Many critics sometimes argue that McCarthy primarily uses a limited palette however there are frequent instances where rich lyricism has been used. For example...
"cold glaucoma dimming away the world"
"granitic beast"
"great pendulum in its rotunda"
"blowsy plumage in the still autumn"
"certain ancient frescoes entombed"
These extracts occur within the first 20 pages where McCarthy establishes each genre that The Road falls into. After these many of the poetic language occurs when the man is reminiscing about the woman as death is personified as a "lover". Language is used in this way as it differentiates between the monotonous journey along the road.
The explicit description of how the man shoots the road rat perhaps gives insight into a possible military background. Furthermore the description of brain sections "frontal lobe...colliculus and temporal gyrus" indicates to a medical background yet dispels this when he states "I'm not anything". The fact the reader is never truly shown what the man was prior to the apocalypse emphasises how unimportant daily tasks and jobs actually are in a world where nothing other than bare essentials and survival skills matter.
The lumbering and creaking of the truck is linked to the flying Dutchman as the sound reminds the reader that death is ever present and connotes that death will follow the two characters throughout the novel and will eventually reach them.
Tuesday, 31 March 2015
Tuesday, 24 March 2015
The Woman
The woman is some how inferior to the man as he speaks bluntly to her and displays her ignorance as she asks why he is taking a bath. Also it seems the man has almost given up caring about the woman as when giving birth "her cries meant nothing to him" this is clearly a subversion of normal conventions which heavily indicates that the boy is the key character and 'good guy' and is central to the religious aspect of the book. The woman, however, is more realistic about the man and she is aware of how society will descend and fall as she states "They will kill us. They will rape me" this insight is most probably the reason that she calls death her "lover" and "empty nothingness" becomes her "only hope".
The woman also represents the cyclical nature of life, she gives and takes away life in what appears to be a relatively short space of time. McCarthy uses the woman as a device to reveal the life that existed before the apocalypse. The woman also is symbolic as the absence of hope, the man is firm in his belief that the boy will lead him to death and what the reader can only assume to be a more positive after life or an empty liminal space.
Structurally the woman is used by McCarthy to change the time in which the novel falls. She enables the man to reveal parts of his past, a possible survivalist background as he instinctively runs a bath for water, and bring colour into an otherwise bleak and hopeless world. McCarthy also provides an alternative reaction to the event as she is clearly not able to strive an work to find the south and for her suicide is the only way to escape the horrors of the world.
Its possible that the woman has a prominent absence because the novel focuses upon a father son relationship. However it is more likely that it is a way of a specific viewpoint and genre being conveyed. She is a counter- example of post-apocalyptic fiction as she is unable to adapt to the new situation.
How does McCarthy tell the story in pages1-28 of The Road
The Road begins in media res with a third person omniscient narrator describing the man checking upon the boy. The narrator likens the man and boy to pilgrims and describes the man's dream of being in a cave but unable to reach death. The boy then wakes and they eat but there is an ever present sense of danger, reinforced by the narrator detailing that "This was not a safe place. They could be seen from the road now that it was day. The man and boy move on, a few days pass where the setting is revealed and then eventually they come across a gas station and fill up their petrol canisters for their slag lamp. The man contemplates his past and remembers his wife. The man and boy reach a supermarket where they share their first coke before continuing with their journey.
Throughout the book all characters are nameless except for Ely at the very end. This namelessness helps McCarthy to create a world in which man made conventions and systems are rendered somewhat useless and all human qualities have vanished. This enables McCarthy to cause the reader to willingly suspend their disbeliefs and believe and attempt to understand the subverted moral code that exists on the road. The boy is the only character that resembles something that the reader can relate to. This means that the reader identifies with the boy and can emotionally connect with the horrific situation that he resides in.
McCarthy repeats key words such as "gray", "cold" and "ash". This repetition is pivotal to the reader being able to visualise the scenery of the road. The only way that the reader can form some sort of image of the road is through the narrator's descriptions and the man's occasional memories of a life before the apocalypse. This makes the section seem bleak and depressing, much like the prospects of the man and the boy are. This foreshadows the man's eventual death as when one dies their skin is said to acquire a grey tone and become cold, this description matches that by McCarthy relating to the desolate nature of the road.
A key event in this section is when the man and boy share a Coca-Cola. This is extremely significant as in America this is considered to be somewhat of a tradition between fathers and sons. It also emphasises the post-apocalyptic genre as characters are usually required to adapt to a situation that has been stripped back to bare basics when in comparison to the world that existed prior to the apocalypse. This enables McCarthy to some extent satirise the consumer driven materialistic nature of most modern readers of the novel and present the absurd nature of the items and aspects that people deem to be of importance.
