Theft of the Belongings........
This section of the book is hugely significant as it see’s the man and the boy working together to find the thief of their belongings. This shows that after all the terrible things that have happened to the pair, something good has come out of it, the boy has learnt to be independent and brave. This is shown when he finds the trail of sand; as opposed to the father finding the clues and running off while the son follows, the boy is now the one making the decisions and acting on his own accord, rather than timidly standing in the background while his father runs off. Typically of the book though, this has to be ruined somehow and this happens when the two of them find the thief. Before they get to him though, pathetic fallacy is used as a foreshadowing element to the section of the book; they were in the ‘long dusk’ when they overtook the thief. In poetry and books, night time is often used as a way to symbolize death, the end of a day equating to the end of a life. In this part of the road though, it is only nearly dark which makes the reader expect a near death experience which is ultimately what happens. When they find the man he is wearing ‘stinking rags’ which represent the fact that in the world, the outside appearance is all that anyone takes into consideration; his rotting clothes resemble his rotting soul which caused him to steal the cart in the first place, the thief himself is the epitome of an apocalyptic world; rotten on the outside and on the inside and with the ability to ruin life for everyone else. What happens next could be seen to be the most sickening thing in the entire book; the reader, who has become attached to the man and his son, watches in horror as the father effectively kills an innocent man while he begs for forgiveness. Not only does he do this, he strips him physically of all his clothes, but mentally of all his dignity and treats him like an animal which until this point he has been horrified by the way people treat other people. It is at this point where the reader sees the turn of events, the boy who was before this, beginning to reassure the reader that if his father should die then he would be able to take care of himself, stands hiding behind his father crying like a baby. This section shows the reader that their hope of the boy’s independence has failed as they probably figured it would, but at the same time, the boy is still innocent, and in the apocalyptic world, this is more valuable than anything else. In a world where lives are ruined, there is an innocence within the boy that just can’t be corrupted. This is something which is so significant and powerful that it changes the man’s mind and he agrees to leave the clothes by the side of the road for the thief to find.
This section of the book is hugely significant as it see’s the man and the boy working together to find the thief of their belongings. This shows that after all the terrible things that have happened to the pair, something good has come out of it, the boy has learnt to be independent and brave. This is shown when he finds the trail of sand; as opposed to the father finding the clues and running off while the son follows, the boy is now the one making the decisions and acting on his own accord, rather than timidly standing in the background while his father runs off. Typically of the book though, this has to be ruined somehow and this happens when the two of them find the thief. Before they get to him though, pathetic fallacy is used as a foreshadowing element to the section of the book; they were in the ‘long dusk’ when they overtook the thief. In poetry and books, night time is often used as a way to symbolize death, the end of a day equating to the end of a life. In this part of the road though, it is only nearly dark which makes the reader expect a near death experience which is ultimately what happens. When they find the man he is wearing ‘stinking rags’ which represent the fact that in the world, the outside appearance is all that anyone takes into consideration; his rotting clothes resemble his rotting soul which caused him to steal the cart in the first place, the thief himself is the epitome of an apocalyptic world; rotten on the outside and on the inside and with the ability to ruin life for everyone else. What happens next could be seen to be the most sickening thing in the entire book; the reader, who has become attached to the man and his son, watches in horror as the father effectively kills an innocent man while he begs for forgiveness. Not only does he do this, he strips him physically of all his clothes, but mentally of all his dignity and treats him like an animal which until this point he has been horrified by the way people treat other people. It is at this point where the reader sees the turn of events, the boy who was before this, beginning to reassure the reader that if his father should die then he would be able to take care of himself, stands hiding behind his father crying like a baby. This section shows the reader that their hope of the boy’s independence has failed as they probably figured it would, but at the same time, the boy is still innocent, and in the apocalyptic world, this is more valuable than anything else. In a world where lives are ruined, there is an innocence within the boy that just can’t be corrupted. This is something which is so significant and powerful that it changes the man’s mind and he agrees to leave the clothes by the side of the road for the thief to find.
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