Shooting of the Roadrat....

      The pages 62-69 allow the reader to first encounter the people who the man and the boy are avoiding. The tension builds right from the start of this scene when ‘something woke them’; we are given no hints as to what this something could be which adds to the growing tension of the event. Also, the way that McCarthy dives straight into a new day with no use of pathetic fallacy or an insight into what the man is thinking is unusual for the reader, making them aware that trouble lies ahead. The tension continues to build when the man and the boy first see the men and their vehicles; the fact that they have vans to drive around in shows instantly that they are dangerous as in the apocalyptic world, only those who have any power, and power meaning a gun, can obtain such things. They are also fairly intimidating, the man and the boy are just two vulnerable people wandering the road, and an army of men with guns and obvious wealth of a kind do silence the atmosphere. When the roadrat comes closer to the man and the boy he takes his hood down on the request of the man; at this point the tension decreases as we now have it confirmed that the those they are afraid of are just human beings and when this is revealed, it makes the reader a lot less scared for the two characters as there is a greater fear of what they didn’t know than there was of the actual roadrat. However, before the reader can relax, the man shoots the roadrat in order to save his son’s life and they run. During this short period of time, McCarthy uses the repetition of ‘and’ to build the tension by listing things which the man does in sequences. It shows the reader that in the life they are living, there is no escape; as soon as the tension in their lives decreases, there will be something else consistently on to them, relentlessly making them scared and their lives a general misery. The next problem they face is the boy; after watching his father shoot and kill another human being, he is described to be ‘as mute as a stone’, partly due to being stunned at the whole event, but also in disbelief that his father, someone he perceives to be a ‘good guy’ can possibly do such a thing. This is once again an example of McCarthy showing that in the apocalyptic world, you can do nothing right. Hand the man not intervened, both he and his son would have physically been destroyed as the roadrat would have either shot them dead or eaten them at some point. However, by shooting the enemy, he has mentally hurt his son as he has distanced himself from him again and the boy is now questioning what the point of being alive is, if he can’t live as a good person, why bother. This equates to the killing of the roadrat being a significant event as it develops the relationship between the boy and the man, but in a negative way. In some ways this could be considered as a good thing; the man knows he is dying, ‘there was a cough in his throat that never left’, and so realises that his son, at some point, is going to have to survive without him and knows it will be easier if he doesn’t need to grieve as much, and if he knows how to survive, something he will never learn if his father shelters him from the new world. This shows the nightmare which they are living in; it is a sorry state of affairs when a father feels he must distance himself from his son to save them both. The cough that never leaves also resembles what the world is doing to them; it’s mirrored by the grey sky that never changes and the general tone of misery that won’t go away. The killing of the roadrat also stands out as a key episode as it is one of the rare events in which something major happens which has ramifications later in the novel. For so long the reader listens to McCarthy talk about the sky and the bad guys and random memories from the past, that when something like this is incorporated into the story, it is viewed as something very important as the reader is used to a dull scene, not one full of action. We are left at the end of the section wondering, will they get caught? Will they still have the same relationship? And several other questions as this part end with such uncertainty.

Coming Across a man who has been Struck by Lightening....

Coming across a man who had been struck by lightning....

      The first paragraph on page 50, tells the reader of the footprints which the man and the boy have come across along the road. Although this part is read in a calm tone, the man not appearing to be particularly bothered about their findings, a sinister atmosphere does begin to creep in as the footprints ‘just suddenly appeared’ in the tar which, for two people who know how not to be seen, could suggest to them that the person a while in front of them has no reason to hide. The explanations to this are either that they are following a bad person or, as they soon find, a dying person, with no reason to fear being caught. This poses questions for the reader though; are they going to encounter another human being? Is there a relevant danger ahead? Once again, McCarthy is bringing to light the natural fear of the unknown; the situation in which the book is set is one that probably does bring fear to the reader as an apocalyptic world is something which has no definitive proof as to whether it will ever or not happen and to read an entire book about the disaster it would be if it did occur will scare a reader or at least allow them to fear what they could lose. The author uses this a feeling to manipulate his reader into relating with the characters; although their situation is something which we personally probably won’t experience, their constant fear of the unknown is something which we can easily experience everyday and from it can connect with the man and his son which is essential if we are to ever feel empathy towards them for the things they do which could be considered heartless.
      On coming across the owner of the footprints, silence is all that fills the air; often, McCarthy describes the weather and uses pathetic fallacy to depict the mood, yet in this scene it isn’t necessary as the sorry state that they find the man in can be summed up by the description of him being ‘struck by lightning’ as this shows natures brutality to the remaining people; as if it hadn’t been cruel enough, killing off the majority of people in one blow, something from a higher power is now individually picking people off like targets. This shows the reader that the man and the boy are going to die, there is no escape, they can try to run but nature is eventually going to find them and gives the impression that there is no use of pathetic fallacy is in this chapter as nature is too cruel for words.
      The final element to this depressing sequence of events is the boy’s pleas to help the man which are completely rejected by his father and with no explanation a distance between the two begins to show. The man can see that there is no way to help the dying man as he has been struck by lightning, there is nothing they can do other than comfort him which although is no cure, shows the optional humanity that the new ‘every man for himself’ way of life has forgotten. It then becomes apparent that the man truly regrets leaving the other man to suffer and die alone as ‘he looked back up the road’ which the reader interprets as his guilt, not only to the man he left behind but also to his son who has just witnessed his worst fear, his father no longer acting as ‘a good guy’ this guilt is reflected a few sentences later when McCarthy misses out the apostrophe in ‘couldn’t’ to reflect just how he has given up; in doing right by his son and saving food for him, he has killed another part of the boy’s spirit, he can do nothing right so what is the point in caring? His feeling of self disgust is continued later when he decides to effectively disown himself by leaving all things which are a part of his identity behind. He does this to relieve himself of the responsibility of being a good guy as no matter how good he tries to be, he can’t get it right. In leaving behind his identity, his wedding photos and a drivers license, he is leaving behind his past in terms of a wife, and who he was, the only part of him which is still on his person, is the boy. This shows that, although it began as depression, he has found a new hope to live off as he can now forget himself and focus entirely on his son. This is significant as it tells the reader that although the boy perceives there to be a void growing between him and his father, this is actually what the man wants; the boy can go on without the fantastic father and son relationship he could have experienced under normal circumstances, while at the same time, the man can dedicate himself to subtly being as dedicated to his son as possible, by forgetting himself.