Biblical language is used heavily in this section and towards the end of The Road. The man refers to the boy as the word of God, claiming that "If he is not the word of God God never spoke". This relates to the dream that the man had in which the boy lead the father to death as the man could not attain death alone. McCarthy is able to reveal through this that the boy is the most important character and is a means to the man's end. The boy is also the man's main reason for living which forebodes the way in which the boy is able to inspire compassion in the man, preventing him from killing the robber and feeding Ely.
McCarthy, in this section, prepares the reader for the horrific events that will follow by using skeletal and decaying language. "The city was mostly burned", "everything dead to the root" and "an advertisement in ten foot faded letters". This illustrates the decay and fall of all civilisation, implying that the back bone of moral structure in society has been eroded. All that remains is the burned ashen leftovers of society, which is also descriptive of the human that live on the road. These humans have no moral standing and are what would, in a functioning society, be considered as the scum, grime and plague on civilisation. This all makes the cannibalism, paedophilia and rape all become seemingly acceptable. However McCarthy never makes it clear whether the perpetrators have always been evil or their situation drove them to these measures.
Pages 1-28 of The Road lay the foundations for the rest of the novel. McCarthy establishes a clear mixture of genres and styles which all foreshadow and amount to the events that culminate later in the novel.
Throughout the book all characters are nameless except for Ely at the very end. This namelessness helps McCarthy to create a world in which man made conventions and systems are rendered somewhat useless and all human qualities have vanished. This enables McCarthy to cause the reader to willingly suspend their disbeliefs and believe and attempt to understand the subverted moral code that exists on the road. The boy is the only character that resembles something that the reader can relate to. This means that the reader identifies with the boy and can emotionally connect with the horrific situation that he resides in.
McCarthy repeats key words such as "gray", "cold" and "ash". This repetition is pivotal to the reader being able to visualise the scenery of the road. The only way that the reader can form some sort of image of the road is through the narrator's descriptions and the man's occasional memories of a life before the apocalypse. This makes the section seem bleak and depressing, much like the prospects of the man and the boy are. This foreshadows the man's eventual death as when one dies their skin is said to acquire a grey tone and become cold, this description matches that by McCarthy relating to the desolate nature of the road.
A key event in this section is when the man and boy share a Coca-Cola. This is extremely significant as in America this is considered to be somewhat of a tradition between fathers and sons. It also emphasises the post-apocalyptic genre as characters are usually required to adapt to a situation that has been stripped back to bare basics when in comparison to the world that existed prior to the apocalypse. This enables McCarthy to some extent satirise the consumer driven materialistic nature of most modern readers of the novel and present the absurd nature of the items and aspects that people deem to be of importance.
Biblical language is used heavily in this section and towards the end of The Road. The man refers to the boy as the word of God, claiming that "If he is not the word of God God never spoke". This relates to the dream that the man had in which the boy lead the father to death as the man could not attain death alone. McCarthy is able to reveal through this that the boy is the most important character and is a means to the man's end. The boy is also the man's main reason for living which forebodes the way in which the boy is able to inspire compassion in the man, preventing him from killing the robber and feeding Ely.
McCarthy, in this section, prepares the reader for the horrific events that will follow by using skeletal and decaying language. "The city was mostly burned", "everything dead to the root" and "an advertisement in ten foot faded letters". This illustrates the decay and fall of all civilisation, implying that the back bone of moral structure in society has been eroded. All that remains is the burned ashen leftovers of society, which is also descriptive of the human that live on the road. These humans have no moral standing and are what would, in a functioning society, be considered as the scum, grime and plague on civilisation. This all makes the cannibalism, paedophilia and rape all become seemingly acceptable. However McCarthy never makes it clear whether the perpetrators have always been evil or their situation drove them to these measures.
Pages 1-28 of The Road lay the foundations for the rest of the novel. McCarthy establishes a clear mixture of genres and styles which all foreshadow and amount to the events that culminate later in the novel.
Post-Apocalyptic interpretations
Marauding gangs of bandits.
"An army in tennis shoes, tramping. Carrying three-foot lengths of pipe with leather wrappings. [. . .] The phalanx following carried spears or lances tasseled with ribbons, the long blades hammered out of trucksprings in some crude forge upcountry. [. . .] Behind them came wagons drawn by slaves in harness and piled with goods of war and after that the women, perhaps a dozen in number, some of them pregnant, and lastly a supplementary consort of catamites illcothed against the cold and fitted in dogcollars and yoked each to each. All passed on. They lay listening."
