What element of foreshadowing is employed in this section and why?
What does the description of the men tell us about them?
The men are described as "stained and filthy", "slouching along with clubs in their hands" and "coughing". These descriptions present the idea that the men are violent and ill and therefore desperate for any of the necessities to survive. The idea that they are subhuman is hinted at as they are stained and filthy, therefore unable to clean and care for themselves, giving the reader the impression that humanity is deteriorating.
McCarthy uses a simile when describing the truck "lumbering and creaking like a ship". Why does he do this?
Why does McCarthy describe the Road Rat in such detail?
Although the Road Rat only makes a brief appearance in the novel, he is vitally important to one of the major themes of the novel, the idea of what is good and what is bad. The vivid, gruesome imagery deployed by McCarthy reinforces what a disgusting character the Road Rat is, with phrases such as "eyes collared in cups of grime and deeply suck", hinting at the possibility he is dying as he has sunken eyes. His knife is mentioned to reinforce the violence and danger the men carry but describing the men in such a macabre way make the man's action when he kills him appear much worse. The man's position as the 'good guy' is turned around, making him a 'bad guy' when he shoots the Road Rat, but by knowing what bad people the Road Rat and his men are, the man comes across as even worse than them for killing them.
Why is the Road Rat's character so explicit whilst the man is so implicit?
The more we know about the Road Rat and the less about the man allows us to make our own assumptions about the man from his responses to the Road Rat. The man has been preaching to the boy that they are the 'good guys', but as soon as the man's actions are revealed we begin to doubt his morals and whether or not he is just as bad as everybody else.
What do we learn about the man through his exchanges with the Road Rat?
The man has a vast medical knowledge beyond most people's, using words such as "frontal lobe", "colliculus" and "temporal gyrus", suggesting he had came from a medical background prior to the new apocalyptic world. He shows his instinctive need to protect his son by quickly reacting to when the Road Rat holds up his knife and "grabbed the boy and rolled and came up holding him against his chest with the knife at his throat" as the man "fired from a two-handed position" and killed him. His prompt response shows his fear of the boy dying and his accuracy suggests he has had experience with guns in the past. He does not have to think about whether it is morally right or wrong to shoot the Road Rat because for him, killing anyone who puts his son in danger is the right choice.
"A single round left in the revolver. You will not face the truth. You will not." Who is the man echoing here? How do you believe these words are uttered?
I believe the realisation that they only have one bullet left would have been a horrific discovery for the man because there is now no room left for failure, they have to succeed now to get to the South as there is no way to kill themselves if they fail. The man echoes his wife here as she was determined to make him realise how hopeless their attempts were and to make them "face the truth" but the man is unwilling to accept that she was right as he feels remorse that she gave up on them.
Why don't the other men chase after the boy and the man following the shooting?
When the man returns to see where the men went, he finds "dried blood dark in the leaves", bones and "a pool of guts", suggesting that the men feared the man's ability to kill one of them and ate the Road Rat's body before quickly moving on to avoid the same fate happening to one of them. They probably viewed themselves as the 'bad guys' so for one of them to be defeated would worry them that something else, worse than them, was out there.
It is not until page 77 that the man finally clears the "gore and "dead man's brains" from the boys face. Why?
There is irony here between the cannibals in the truck and the boy and the man, as the cannibals ate the remains of the man's body to stay alive but the man washed them away from his face, leaving them and not using them for any benefit to themselves. He redeems part of his 'good guy' façade by doing this as they try and get rid of the reminders of the bad things that happen to them to start afresh.
Saturday 19 November 2011
My Response to the Ending
I felt the ending of The Road was superb; it provided closure for the man and hope for the boy. He found the good guys.
Saturday 12 November 2011
"Lack of hyperbolic language highlights the extremity of the situation."
The lack of hyperbolic language suggests there is no divide between the ordinary day to day activities which they carry out and the events which we as the reader would consider 'extreme.' For the man and the boy, every single day is extreme because they never know where their next meal or resources will come from which is just as big a problem as their encounters with the dead corpses and the 'bad guys'. The man's language is limited and expressionless now because he has no need to exaggerate because if anything he would wish their situation was less extreme. Their is no need for words for exaggeration because not much could be worse than telling the truth of how awful their lives have become. His plain and simple language mimics the minimalistic and primal lifestyle they have had to adapt to and the brutality of the events seem incredibly real due to the flat, expressionless way they are told, using familiar daily objects we associate with to make the story 'real' but with a negative twist.
The man and the boy must constantly continue travelling to reach the South where they believe it is better, so not involving hyperbolic language they are spurring the reader on to continue travelling with them, as they leave themselves no time to wallow in their own misery as they reflect on their extreme situation. Everything is told in a monotonous tone, showing they just have to take everything as it comes and cannot let whatever happens affect them in a great way, as it is nothing they can control. Most of the situations they face will only continue to haunt them if they allow them to so by not dwelling on the events it will leave a smaller impact, hinted by the quote "you forget what you want to remember and remember what you want to forget". Attempting to forget the events will only make them more prominent so disregarding them as normal situations makes it easier for them to detach themselves from the cruelty of the new world.
