that I was able to follow it. I've never considered this type of writing before since I never even thought about the possibility of dialogue without quotation marks.
DeleteI like how you mentioned the overall darkness. You really analyzed every part of the book and saw some things that I didn't. What part of the reading was most interesting to you? I realize how different it was in style, but was there anything in specific you like or disliked?
DeleteIn “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, some sort of disaster has occured that has driven the father and son duo to be fighting for survival while simultaneously on the run. You first get a glimpse on the idea that they’re on the run at the very beginning of the book. “Clamped to the handle of the cart was a chrome motorcycle mirror that he used to watch the road behind them” (8).The father is overly cautious and is constantly scanning the world around them with binoculars to ensure they’re alone. The disaster that McCarthy uses as a recurring theme implies it to be an advanced for of the effects on Global Warming. “There was a sharp crack from somewhere on the mountain. Then another. It’s just a tree falling, he said. It’s okay… all the trees in the world are going to fall sooner or later” (35). Not only does he talk about how all the trees are dying, the world is grey, there is little to no light, and earthquakes are happening more frequently. Even though the world is dying around them, evil still perseveres. While traveling down the road the father and son encounter what the boy describes as the ‘bad guys’. “An army in tennis shoes, tramping. Carrying three-foot lengths of pipe with leather wrapping.Lanyards at the wrist. Some of the pipes were threaded through lengths of chain fitted at the end with every manner of bludgeon.” (91). We don’t know why they are being chased. But I can only infer they aren’t the only ones and if they are caught, it’s bad news.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy, McCarthy calls the two main characters by ‘the man’ and ‘the boy’. When first opening this book, you would expect to be introduced to a few characters. Learning their names, how they act, and their purpose in the story. McCarthy avoids the names, but describes everything else a character needs as the story goes on. Readers learn that the man is cautious as stated “Clamped to the handle of the cart was a chrome motorcycle mirror that he used to watch the road behind them” (8). The boy is one to share and has compassion for things the man doesn’t as shown “The boy kept looking back. Papa? he whispered. What is wrong with the man? He’s been struck by lightning. Can we help him? Papa? No. we can’t help him. The boy kept pulling at his coat. Papa? he said. Stop it. Can we help him Papa? No. We can’t help him. There’s nothing to be done for him.” (50). But the names. The man doesn’t call the boy by whatever name he was given at birth, but really turns to the kid and starts a conversation. The boy does address the man as Papa, him being his father and all, but nothing else. The reason as to why McCarthy didn’t give his main characters names, I think, is to add more mystery and despair of the fact these two are surviving in a world that doesn’t need people to know names. It’s not like The Walking Dead where characters remember the name of everyone who has died under their watch, but rather the opposite. I think it’s likely the two will only use names of other people if it’s addressed. If you lived in a post-apocalyptic like this duo does, are names really needed?
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that you thought the no-named characters added to the mystery of the piece. I couldn't help but wonder if it was to make them more generalized, as if they could be anybody.
DeleteIn “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, is a certain style and structure unlike anything I had seen. We are introduced to our two main characters, who have no names. They do, but the author does not tell us what they are. The reason why I believe this was chosen was because the author didn’t believe it was important. Names, in a post apocalyptic world would have little meaning. Instead, we learn things about the characters and how they act. We learn that the man’s only goal is to protect the boy, which is the main plot of the story. “Are we going to die? Sometime. Not now. And we’re still going south. Yes. So we’ll be warm. Yes.” (10) We also learn that the man is only living for the boy. “What would you do if I died? If you died I would want to die to. So you could be with me? Yes. So I could be with you. Okay.” (11) These are important to the plot, rather than knowing our characters names. Or their personality. The man is protective. “My job is to take care of you. I was appointed to do that by God. I will kill anyone who touches you. Do you understand?” (77) And we learn the boy is frightful and compassionate. “We should go get him, Papa. We could get him and take him with us. We could take him and we could take the dog. The dog could catch us something to eat.” (86) The author doesn’t give us information that isn’t important to the story, but gives us elements to carry the plot. Just like not stating what exactly happened to the world. They imply it instead, but it is not exactly important.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the book “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, the author illustrates an image of how the would would look like through an apocalyptic state. It was clear to see that humans were slowly dying off and I came to the conclusion that this situation was all cause by humans. Throughout the first part of the book we get a glimpse of what i think are the two main characters a father and his son. But I also wondered where the mother of the child was because of the dialogue that the son used “I wish I was with mom.” (55). But my thoughts changed very quickly once I figured out that the mother was dead and that the father bluntly asked his son if he wanted to be as well. I definitely feel as though the dad is being a little hard on his son but in a situation like this you kind of have to be so that you get the seriousness across to the boy. But at the same time the dad had a responsibility and that was to give knowledge to his son on how to live without him if it was to ever become necessary. “My job is to take care of you. I was appointed to do that by God. I will kill anyone who touches you. Do you understand?” (77) The father wants his son to be safe but also to have a way to take care of himself as well.
ReplyDelete