There is a constant recurring theme of the fear and horror of bandit gangs. The man and the boy spot a tennis shoe army walking down the road, the boys fearful reaction emphasises the danger that the man and boy face. The tennis shoe army reinforce the claims of the woman that "they will rape me. They will rape him", as the pregnant women will have been raped, possibly in order to provide a source of food with the babies that are born - as seen with the baby on the spit.
Another area where the theme of bandits is present is when the man and boy stumble across a cellar that is reminiscent of a low culture B movie, filled with naked human bodies that have been amputated for food. This explicitly reveals the descent of society as somehow it has become acceptable to farm humans for food. The descent is also shown as the man and boy seem to have a relatively tame reaction to this discovery in comparison to how a human that lives in the pre-apocalyptic world would have. The man utters "Jesus" an then calls out "Christ...Oh Christ" and proceeds to shush his crying son. For any reader this section is deeply disturbing yet the man and boy almost accept the behaviour as part of their day to day life.
Fall of Civilisation
Cannibalism, rape and paedophilia have all become justifiable in this post-apocalyptic world. In a regular, fully functioning civilisation these acts carry lengthy prison sentences and in some areas even death penalties. Yet, McCarthy manages to manufacture a world in which these acts are accepted as part of a regular monotonous routine that occurs daily. McCarthy may have been able to create this world by removing all names of characters, these nameless people are dehumanised and separated from the compassionate world in which the reader resides which manages to permit these acts without punishment or retribution.
Ely's character is the only character that is given a name, his religious statements combined with the prevailing human qualities evoked in the boy provide the reader with a glimmer of hope and a sense that a higher power will intervene and the boy will be okay. Ely, despite his disregard for the bible and firm statements denouncing God, brings about a quality in the boy that makes it clear for the reader to see that the boy truly is one of if not the "good guys" among a tarnished world where civilisation has fallen and all hope has been eroded.
Humanity has always imagined its own destruction. These catastrophic fantasies are a good barometer of what is currently troubling us.
The Bible is a good indication of the thoughts of those who lived BCE. One of the final books in the bible is the book of revelations , revelation 8 speaks of 7 angels with 7 trumpets and when these trumpets are sounded
"A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.....A third of the sea turned into blood, 9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed".
This book speaks of the end of the world and how the people of that time perceived that it would happen.
Further in the book it says that "people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them", This strikes as being extremely similar and almost a complete parallel to the desires of the characters in the road. The man wishes to die yet the boy has to lead him to death, death eludes him. The woman likens death to a "lover" and says death can give her what the man cannot, death eludes her so she has to commit suicide. The people discovered in the cellar would surely desire to die yet they are used as food, amputated and cut apart yet still death eludes them. In a way this book could be read as an embodiment of the book of revelations as everything is burned as if Satan had burned the land.
Films throughout history have echoed the troubles and feelings of society. In the 1960s there were mainly zombie movies. This echoed the fears put in place by the possible and very real threat of a nuclear war resulting from the American and Soviet Union Cold War. The 1980s saw a rise in low culture movies centred around madmen and psychopaths this echo's the development of anti psychotic drugs. Currently in most modern films there's always a pressing threat of terrorism and the destruction of the whole world as a result of the heightened tensions. These influences can be seen in 'The Road' as McCarthy directly imitates scenes from these low culture B movies such as Dawn of the Dead, The Hills Have Eyes and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. These ideas are intergrated into the road such as the amputations, the cannibal element and the cellar full of trapped farmed people. This shows that 'The Road' could be an imagination of the destruction of society and further emphasises its post-modern genre by merging multiple ideas and elements of destruction together.
"An army in tennis shoes, tramping. Carrying three-foot lengths of pipe with leather wrappings. [. . .] The phalanx following carried spears or lances tasseled with ribbons, the long blades hammered out of trucksprings in some crude forge upcountry. [. . .] Behind them came wagons drawn by slaves in harness and piled with goods of war and after that the women, perhaps a dozen in number, some of them pregnant, and lastly a supplementary consort of catamites illcothed against the cold and fitted in dogcollars and yoked each to each. All passed on. They lay listening."
There is a constant recurring theme of the fear and horror of bandit gangs. The man and the boy spot a tennis shoe army walking down the road, the boys fearful reaction emphasises the danger that the man and boy face. The tennis shoe army reinforce the claims of the woman that "they will rape me. They will rape him", as the pregnant women will have been raped, possibly in order to provide a source of food with the babies that are born - as seen with the baby on the spit.
