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.'

Getting to the shore...

Desperation is a theme ever present within the novel, McCarthy using the sense of travel to give the impression that the two characters are forever lost, forever feeling like foreigners in their home country.. However, when the characters finally reach their destination, it is sudden and not met with any joy.
'Like the desolation of some alien sea breaking on the shores of a world unheard of.'
McCarthy alienises his characters to give the impression that they have been abandoned by the world itself, as if they have commited a crime worthy of such a lonely punishment. Yet, the father has this continuous push to get to the shore, hoping to find some form of salvation, keeping him somewhat sane in a world forgotten. That hope keeps him willingly 'carrying the fire'
'He could see the disappointment in his face. I'm sorry it's not blue, he said. That's okay, said the boy.'
From this longing build-up to this event, the use of dishearted vocabulary tears any excitment away that i previously felt. Yet, it frustratingly engages me; now they've reached the shore, what will happen now? To turn the beach, our sunny haven, into such a dreary uninhabited place gives the reader the realisation on how distorted this world has become. We dream of blue skies, blue seas, yet the novel slams us back into reality; dreams do not always come true.

The baby on the spit...

This brutal image shows how easily something so innocent and powerless can be manipulated into something so vulgar by mankind alone. It contradicts the fact that a baby is Gods gift, now it has turned into nothing more than a pityful meal for the reckless monsters of the world. We as humans have created this miracle child, and yet the world has become so inhuman that those who've survived are prepared to eat it. Human-beings as we know them, who used to care for their world, are now extinct.
The fact that they left it to burn impacts the novel enormously, showing how everything that used to be holy in the world means nothing anymore, just left to burn like the rest of the world.
'...charred human infant headless and gutted and blackening on the spit.'
This disgusting image gives us the impression that nothing is sacred anymore; people have given up trying to find hope, which has drivin them to insanity.
As a father himself, it dearly pains him to see a child be abused in any state or form, giving us the impression that he empathises with the infancts unknown parents.
'...picked up the boy and started for the road with him, holding him close. I'm sorry, he whispered. I'm sorry'
In my opinion, he may not only be apologising to the child. He may be infact sharing his sorrow with the forgotten parents, himself being reminded of the realisation of how sacred his own child is. If he had gotten there earlier, he may have been able to stop this madness, yet, he himself knows he wouldn't have done such a thing because it would have caused unnecessary danger to themselves, therefore he is apologising to the parents.
To me, this event was obviously horrific, drawing out and intensifying once again the desperation of mankind. The world has forgotton to love and to cherish, the world each day becoming more bleak than the last, represented through the increasingly appaling events of the novel. I believe McCarthy was trying to evoke the same response to imply that as the novel becomes increasingly bleaker, the nearer to the end the characters are. McCarthy wants to give the characters a reason to keep on travelling; no'one wants to be eaten by savage cannibals, so they progress on.

The cellar...

This sudden, violent change of events exceedingly disturbed me. The gory, fierce imagry used to show the tortured is blunt and fearless, forcing me to recognise the despair this grim world has brought.
'On the mattress lay a man with his legs gone to the hip and the stumps of them blackened and burnt. The smell was hideous.'
I felt in awe as i was transfixed until the moment they escaped, the tension bounding me to the novel, as if i was there myself. McCarthy, until now, has drawn out most actions the characters have done to make their journey seem pointless and never-ending, yet in this event he uses sharp vocabulary, short sentences and deliberate crude imagery to intensify the fear within the novel. At this stage, i myself felt attatched the the father as this mutual feeling of terror collided. 
During their descent down the cellar stairs, their fear is obviously present as their senses seem awakened, drawing out each individual, horrid detail of the cellar itself.
'Coldness and damp. An ungodly stentch....Clay floor. An old matress darkly stained.'
This is used to amplify the tension within the novel. Notably, this notorious event signifies the desperation and lengths that enevitably most survivors would go to in this grim world. This also gives us an insight to how the plot may progress; perhaps the characters will become so desperate that they themselves give in to cannabalism, creating tension and a constant fear between the characters.

Shooting of the 'roadrat'...