They do not wish to spend time feeling sorry for themselves and realise they have no other option than to keep doing, ruling out giving up. If one bad thing happens to them, they do not give up completely but rather they keep trying in hope of finding a better place. By not letting the events get to them it is easier to do this as their hope is not dwindled by their past experiences. Exaggerated language does make the reader empathise with the characters, but it is not necessary in The Road because the events which happen to them are much worse than anything we as readers could imagine happening to us. Their is no need to provoke sympathy from the reader because it is assumed they will automatically empathise with the characters because of the cruelness of their situation anyway. McCarthy clearly does not want the reader to become too attached to the characters though, so to combat this they are shown as very emotionless themselves and are difficult to become attached to as they are such empty people from their traumas.
"Avoiding emotional language and keeping it simple makes the narrative all the more emotionally engaging."
Emotional language seems to be avoided in The Road to show detachment from the characters to each other and with the reader. Lessening the emotional attachments they share with each other makes the events which follow seem much less painful and upsetting for the man and the boy when they can pretend they do not feel emotions. For example, the man's wife leaving him on page 57 appears to be an extremely cruel and selfish act for her to do, especially the way she tells him, using phrases such as 'I don't care', however if she was more emotional and caring, it would be much more difficult for the man and the boy to move on and keep wishing she was with them. Detaching herself from the situation allows them to accept that she has gone without feeling so much regret and hurting them more than if they felt she should still be with them.
Simple phrases in The Road have much deeper meanings than what is initially read so the book manages to engage the reader to try and work out what they truly mean, for example the phrase 'tolling silence' is used to personify the earth to show the deafening silence of death inhabiting the world, creating an eerie atmosphere and urges the reader to continue to discover more about the novel. The quote "Query: How does the never to be differ from what never was?" brings the idea of the past and present together, with the 'never to be' suggesting false hopes of what will never happen. The man wishes to forget what 'never was', such as his wife and the old memories of his past life as he realised they are 'never to be' again and he cannot dwell on them any longer. This is reflected by him placing down his belongings in the middle of the road and walking away as they are no longer a part of him anymore. Dwelling on the 'never to be' and 'what never was' distracts him from being able to focus on the present which is essential to ensure they have a chance of survival. The lack of emotional language on the surface provides a pathway to his inner emotions which mean much more than what he could express with words.
Perhaps another reason emotional language is not used is because the man simply has no emotion left to express his feelings. 'On this road there are no godspoke men. They are gone and I am left and they have taken with them the world' could suggest the good men have disappeared and left with his emotions and feelings and he is left as a bad man who does not deserve to have emotions because he is no longer good. His lack of emotions reflect his bleak outlook on life and they were torn away from him the moment his wife left him. I believe his wife had a huge impact on the way he now views the world because she 'cheated' on him with death and death now surrounds and engulfs them. His memories of her are fond and provide a contrast to the dull, harshness of their current world, hinting that when she left she took part of him with her.
We are engaged with his lack of emotional language because we as the reader constantly use emotional language. We are not accustomed to his expressionless vocabulary and are encouraged to try and understand him by wanting to figure out why he is the way he is. The man and his situation are alien to us and our desire to understand different people engages the reader with the book to see how he can possibly lack so much emotion.
The lack of hyperbolic language suggests there is no divide between the ordinary day to day activities which they carry out and the events which we as the reader would consider 'extreme.' For the man and the boy, every single day is extreme because they never know where their next meal or resources will come from which is just as big a problem as their encounters with the dead corpses and the 'bad guys'. The man's language is limited and expressionless now because he has no need to exaggerate because if anything he would wish their situation was less extreme. Their is no need for words for exaggeration because not much could be worse than telling the truth of how awful their lives have become. His plain and simple language mimics the minimalistic and primal lifestyle they have had to adapt to and the brutality of the events seem incredibly real due to the flat, expressionless way they are told, using familiar daily objects we associate with to make the story 'real' but with a negative twist.
The man and the boy must constantly continue travelling to reach the South where they believe it is better, so not involving hyperbolic language they are spurring the reader on to continue travelling with them, as they leave themselves no time to wallow in their own misery as they reflect on their extreme situation. Everything is told in a monotonous tone, showing they just have to take everything as it comes and cannot let whatever happens affect them in a great way, as it is nothing they can control. Most of the situations they face will only continue to haunt them if they allow them to so by not dwelling on the events it will leave a smaller impact, hinted by the quote "you forget what you want to remember and remember what you want to forget". Attempting to forget the events will only make them more prominent so disregarding them as normal situations makes it easier for them to detach themselves from the cruelty of the new world.
