Extract review...page 32

The overall impact of the structurally similar paragraphs expresses the simplicity of their world; each day is horribly alike to the last.
"They ate sparely and they were hungry all the time"
The use of repeating the same structure multiple times also could represent the single-mindedness of the man; his own denial that there is nothing good left within the world has narrowed his capability to clearly see the truth of the world. This could arguable be used to interpret why the world is so bleak; MaCarthy only reveals the perspectives of one subject, the narrative therefore unreliable. The use of telescoping through time during this extract is also used to emphasis the notion that there is no necessity to describe their world as there is nothing better to compare it to, their world supposedly too empty to have anything to describe in the first place. To compare something in the first place means to possess something that is potentially better or worse than what you had originally, but in a world so desperately empty there is literally nothing the man can even use to compare. The continuous repetition that there is no notion of where exactly they are within the world emphasises effectively that there is nothing recognisable of their previous world; no sense of location presents the fact that humanity is on the verge of extinction as a sense of direction gives the impression that there is something to aim for. Therefore, the lack of this sense emphasises how empty and scarred this world is, as though they are only surviving and not living.
"He’d no notion how far the summit might be…How far had they come?"
The rhetorical question is aimlessly asked by the man to emphasis the fact that there is no ‘one either there to answer it, or nobody worthy enough to answer it to his expectations. Perhaps his question was projected at God; had they come far enough to be worthy of salvation? The question then purposely left unanswered to give them a reason to continue their journey.
The fact that the man believes that there are no more ‘good guys’ gives the impression that a part of him has given up trying to find goodness in the dead world.
"On this road there are no godspoken men."
Yet, because of this direct, one-person narrative, the reader cannot fully rely on the man’s perspectives; they are one-sided and therefore unreliable. The fact that he previously valued his son as "the word of God" gives the impression that he has become deluded by the intense bleakness that surrounds him, convincing himself that the worst has occurred to distance himself from false hope, therefore he, in a way, saves himself from mental harm.
"They are gone and I am left and they have taken with them the world"
This statement suggests what may have happened to the world; religion playing a significant role in our world where people risk their lives daily for their God and their moral judgements. This contradiction of moral judgements actually destroying what their God had created then suggests that humanity has died out with their religious and moral values. The definition of life itself being shaped around the existence of religion, God, etc, alludes the fact that they themselves are still alive; the boy consistently being represented to be a religious figure (the fact his own morals reflect that of the ten commandments). Creating the everlasting question that MaCarthy bases his entire novel on in the fist place; does God really exist?
Another rhetorical question MaCarthy thereafter presents within the text emphasises the importance of the present.
"How does the never to be differ from what never was?"
The phrase therefore represents the idealism that we should never delude ourselves with fantasies of the future when it is questionable whether the future exists at all. Instead, we should focus on the present day; to live with no regrets, this theory playing a key role throughout the novel as the duo travel further and further into what seems to be a pointless, never ending pit of misery and dead hope. The man does not wish to be associated with such hope, represented within the dream he has of his sick wife.
"…and there is no other dream nor other waking world and there us no other tale to tell"
There is no other way to tell such a tale; the reality used to show the simplicity of this dire world. This sense of realism impacts the overall sense of lack of possessions, hope, etc; they are left in this world with nothing but emptiness, and the man would rather cling to this notion than the fantasied dreams, otherwise he will lose sight of his only purpose keeping him sane; to protect his son. The ‘never to be’ could individually be recognised as the man’s willingness to keep the memory of his wife true, instead of deluding himself that he did the right thing; to let her die alone. Instead, he would rather remember the truth in order to keep the reality of this world alive. The excessive darkness that this world is perceived through the man gives the impression that there is no salvation in this world.

My response to the ending of 'The Road' in 25 words.

Contradicts the entire bleakness reflected throughout the novel; the next generation carry ‘the will of fire, the childish innocence upholds lost salvation and lost humanity. 

Arguements for a statement

Avoiding emotional language and keeping it simple makes the narrative all the more emotionally engaging.