Another area where the theme of bandits is present is when the man and boy stumble across a cellar that is reminiscent of a low culture B movie, filled with naked human bodies that have been amputated for food. This explicitly reveals the descent of society as somehow it has become acceptable to farm humans for food. The descent is also shown as the man and boy seem to have a relatively tame reaction to this discovery in comparison to how a human that lives in the pre-apocalyptic world would have. The man utters "Jesus" an then calls out "Christ...Oh Christ" and proceeds to shush his crying son. For any reader this section is deeply disturbing yet the man and boy almost accept the behaviour as part of their day to day life.
Fall of Civilisation
Cannibalism, rape and paedophilia have all become justifiable in this post-apocalyptic world. In a regular, fully functioning civilisation these acts carry lengthy prison sentences and in some areas even death penalties. Yet, McCarthy manages to manufacture a world in which these acts are accepted as part of a regular monotonous routine that occurs daily. McCarthy may have been able to create this world by removing all names of characters, these nameless people are dehumanised and separated from the compassionate world in which the reader resides which manages to permit these acts without punishment or retribution.
Ely's character is the only character that is given a name, his religious statements combined with the prevailing human qualities evoked in the boy provide the reader with a glimmer of hope and a sense that a higher power will intervene and the boy will be okay. Ely, despite his disregard for the bible and firm statements denouncing God, brings about a quality in the boy that makes it clear for the reader to see that the boy truly is one of if not the "good guys" among a tarnished world where civilisation has fallen and all hope has been eroded.
Humanity has always imagined its own destruction. These catastrophic fantasies are a good barometer of what is currently troubling us.
The Bible is a good indication of the thoughts of those who lived BCE. One of the final books in the bible is the book of revelations , revelation 8 speaks of 7 angels with 7 trumpets and when these trumpets are sounded
"A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.....A third of the sea turned into blood, 9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed".
This book speaks of the end of the world and how the people of that time perceived that it would happen.
Further in the book it says that "people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them", This strikes as being extremely similar and almost a complete parallel to the desires of the characters in the road. The man wishes to die yet the boy has to lead him to death, death eludes him. The woman likens death to a "lover" and says death can give her what the man cannot, death eludes her so she has to commit suicide. The people discovered in the cellar would surely desire to die yet they are used as food, amputated and cut apart yet still death eludes them. In a way this book could be read as an embodiment of the book of revelations as everything is burned as if Satan had burned the land.
Films throughout history have echoed the troubles and feelings of society. In the 1960s there were mainly zombie movies. This echoed the fears put in place by the possible and very real threat of a nuclear war resulting from the American and Soviet Union Cold War. The 1980s saw a rise in low culture movies centred around madmen and psychopaths this echo's the development of anti psychotic drugs. Currently in most modern films there's always a pressing threat of terrorism and the destruction of the whole world as a result of the heightened tensions. These influences can be seen in 'The Road' as McCarthy directly imitates scenes from these low culture B movies such as Dawn of the Dead, The Hills Have Eyes and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. These ideas are intergrated into the road such as the amputations, the cannibal element and the cellar full of trapped farmed people. This shows that 'The Road' could be an imagination of the destruction of society and further emphasises its post-modern genre by merging multiple ideas and elements of destruction together.
Thursday, 19 March 2015
TV interview
Oprah interviews McCarthy soon after he received his award for 'The Road'. In this video he reveals his inspiration and how his relationship with his son influenced the book. Form 3:12 minutes the interview is centred upon 'The Road'.
Oprah interview
Oprah interview
Tuesday, 17 March 2015
The First 28 Pages...
"Cold glaucoma dimming away the world"- when a person has glaucoma their iris clouds over, this is symbolic of the landscape within 'The Road' clouding over with ash, it also links to the grey dreary weather throughout.
"If he is not the word of God God never spoke"- religious references are mentioned throughout the novel. God sent Jesus to Earth to save humans, the only way the man believes that he can be saved is for the boy to lead him to his death, this makes the boy the word of God.
"Pilgrims in a fable"- This is an American novel symbolising the American Dream. Traditionally in order to achieve great things or for prospects to brighten a person would travel from the east of America to the west. This is similar to the pilgrimage that the man and boy make from North to South in search of the "good guys" and hope.
"He hadn't kept a calendar for years"- This shows the novel begins in media res as it is clear that the world has been in a post-apocalyptic state for a long period of time. It also reveals that time is no longer a necessary aspect of life which further distances the book from humanity as most people find themselves checking a clock or meeting deadlines multiple times in a day.