They do not wish to spend time feeling sorry for themselves and realise they have no other option than to keep doing, ruling out giving up. If one bad thing happens to them, they do not give up completely but rather they keep trying in hope of finding a better place. By not letting the events get to them it is easier to do this as their hope is not dwindled by their past experiences. Exaggerated language does make the reader empathise with the characters, but it is not necessary in The Road because the events which happen to them are much worse than anything we as readers could imagine happening to us. Their is no need to provoke sympathy from the reader because it is assumed they will automatically empathise with the characters because of the cruelness of their situation anyway. McCarthy clearly does not want the reader to become too attached to the characters though, so to combat this they are shown as very emotionless themselves and are difficult to become attached to as they are such empty people from their traumas.
"Avoiding emotional language and keeping it simple makes the narrative all the more emotionally engaging."
Emotional language seems to be avoided in The Road to show detachment from the characters to each other and with the reader. Lessening the emotional attachments they share with each other makes the events which follow seem much less painful and upsetting for the man and the boy when they can pretend they do not feel emotions. For example, the man's wife leaving him on page 57 appears to be an extremely cruel and selfish act for her to do, especially the way she tells him, using phrases such as 'I don't care', however if she was more emotional and caring, it would be much more difficult for the man and the boy to move on and keep wishing she was with them. Detaching herself from the situation allows them to accept that she has gone without feeling so much regret and hurting them more than if they felt she should still be with them.
Simple phrases in The Road have much deeper meanings than what is initially read so the book manages to engage the reader to try and work out what they truly mean, for example the phrase 'tolling silence' is used to personify the earth to show the deafening silence of death inhabiting the world, creating an eerie atmosphere and urges the reader to continue to discover more about the novel. The quote "Query: How does the never to be differ from what never was?" brings the idea of the past and present together, with the 'never to be' suggesting false hopes of what will never happen. The man wishes to forget what 'never was', such as his wife and the old memories of his past life as he realised they are 'never to be' again and he cannot dwell on them any longer. This is reflected by him placing down his belongings in the middle of the road and walking away as they are no longer a part of him anymore. Dwelling on the 'never to be' and 'what never was' distracts him from being able to focus on the present which is essential to ensure they have a chance of survival. The lack of emotional language on the surface provides a pathway to his inner emotions which mean much more than what he could express with words.
Perhaps another reason emotional language is not used is because the man simply has no emotion left to express his feelings. 'On this road there are no godspoke men. They are gone and I am left and they have taken with them the world' could suggest the good men have disappeared and left with his emotions and feelings and he is left as a bad man who does not deserve to have emotions because he is no longer good. His lack of emotions reflect his bleak outlook on life and they were torn away from him the moment his wife left him. I believe his wife had a huge impact on the way he now views the world because she 'cheated' on him with death and death now surrounds and engulfs them. His memories of her are fond and provide a contrast to the dull, harshness of their current world, hinting that when she left she took part of him with her.
We are engaged with his lack of emotional language because we as the reader constantly use emotional language. We are not accustomed to his expressionless vocabulary and are encouraged to try and understand him by wanting to figure out why he is the way he is. The man and his situation are alien to us and our desire to understand different people engages the reader with the book to see how he can possibly lack so much emotion.
Wednesday 9 November 2011
The Handling of Time 92-112
Passage of the days:
"In the evening" pg 92
"In the morning" pg 93
"He woke in the morning" pg 95
"In the afternoon" pg 98
"Eternal blackness" pg 101
"Blackness... darkness..." pg 102
"When day broke" pg 103
"Within the hour" pg 110
Markers in the year:
"It could be November" pg 93
"Snow" - winter - pg 100
Telescoped time:
"In the evening... tomorrow... dark of night" pg 92 - all in one paragraph
"They might have covered three miles" pg 107
"They'd had no food and little sleep in five days" pg 111
Time expands:
Before (flash backs):
"He'd had this feeling before" pg 93
"He'd seen it all before" pg 94
Suspended time:
"The snow fell nor did it cease to fall" pg 101
Abstract references:
Other:
"In time to wink out forever" pg 93
"It takes a long time" pg 106
"In the early dawn at latest. Running the road in the night" pg 108
"We probably don't have much time" pg 109
"In the evening" pg 92
"In the morning" pg 93
"He woke in the morning" pg 95
"In the afternoon" pg 98
"Eternal blackness" pg 101
"Blackness... darkness..." pg 102
"When day broke" pg 103
"Within the hour" pg 110
Markers in the year:
"It could be November" pg 93
"Snow" - winter - pg 100
Telescoped time:
"In the evening... tomorrow... dark of night" pg 92 - all in one paragraph
"They might have covered three miles" pg 107
"They'd had no food and little sleep in five days" pg 111
Time expands:
Before (flash backs):
"He'd had this feeling before" pg 93
"He'd seen it all before" pg 94
Suspended time:
"The snow fell nor did it cease to fall" pg 101
Abstract references:
Other:
"In time to wink out forever" pg 93
"It takes a long time" pg 106
"In the early dawn at latest. Running the road in the night" pg 108
"We probably don't have much time" pg 109
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