McCarthy purposely uses simplistic language in order to build a blunt, bleak image of their vulgor world without the need to emphasise it; for instence, the finding of the baby on the spit. There is but one line actually describing the gross image itself, representing the lack of emotion presented by the characters, yet the painful image leaves the required disturbing tone. McCarthy wished to illustrate such brutal images in order to present the bleak facts to the reader; there is no other, nor an easier way to desribe it, no hiding the truth in a world so bleak in itself. McCarthy also presents the reader with the philosophical issue of we cannot miss what never was; what we significantly hoped for of the world was pointless because we would have never accomplished such fantasies.
"How does the never to be differ from what never was."
Through this statement alone, we can percieve their world as a hopless pit of depressing misery; without a sense of hope there is no life, without a sense of living there is just mere existence. How can they hope to live in a world with nothing to spare for itself.

Aspects of time in The Road

Pages 29-49;

"Ate cold beans they'd cooked days ago"-(page 29) Telescoping through time.
"Late in the year"-(page 29) Telescoping through time.
"Where once he'd watched trout swaying in the current"- (page 30) References to time before (flashbacks)
"They set out again in the morning"-(page 30) Passage of time.
"He woke towards the morning"- (page 31) Passage of time.
"A few miles each day" (page 32) Telescoping through time.
"Dark of the invisible moon"-(page 32) Time expands.
"Within a year"- (page 33) Telescoping through time.
"Tomorrow came and went" (page 33) Telescoping through time.
"And then one evening he stopped and looked all about..."- (page 33) Time expands.
"Where he stood once with his own father in a winter long ago"-(page 34) References to a time before (flashbacks).
"In the morning they pressed on" -(page 34) Passage of time.
"They slogged all day..."- (page 35) Telescoping through time.
"It took four more days to come down from the snow..."-(page 37) Telescoping through time.
"Then it returned" -(page 38) Time expanding/a more abstract reference to time.
"They were all day reaching the river"-(page 38) Telescoping through time.
"It's getting colder every day"-(page 42) Time expanding.
"The tree had been there for years"-(page 45). More abstract reference to time.

Writing in the style of McCarthy

1. Tedious, countinuous journey; 'They went on'
2. Oxymoron; 'stopped often' (in contrast to 'They went on.')-Contradicts himself, drawing out their lasting suffering on their prolonged, frustrating journey.
3. Challenging views about their world in comparrison to ours; '...ate handfuls of dirty snow.' Antagonises our wonderous views of Snow- 'Dirty'-no longer seen as a joyful occasion but more of a burden on our characters.
4. Contradicting 'Such few hours'-the fact they they have no sense of time anymore, and yet seem to judge the days even so emphases their delusion, despair and doubt of themselves and their world through their journey.
5. Nothing has any meaning anymore; 'Burned house, just the brick chimney standing in the yard'-Not significant in their world, if it has nothing to do with the characters, they will not bother. Only concentrating on saving themselves.  

Alice In Wonderland...Tea Party


Rusted filthy cutlery cluttered. Littered. Muddled among the carnage of years forgotten. Fragments of fine china crushed. Ash as loose as grains of sugar and the coarse winds caught them with each dying breath and scattered them among the pitiful carcass Wonderland had long remained.
She sat at the end of the table at the edge of her seat. Dark azure eyes widened as if full. The lumps of rotted teacakes crumbled between her starving fingers. Tasted vile. Flourished with decay. Fouling her touch. The party guests cackled. Sitting steadily on awkward splintered wooden stools and eyeballing their guest with taunting smiles painted on their deluded faces. Clenching broken cups between blackened fingers. Drinking the sodden mess in unison until the last drop was consumed.
More tea, they cried. More tea. 
They stood. In the same time and motion. The girl followed. Circling round and round until coming to a synchronised stop. They sat and drank and ate mercilessly. Devoured each morsel. Grinding, moulding it under stained, yellowed teeth and washed it down with the cold grey liquid left sitting in the chipped teacups. The girl had turned a ghostly white.
A baffled man sat at the head of the table. A tattered bowler hat cocked forward defined his haggard features and his clothes contained little cloth that turned his filthy skin a blue that was even deemed unnatural in this world. Gross olive eyes. He wiped his cracked lips with the back of his hand. The stains were more present then before. A crooked smile flashed upon blackened lips and he rose as if possessed. Silence. Not a whisper of life to detect. Standing on the unstable table he recklessly walked over the broken dishes and cups and saucers until his naked feet were sodden with blood.
Why is a raven like a writing desk, he wailed.