This particular event in the novel finally introduces the reader to the sorts of people the father and son are in fear of. Until now, the reader has had to imagine the sort of monsterous humans this world has created which has kept the novel within this mysterious environment. Now, the ambience has changed to a sudden, intensified fear. In my opinion, this has dubbed down the amount of tension within the novel because it is better to fear the enemy you know, yet the fierce mood remains throughout this event.
The fathers' paranoia increases as he senses the danger coming from the roadrat.
'Why are you looking at him?
I can look where i want to.
No you cant. If you look at him again i'll shoot you.' 
This represents the obvious duty the father feels he has for his son and, for once in the novel, creates this emotive ambience which conflicts nicely with the tense atmosphere. Blunt yet emotive, the language used drives out and highlights the fathers love for the boy, and because he has hidden his feelings for so long, it slips out during his burst of rage. This event also represents power figures within the novel. Power is no longer about wealth or relatives, it's about weaponry and strength. Because the father has a loaded weapon, he has more power over the roadrat, which is presented through his aggresive tone.
The roadrats based in the novel are used to represent the 'bad guys' the characters are trying to remain from becoming. By introducing the roadrats in such a tense atmosphere increases our obvious hate and disgust for them, increasing our empathy for the father and boy.
McCarthy uses the blunt conversation as a reference to his emotionally detatched technique, even characters within the novel cannot express themselves in a form in which we have empathy for them. As the reader, the apparently dull conversation infact strengthened the novel and my respect for the father, yet it still gave no obvious emotions, so i still feel extremely unattached and alone.

Man struck by lightening....

This particular episode introduces fear of strangers and the unknown. As they stumble across the man, it is apparent that he is critically wounded and powerless, yet the father is still skeptic about him.
'Who is it? said the boy
I don't know. Who is anybody?'
By the father asking the boy 'who is anybody' gives us an insight to how mankind is quick to judge the unknown. Because he is asking the boy, it's as though he is trying to teach him a lesson of life; if we do not understand it, fear it. This representation gives us the impression that the morals of life have changed from a charitable environment, to a game of survival of the fittest. This is highlighted as the father tries to convince the boy that 'Nothing can be done for him'. He repeats this multiple times, perhaps trying to convince himself also the reality of the situation; in order to survive, he must think of himself first. He as a father is tryig to fulfill his duty to protect his son, if he were to help the man, it may lead them into unessacary danger. However, the naive boy does not understand the concept of this cruel world and still believes they should help the man. This conflict not only increases the mental and physical gap between the two but also presents the reader with the ultimate question; what would you do in this situation? On the contrary, the man may also be relating to the idea that he is not only physically damaged, but psychologically corrupt. The man may not want to survive after his horrific endeavor, his final wish to die in peace, as honourably as he can. The father therefore allowing the hurt man to die as he wishes, without disturbance. This arguement contradicts my original thoughts entirely; i now see a father who not only pities others, but may also be jealous of the man. The man has nothing to worry about anymore as he gets to leave their god-foresaken world while our characters have to carry on, regardless of their exhaustion, starvation and other endless worries.
McCarthy uses this event to highlight the realism of this new world and to create a tense ambiance as this is only their first encounter with other beings of the world. We as the audience only partly understand the two main characters as it is, let alone other humans that wander the harsh new world.
As a reader, i was thouroughly overwhelmed by this event as it carved out the true, selfsih nature of mankind. It tormented me how they followed the man yet did nothing to help him, keeping me unattached to the characters. This, however, is McCarthy's intentions. McCarthy doesn't want us to get emotionally attached to anyone to intensify the emptiness this world has created. With no emotions, no empathy for anybody, we forget who we are, so we ourselves become empty. In philosophical terms, these characters in themselves are the living; if it weren't for the fact that the characters have survived this long through the novel, there would be no'one else. Their story would stop, therefore so would the novel.
In addition, the lack of humanity increases our unwillingness to attach to these characters, their lack of empathy for the obviously powerless man looming over the feeling of insanity. Yet, despite our apparent compassion for the man, the characters must be selfsih in order to survive. They hardly have enough to feed themselves, so it would be crueler to give false hope to the man. Instead, they let him die with his own thoughts in as much dignity as their heartless world will give him. 

The Road; Extractions.

This is my child, he said. I wash a dead man's brains out of his hair. That is my job.
Notably, the running theme throughout the novel is the importance of protecting ones possessions in a world that is crumbling around you. The representation of the father having this forced duty to protect his son from the horrors of the world gives us the impression that this reality is so impossibly dreadful that the father is adopting this task of keeping his son away from as much horror as possible. The enormity of this strong bond between the two combines the ideas of the significance of relationships and gives us the endering idea that they might possibly survive. However, this could be argued that he is enflicting his selfishness upon his son; he would rather keep his son in such a terrible world than have to face it himself. By creating this image of him protecting his son as a job gives us the impression that he is getting some sort of 'payment' from it; sanity.