Part One Questions

It is essential you recognise Cormac McCarthy's crafting of sentences in "The Road". Read the following extract out loud, pay attention to the sounds of the words and the rhythm of the writing.

This is my child, he said. I wash a dead man's brains out of his hair. That is my job.

The man sounds in this quote as though he has simply resigned himself to the fact that nothing is going to get any better; when people say the word ‘job’ it is associated with hard work and a lack of interest, something that people distance themselves from and forget when they go home to enjoy family life. The opposite of this is when people talk about their family, when the man says ‘my child’ the reader imagines a happy father and son which is why when the two are put in the same sentence the reader wonders why the father associates work with his son. It could be that he feels like he needs to keep a professional type of relationship between them as there is no guarantee that either will make it through the next day and if he dies, it will hurt his son less if he feels no connection to his father. By referring to it as a job, it makes the man feel like he has a reason to keep going; at the end of a day’s work, people are rewarded with money which gives them something to work towards, for the man, he is working towards a time when his son can go to sleep like any other child and he can pretend for a few hours that their life is normal. He appears to have become immune to the fact that he has to undergo some horrific tasks in order to accomplish this and if washing brains out of his boy’s hair is necessary to watch him sleep peacefully at night, he’ll do it in order to keep his spirits up. He could also refer to the task of looking after the boy as a ‘job’ because he doesn’t really want to do it. He can’t bear the thought of killing his son, yet he knows that if he didn’t have a child, he could quite happily kill himself and end his suffering.

Yes I am, he said. I am the one.

In being ‘the one’ the man is saying that there is no one else who can do his job; in an emotional sense, he is the child’s father and no one else should do his job but in a literal sense, there is no one else. They are dying, so is everybody else on the planet, if he isn’t the one then who is and where are they? He seems to be talking to God in a way, as if some higher power has selected him for the job. The man seems to question God’s judgement, the reader can imagine him looking up towards the sky and sarcastically saying ‘Yes, I am the one’ as if to say, why me? Of all people, why did God find it necessary to choose him to take on such a demanding job in such a hard time, why couldn’t he have just died and let someone else take on the role? He comes across as being reluctant to take on the role but knows that for his son’s sake he must do so, he is the chosen one whether he likes it or not.

Tomatoes, peaches, beans, apricots. Canned hams. Corned beef.

At first, this quote sounds like it has spoken very quickly in total astonishment as to what they have come across, all these natural, beautiful fruits that can give them life and restore some of their spirit all laid out before them....in grey metal tins. The tins seem to represent the apocalyptic world, they are dull and grey and trap people from finding the goodness inside of themselves. Ironically when they do fine the goodness, it will do no more than prolong their suffering; the boy can’t get too attached to his father as if he does, when his father dies he will suffer for longer and because of this, he can’t access the fantastic relationship they could have enjoyed together. This is mirrored by the tins of food; although their contents will, in the short term, prevent their suffering, in the long term it will lengthen it. They were both so close to starvation, all they would have had to endure was a few more days and they’d be free, yet now they have found this fruit, they are just going to end up back where they started and the dull tin can acts as a reminder that what is inside, although looks sweet, is actually poison.

Are we still the good guys, he said.

The boy shows his innocence in this part of the book; he can see the effects that the world is having on his father and seems worried that his father is starting to become corrupted. By asking the man this he is questioning what they have done but is also desperately trying to confirm that his father is still a good man and not changing as he needs to know and be reassured that he is alive for a reason and that he must live to preserve the good guys. He could also be saying this to remind his father of the fact that there is a purpose for them to be alive and that he needs him to realise what it is as if he doesn’t, what is the point in them being alive, if they’re not the good guys then they are helping to corrupt an already dying world so there is little point in them living and the realisation of this for the child could prove to be too much for the young child to take on board.

