One Emotional Conversation

Before you read the below excerpt you need to understand that McCarthy's writing style is very odd. He uses no chapters or any divisions of any kind. He also uses no quotation marks at all. Conversations can be very confusing, which I'm sure is something he wanted. It can take many times of reading the same passage just to understand what happened. But anyways, on to the one of the conversation between the father and son.

What is it? the man said.
Nothing.
We'll find something to eat. We always do.
The boy didnt answer. The man watched him.
That's not it, is it?
It's okay.
Tell me.
The boy looked away down the road.
I want you to tell me. It's okay.
He shook his head.
He turned and looked. He looked like he'd been crying.
Just tell me.
We wouldnt ever eat anybody, would we?
No. Of course not.
Even if we were starving?
We're starving now.
You said we werent.
I said we werent dying. I didnt say were werent starving.
But we wouldnt.
No. We wouldnt.
No matter what.
No. No matter what.
Because we're the good guys.
Yes.
And we're carrying the fire.
And we're carrying the fire. Yes.
Okay.

-McCarthy 108-109

This conversation was one of those moments when I was reading and just put down the book and took a breather. The fact that a little boy just asked if they would ever resort to eating people is really terrible. Just imagine your little brother or sister or son or daughter legitimately asking you if yall are going to eat somebody. What kind of world would make a child think that? When the boy asked that it made this fictional world that McCarthy has created so much more real to me. While McCarthy has brilliant vivid imagery, this conversation adds the emotional aspect of this world.
This conversation also really gave light to the overall situation that the father and son were in. They may be living in a world of complete death and misery but they will never resort to eating another human being. While eating another human in our society may seem absolutely ridiculous, eating someone in the post apocalyptic society they live in is very real. The fact that the father can say such an honorable thing in such a desperate time is a true test of his character. McCarthy has built this man as almost a saint. Although he has moments where you see how this world is really affecting him, but that will come in a later post.
Lastly, this conversation shows the motivation that they still have to carry the fire. The fire they are referring to is not a physical flame but a representation of the life they hold inside and they don't want to loose it.

Music that reminds me of The Road- The Human Abstract - "This World is a Tomb"

Below is the song "This World is a Tomb" by The Human Abstract. One night when I was reading this book my ipod was on shuffle and started playing this song. I closed my eyes and just listened. What I saw was these two characters that I had been reading about and the destroyed world in which they now lived.



Lyrics:
Slaving for my solace of mind, digging in the sand until there's blood on my hands,
Careless to the state I'm in, I've so long been alone.
I can't go on.
Rain down and cleanse my soul.
Flow like a river.
Forging insight by pagan torchlight, in cadence warlike,
We draw tears from the sky, because the well's run dry.
I've spread out my seed, its gone in all directions.
It starts to feel like the promised land is a fantasy
And heaven has been swallowed by the desert.
In a drought without submission, not a cloud in the sky,
This course keeps getting harder, the more I try.
I dig up dry bones, and the corpses cry,
As they open their eyes to see the world's decay.
This world's a tomb.
There's a clamor in my heart and its over.
Where is my prize, my promised prize?

(Lyrics from http://www.lyricsmania.com/lyrics/human_abstract_the_lyrics_40183/other_lyrics_71852/this_world_is_a_tomb_lyrics_802403.html)

There are some lines in this song that really stick out to me.

1. "I dig up dry bones, and the corpses cry, as they open their eyes to see the world's decay. This world's a tomb."
This line couldn't be a more accurate depiction of the world McCarthy has created. A world where even the dead cry over the tragic events that have occurred and what the world they know now is nothing like how it once was. Rotting, mutilated corpses are a normal thing for the father and his son to run into during their journey.

Human bodies. Sprawled in every attitude. Dried and shrunken in their rotted clothes.

-McCarthy 40

Sometimes they even encounter what can almost be considered the living dead.

Huddled against the back wall were naked people, male and female, all trying to hide, shielding their faces with their hands. 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.

-McCarthy 93

These parts of the book always left me absolutely disturbed and I could barely fathom what it would be like to see a sight like that. Just try and imagine a world so terrible that it makes those that are already dead cry over it.

2. "It starts to feel like the promised land is a fantasy and heaven has been swallowed by the desert."
The father and son are trying to reach the ocean because the ocean has water and most likely other survivors. The ocean is like their promised land. As they see more and more of the destruction, or desert as the song puts it, through their journey it gives the reader a feel of doom and hopelessness of finding the ocean; as the line in the song says "It starts to feel like the promised land is a fantasy"

The Road: The Movie

Below is a preview for the movie version of Cormac McCarthy's The Road which is scheduled to be released on November 25, 2009. I think it looks fantastic and am planning on seeing it. Be prepared for a book vs. movie analysis come November 25th.

Image Analysis Part 1

McCarthy's book is filled with saddening vivid imagery of the post apocalyptic world through which the two are traveling. The blackened trees, run down houses, and dark sky really help to enhance the feel of hopelessness and possible death. Every now and then he shows a glimmer of hope such as the white snow that is soon covered by ashes. While reading this story the image of a destroyed desolate wasteland never left my mind and left me feeling very disturbed and lachrymose.
(Picture from http://www.virtualdefault.com/blog/2009/03/26/post-apocalyptic-worlds/)



The father and his son are on constant look out for other remaining survivors that pose a threat to them. No one in this post apocalyptic America is trustworthy and they can't risk letting their guard down for even a second. There are multiple instances where they run into other survivors. This picture depicts a moment when the father is woken up by an approaching diesel truck and people which McCarthy depicted as filthy, stained, and vile. He and his son are forced to run from all their supplies just to survive. This scene was very intense and suspenseful because the father and son had gone so long completely alone, but now they were within spitting distance of men that could kill them.
(Picture from http://www.slashfilm.com/tag/the-road/)

Background for those that are not familiar with the story

For those of you out there who have yet to read one of the best written, heart wrenching, and moving stories out there I shall give a brief background so you can have a general overview of the novel. Later on I will go into much greater depth about this amazing book.

As for the background that I have promised you-Cormac McCarthy's The Road is a brilliantly written post apocalyptic story that follows a nameless man and boy's path through the destroyed world. They are pushed to extremes and can barely survive on the little food they can find. The father only wants the best for his son...even if it means death. This book will crawl deep down into your emotions and really speak to you.