McCarthy's style and technique...Page 172

I don't have anything, he said. You can look if you want.
We're not robbers.
He leaned one ear forward. What? he called.
I said we're not robbers.
What are you?
They'd be no way to answer that question. He wiped his nose with the back of his wrist and stood waiting. He had no shoes at all and his feet were wrapped in rags and cardboard tied with green twine and any number of layers of vile clothing showed through the tears and the holes in it. Of a sudden he seemed to wilt even further. He leaned on his cane and lowered himself into the road where he sat among the ashes with one hand over his head. He looked like a pile of rags fallen off a cart. They came forward and stood looking down at him. Sir? the man said. Sir?

The considerable use of punctuation during this text implies that McCarthy wanted to highlight the secerity of the old mans' ultimate surprise of the fact that he has found a sense of humanity through the two characters. By him 'lowering himself into the road where he sat among the ashes' gives the impression that he is ashamed of doubting them, almost as if he feels as though he has offended them because they are genually civillised and good at heart. Perhaps when he 'sat among the ashes', that's how worthless and ashamed he felt by accusing them of something they aren't. In this world, because you rarely find those who are true to themselves people forget respect and humanity as if they are extinct; 'what are you?'. It seems that the man has experienced this, so to have this realisation that humanity may not be losed has shocked him to the ground.  

In this world, questions are no longer meaningful; many are just monotone 'yes or no' questions, deliberatley brief to give a sense of unattachment between humans. So through this manner of speaking, in McCarthy's case, punctuation is pointless. Yet, suddenly a number of question marks appear in the same paragraph, giving the impression that the question is so complex, there is a need for a deeper revelation, and therefore a need for punctuation.  

The desciption of the old man contains the similiar unhygenic images and features to the father and son, 'number of layers of vile clothing'.  This connection between the characters gives us the impression that the man is no different to the father and son; they are all humane human-beings trying to survive as best as they can. The realisation of this for the man therefore overwhelms him.   

'We are no robbers' needs to be repeated twice to try to convince the old man of their innocence, yet their actions of not harming the man instantly speaks louder than their words, obviously meaning that the old man has come across scandalous criminals before. In addition, it enlightens us how paranoid people have to be in this world; everyone is seen as an enemy in their case.

'I don't have anything, he said. You can look if you want.' Said almost rhythmically as though he has repeated this multiple times before, again giving the impression of the sorts of people he has come across in the past. Sense of sencerity towards the end, you believe this poor man owns nothing; we steriotypically expect it because he is old and weak, yet within the novel, people will mercilessly loot whatever and whoever they can.

The theif...

Just before this torturous event, the novel finally is beginning to seem uplifting. Yet, as if God is teasing them, testing them to their limits to the bitter end.
'He ran through the swale of seaoats where he left the cart but the cart was gone. Everything.'
The cruelness of the theft, after what these characters have had to go through intensifies our empathy for them, and yet they still fight back. Their willingness to still fight for their lives gives the novel a lighter touch, they're angered tempers finally leaving some emotion imprinted in their story. McCarthy uses short, snappy, emotive sentences to create a tense pace within the novel, giving the impression of their rapid heartbeats as they run after the theif to try and save themselves.
When they finally find the theif, i see a man as desperate, as starving and as frightened as the father and son are.
'Scrawny, sullen, bearded, filthy. His old plastic coat held together with tape.'
However, the father obviously sees one huge difference in them; the man had stolen and left them for dead. That, in the fathers books, makes him one of the bad guys.
'I'm starving, man. You would have done the same.
You took everything.'
The father is talking to the theif as if he's the one who caused the world to die, as if the father is blaming him (or people like him) for the mess the world has become. The 'good guys' as the father refers to him and his son have not stolen, sinned, etc, and yet they have to pay for others mistakes, and now he is making his beliefs clear to the theif by stripping him bear, as if this is all him and people like him deserve.
Once they have retrieved their belongings, it is apparent how the boy feels about his fathers' decisions, even though he knows his father is only trying to protect him. However, there is a limit to how much the father can protect a child, and he cannot relieve the boy of his psychological burdens which the world has given him.
'You're not the one who has to worry about everything.....
He looked up, his wet and grmiy face, Yes i am, he said. I am the one.'