We should go, Papa, he said. Yes, the man said. But he didn't.

In this part of the book, the reader see’s the man lose all enthusiasm for everything, including his son. The two characters effectively swap roles; the boy tries to have some authority over his father, while the man does the opposite of what he knows is best for he and his son, like a typical child would do for no other reason than to be stubborn. The reader worried about the man, he seems to welcome danger in some ways; he knows he ‘should go’ as the boy says, but his state of depression leads him to not care, he’s so miserable within himself that he can’t see the point in doing anything and questions, is there any point in trying to live? We all die some day and most events in life are miserable; although his son represents the creation of a new life, he also represents an eventual death and in this mindset, the man just can’t see the point in doing anything. Although this scene centres on the man’s misery, it also shows the spirit of the boy. He knows nothing other than this miserable world he has been brought into and because of this, doesn’t realise what he has missed out on so has nothing to look back on meaning that all he can do is look forward. This is why he wants to keep going down the road as for him, there could be a better situation but the man knows that nothing he finds will compare to his past so there is no point trying to move forward but at the same time he can’t go back to the past so he is stuck in limbo; although he is still in death’s waiting room, he is in hell and any form of death will seem like heaven so he’s stuck between the two.

The snow fell nor did it cease to fall.

The snow falling represents how everything positive in the old world can very easily be given a negative twist in the new version. When the man was a child, a snowfall meant a day off school and a chance to play, now when the snowfalls for the boy, it’s likely to kill him. Not only this but the snow used to be a fun element to winter that was so special as it only happened for a short time each year where as now, it is persistent, there is no let up and the fun has been ruined. This part of the book also represents the mundane lives they lead, the snow fell and they kept walking, the snow continued to fall and they still kept walking, they see no joy in its beauty or fun in its existence as they know that it will continue to fall regardless of their emotions and they have learnt from experience that the more they get attached to something, the harder it will be when it disappears which it inevitably will, not because its snow and it will melt but because it’s something that they could be happy about so naturally it will be taken away from them.

Okay? Okay.

In this dialogue between the man and the boy there is a clear lack of emotion. It seems like this is down to how scared the boy is of upsetting his father. He must be aware that without the man, he stands no chance of surviving and he seems quite resigned to the fact that his father is depressed so aiming for a conversation is ultimately pointless and is more likely to upset either one or both of them. It also conveys the feeling that they are more like two strangers than a family; neither are connected to the other yet they rely so heavily on each other to keep themselves as happy as is possible under the circumstances.

They sat on the edge of the tub and pulled their shoes on and then he handed the boy the pan and soap and he took the stove and the little bottle of gas and the pistol and wrapped in their blankets and they went back across the yard to the bunker.

In this sentence, there is no description whatsoever; it shows the reader that their lives consist of nothing put routine and even at a time when they do something remotely different to normal, they still do it in a habitual way; they both seem to know what has to be done and they both get on with it without any fuss, excitement or remote enjoyment. It also shows that there is no connection between the two characters as once again, neither spoke to the other. The sentence gives the impression that the two of them are in a normal setting; they are having a bath and then walking across their yard, the only thing that changes this perception is the pistol which sends the reader back to reality and shows that they’re not enjoying a happy moment, they are still in the same, miserable situation.

 Tolling in the silence the minutes of the earth.

They appear to be sat in silence at this part in the book with nothing to do but watch the world go by. The earth, as we know it, is always noisy and there are very few places where absolute silence occurs, yet in the apocalyptic state, silence is just an average part of life. It again, highlights the lack of emotion and connection that the two characters have towards each other as they have a void between them preventing them from having a normal conversation. In some ways this must be nice as they time to think and reflect on their lives but this is possibly a bad thing as it allows the man to keep living in the past and not move on and it also will make the boy feel unloved and not good enough as his father never holds a proper conversation with him, he never smiles and although he loves him, the only time we see this during the book is when something terrible happens and the man gets brought back to reality and sees his son is the future and in order to protect him, he must stop dwelling on the past as the ‘silent minutes of the earth’ are passing by and meaning nothing.

She was gone and the coldness of it was her final gift. 

When talking about the boy’s mother, the narrator shows a contrasting opinion of her, she left them to fend for themselves which was ‘coldness’ yet at the same time this was her ‘gift’ to them. It shows her to be selfish, for leaving them in the first place and thinking more of herself than of her child. However, a mother’s attachment to her child is very strong and leaving him as well as the man she loved must have been the hardest decision of her life and it could have been considered a gift as, if she had stayed, she would have formed a relationship with her son which no matter how great it was, would have hurt him more when she did eventually die. Also, from the man’s point of view, he would never have known what happened to her which may have been a blessing; if he had watched his wife die a horrible torturous death, he would never have recovered from it and given up completely which would have hurt the boy a lot more as he would have had memories and feelings for her and his father. It would also have been a final gift to the man as she would have been a permanent reminder of the past; not only would have seen the past in his memories, she would have been there to remind him of the person he used to be. Also, in leaving in such a cruel way, it gives the man a reason to hate her, where as if she had died while with the man and she had done everything possible to stay alive, he’d have no reason to do anything but love her which would have totally destroyed him.