Yes I am, he said. I am the one.
By the man stating that he is 'the one' reflects the selfish nature the man has had to adopt because of the bleak world around him; if he doesn't look after himself, he cannot look after his son. The only thing he has any empathy for is his son, only because he is literally a part of who the father is. They are combined into one person, giving themselves the significance of having something to live for. In philosophical terms, the father is life itself, nothing other than his journey holds any importance. He draws out the significance of this fact to such an extent that we get the impression that nothing else holds any importance over his own, and his sons, well-being.


Tomatoes, peaches, beans, apricots. Canned hams. Corned beef.
'Tomatoes, peaches, beans, apricots.' are all bright, nutritious fruits that creates the image of a naturalistic and rural ambience which represents natural goodness within the world. Yet, this opposing, syththetic food conflicts with this endearing image.The significance of the full stop gives us the impression that the goodness in the world has stopped; the man couldn't come across anymore purity within the world. The comparison between the natural fruit and the man-made products represents what we as a society have become, and possible why the world has become the wreck it has within the novel. We manipulate the purity of the natural world around us with technology and scientific knowledge because we have the capability to, and nothing powerful enough to stop us. In addition, the 'canned hams' and 'corned beef' has been made for a specific purpose, unlike the fruits that have had the freedom to grow within their environment. This could represent how society has picked certain aspects of the world that we could adapt and does so in a way that it becomes false and manufactored into what we as a society thinks is acceptable and needed. Perhaps the morals within the novel are that we should be grateful for what we have, otherwise we may live to regret it. 

Are we still the good guys, he said.
By abandoning the use of punctuation, the question creates a dramatic accusation about the fathers' morals. We as the reader have no knowledge of the characters past experiences, so he asking us to judge him as the person he is now. On the other hand, it could be a representation of how we as a society are quick to judge; we may have already critized the man and his morals without realising it. In addition, because there is no puncuation, we as the audience acknowledge that there is no'one there to hear him, so it would be pointless to turn it into a question. This creates a blank, lonely image as the reader recieves the sudden realisation that the characters are may literally be wandering an empty world.

We should go, Papa, he said. Yes, the man said. But he didn't.
The 'we' is singled out as 'he' by the end of the sentence, meaning the father alone hasn't moved because he cannot bring himself to leave his previous life. Possibly, this could be the critical point in the novel where the father realises once and for all that he will never be able to return to his old life; it is nothing more than a fickle dream. Yet, he doesn't want to leave his memories behind in such a destroyed environment because it is so precious to him. However, this beautiful image of his past life in comparrison to the boys anxious actions around his fathers belovedhome gives us the impression that everything, even something as precious as ones home, has become a terrifying sight.


The snow fell nor did it cease to fall.
Alike to the tedious, everlasting road that progressivley creates more tradigy the more distance they cover, the continuous falling of the cold, bitter snow only emphasises their extreme exhaustion of their new reality. Days marge together, creating a repetitive and endless cycle of merciless brutality.  


Okay? Okay.
The dinstinct absense of emotionless responses between the father and son creates a gap between the two that is filled with terror and fear. This could be recognised as an act of sacrifice; they do not want to attatch themselves to one another in case either of them die as this would intensely hurt and disturb their loved one.


They sat on the edge of the tub and pulled their shoes on and them 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.
This ridiculously long sentence and the repitition of the word 'and' could represent how tedious these actions are; they have become routine to the man. Or, in contrast, the long sentence is used to highlight these occuring events because they are so out of sorts to the readers' own routine. It also emphasises that their possessions are few, creating an empathy between characters and reader.

Tolling in the silence the minutes of the earth.
The eerie presence of 'silence' in the world emphasises how lonesome the duo really are. For the booming world to be in utter silence, the abnormality of the situation gives us the impression that the whole of existence has been shattered. McCarthy uses 'Tolling' in such a way that it makes us suspect the fathers' previous life; like his own past experiences ultimatley ended the world. Perhaps the terrifying treck is his punishment; McCarthy has purposely let the man survive this long to make him suffer for his wrong-doings. Or, the father could be blaming himself for destroying his world, as though the loneliness of the situation has drivin him to self-pity that is has disrupted his own psychological well-being.

She was gone and the coldness of it was her final gift.
For 'coldness' to be illustrated as a gift, it presents the fact that the man must be so desperate to feel emotion again in this harsh world. Without emotion, we lose passion and empathy; we would be nothing more than heartless robots, so for him to dwell on this cold sensation reminds him that he is still human. This representation of this world that thrives on despair gives us the impression that joy is rare, so he must occupy himself with his last memory of emotion, otherwise he would lead himself into madness.