"grocery cart" "looking at a Coca-Cola" "billboards advertising motels"- The grocery cart is a key way of the man and the boy clinging to the pre-apocalyptic world. The references to Coca-Cola and advertisement billboards is a way of representing the consumerism and materialistic nature of America and showing how none of it is ultimately important. When the man and boy share the boy's first Coca-Cola it is a significant moment as in America it is a key part of a boys' life.
"knapsack" "motorcycle mirror that he used to watch the road behind them"- This links to the idea of danger as they're always watching the road behind them. This enables the genre to be planted in horror as suspense is built. An explicit link is shown from low culture movies as influences from films such as 'Dawn of the Dead', 'The Hills Have Eyes' and 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'.
"dialled the number of his fathers' house"- The man is reminiscent of his old life and foreshadows his visit to his old house. It also reinforces the father-son relationship that is portrayed and highlighted in the book.
"I'm right here. I know"- This is the first piece of dialogue, it sets out how all of the speech will be for the rest of the novel. It emphasises the strange nature of the relationship between the man and boy as the boy's simple reply shows that he is aware of his Dad's presence but never has the contact comfort that most children require. The simplistic nature of the vocabulary illustrates that the man and boy are only communicating with the bare necessity of what needs to be said , they don't attempts to alleviate the pain or horror of the situation by discussing feelings or supporting each other, it appears that each has accepted their fate.
"Cold and growing colder"- The book could be summarised in this sentence. The man and boy are barely surviving at the beginning of the book but as the narrative continues their prospects become bleaker and their hopes begin to fade. Upon the arrival of the coast the sea isn't blue, there are no "good guys" and their hopes of rescue have vanished. As the story progresses the weather begins to deteriorate, as does their situation.
"That and food. Always food."- Every aspect of the story is centred upon food. In each key event food is mentioned, as they pass others on the road the boy asks his Dad to share their food yet the man nearly always refuses, this could give insight into the profession that the man had before the apocalypse or just simply highlight the differences between the nature of the man and the boy.
"If he is not the word of God God never spoke"- religious references are mentioned throughout the novel. God sent Jesus to Earth to save humans, the only way the man believes that he can be saved is for the boy to lead him to his death, this makes the boy the word of God.
"Pilgrims in a fable"- This is an American novel symbolising the American Dream. Traditionally in order to achieve great things or for prospects to brighten a person would travel from the east of America to the west. This is similar to the pilgrimage that the man and boy make from North to South in search of the "good guys" and hope.
"He hadn't kept a calendar for years"- This shows the novel begins in media res as it is clear that the world has been in a post-apocalyptic state for a long period of time. It also reveals that time is no longer a necessary aspect of life which further distances the book from humanity as most people find themselves checking a clock or meeting deadlines multiple times in a day.
"grocery cart" "looking at a Coca-Cola" "billboards advertising motels"- The grocery cart is a key way of the man and the boy clinging to the pre-apocalyptic world. The references to Coca-Cola and advertisement billboards is a way of representing the consumerism and materialistic nature of America and showing how none of it is ultimately important. When the man and boy share the boy's first Coca-Cola it is a significant moment as in America it is a key part of a boys' life.
"knapsack" "motorcycle mirror that he used to watch the road behind them"- This links to the idea of danger as they're always watching the road behind them. This enables the genre to be planted in horror as suspense is built. An explicit link is shown from low culture movies as influences from films such as 'Dawn of the Dead', 'The Hills Have Eyes' and 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'.
"dialled the number of his fathers' house"- The man is reminiscent of his old life and foreshadows his visit to his old house. It also reinforces the father-son relationship that is portrayed and highlighted in the book.
"I'm right here. I know"- This is the first piece of dialogue, it sets out how all of the speech will be for the rest of the novel. It emphasises the strange nature of the relationship between the man and boy as the boy's simple reply shows that he is aware of his Dad's presence but never has the contact comfort that most children require. The simplistic nature of the vocabulary illustrates that the man and boy are only communicating with the bare necessity of what needs to be said , they don't attempts to alleviate the pain or horror of the situation by discussing feelings or supporting each other, it appears that each has accepted their fate.
"Cold and growing colder"- The book could be summarised in this sentence. The man and boy are barely surviving at the beginning of the book but as the narrative continues their prospects become bleaker and their hopes begin to fade. Upon the arrival of the coast the sea isn't blue, there are no "good guys" and their hopes of rescue have vanished. As the story progresses the weather begins to deteriorate, as does their situation.
"That and food. Always food."- Every aspect of the story is centred upon food. In each key event food is mentioned, as they pass others on the road the boy asks his Dad to share their food yet the man nearly always refuses, this could give insight into the profession that the man had before the apocalypse or just simply highlight the differences between the nature of the man and the boy.
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