THE ROAD by McCarthy
“He pushed the cart and both he and the boy carried knapsacks. In the knapsacks were
essential things in case they had to abandon the cart and make a run for it. Clamped to
the handle of the cart was a chrome motorcycle mirror that he used to watch the road
behind them. He shifted the pack higher on his shoulders and looked out over the wasted
country. The road was empty. Below in the little valley the still grey serpentine of a river.
Motionless and precise. Along the shore a burden of dead reeds. Are you okay? He said.
The boy nodded. They set out along the black-top in the gunmetal light, shuffling through
the ash, each the other’s world entire.”
(McCarthy, 2006, p.4)
'He', the man, and 'the boy' are nameless. Why?
It makes me be curious about who are these two. Where are they from. Is the boy a son of the man? Even they have no name they have some image and face in my mind but if I focus my attention on their faces they are not clear. The imagination process is just miracle. We have small bundle information and it works, I see them and it does not matter if they have names. I can really feel a sadness, loneliness, abandonment. Still I care what will be next scene in the story. I think the feeling is boosted because they have no names. I just question myself who their are and it keeps my awareness.
How can we tell they're in danger?
They have knapsacks on their shoulders with essential things in case they have to abandon the cart. The man is watching what is happening behind them. The world is wasted. The road is empty. We do not know what kind of danger but we guess something, there are not human, so human? Are we facing some kind of apocalypse. I think so.
The chrome motorcycle mirror tells us the time is roughly contemporary. (that is true I see the time device here)
Everything is destroyed and covered by time, we can be in a future and the mirror was founded somehow, it is a relic of the past. The story is situated somewhere after the time we knew.They use just the mirror not the bike. There is really emptiness in that cut of the story. It appeals more and more to read it whole.
They are alone: 'The road was empty' Where is everyone?
Are they surrenders of a global war? Are there few surrenders who are hiding from each other? Those question helps to keep reader attention. They know they is something but they are not hiding, they use the way to go somewhere, anybody can see them, right? Are they expect to meet somebody on the road?
There's been some sort of disaster:
Nuclear war? International war? I do not know but it destroyed the world as we know it in these days. So it must have been something critical - apocalypse. We do not see enough and we do not know where we are. we do not see building, cars, nothing human based, only road, mirror, cart.
They're on a journey with everything they own. Where are they going? Where they come from?
They are going to a better place they heard about? They are looking for supplies? They are going back? Unanswered question are appearing in my mind.
What does The Road symbolise?
The hope? Goal, new life?
Can you spot any poetic devices? What effect do they have?
Imaginary - serpentine of a river, I like the rhythm but I can not explain why? for example: ... that he used to watch the road behind them .... there is a repetition of consonance. Metaphor ... in the gunmetal light ... Motionless and precise. The effect is simple, it is great readable even English is not my native language. The text is really easily understandable.
What other stylistic language choices does McMarty make and why? Why might he not punctuate speech?
If he does is, it would destroy the mood of calmness, aloneness, quit and tensionless, I think. In the text it somehow disrupt the tension.
What features give us a sense of where we are? How does McCarthy create a post apocalyptic world? Would the impact be the same if he were to remove the man and boy?
The serpentine of the river and gunmetal light represents a struggle in world after a global critical sproblem. Life is not as was before. The serpentine can represent that the life way is not easy, to be sentenced to live in dust on the ground, the shape can tell us that it is not easy to reach the end. The metaphor of gunmetal light is supporting the apocalypse, I think.
What's the prose style like?
As I mentioned above, I can read it really easily and the description of the world is perfectly done.I like how the long and short sentences give the rhythm of the story. If there would be more colourful and detailed prose it would destroy the drama and darkness in the story. It suits more in romantic prose.
How does it all make you feel?
I am surprised how many information can be put in short paragraph. As a reader I was not aware of that and now I will try to see more. Anyway the power of text is amazing. I must read that book to know more what is the story about.
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