 How is McCarthy able to make the post-apocalyptic world of The Road seem so real and utterly terrifying? Which descriptive passages are especially vivid and visceral in their depiction of this blasted landscape (please cite)? What do you find to be the most horrifying features of this world and the survivors who inhabit it?
Cosmo
11/13/2015 11:29:55 am
In “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, he uses descriptive words in order to describe the dark setting of the novel. This allows the readers to better picture the world that the father and son are traveling in. “The city was mostly burned. No sign of life...A corpse in a doorway dried to leather. Grimacing at the day” (McCarthy 12). This quote from the first section of the book gives readers the insight that there is more death than life in this world. There was also the part where the father and son stay near a waterfall and this makes the “world” that they live in seem more realistic because it makes me think of how these landmarks exist in the real world. “The waterfall fell into the pool almost at its center. A gray curd circled. They stood side by side calling to each other over the din” (McCarthy 38). The father and son also swim in the water together and it reminds me of real father and son relationships. I find the blood cults and cannibals in this novel to be the scariest. I cannot imagine living in this constant fear that I may be made into someone else’s meal everyday of my life.
apple
11/13/2015 09:06:24 pm
As a reader, I agree with the assumption that McCarthy's descriptive language allows readers to better picture the world that the father and son are traveling in. However, because the scenes are so abstract and unfamiliar to us (because we don't live in a post-apocalyptic realm), the pictures that my mind create are very vague. It is true that McCarthy’s description gives the reader insight that there is more death than life on Earth at the time. Moreover, it gives the audience a sense of confusion because we don’t know how the world came to be the way it is. It makes the audience question their role in society, in the protection of the Earth, and in maintaining hope and morals. The blood cults that you mentioned are scary; it is hard to imagine that, in the novel, a world like ours can drastically change enough to make people eat other people. This is one of the most terrifying aspects of McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic world, besides the fact that the old world is never going to return.
CL
11/15/2015 12:00:57 pm
I agree how there is more death than life in the world they are in. I think that makes it already very mysterious and scary. However, as he continues to narrate the story and speak of all the things that surround them, he makes it very scary and shocking to even believe they can survive in those conditions. The cannibals are definitely the scariest, I mean it's unbelievable how they can even sleep knowing that people would do anything to survive. I mean, they do try to be as safe as possible, but in an instance like this, nothing is enough.
Ummm
11/29/2015 05:37:21 pm
I agree that it is McCarthy’s descriptive language that gives the novel a dark setting. We have a general sense of this dark realm, however our lack of knowledge of the post apocalyptic world does not allow us to have a great visual image of the road the father and son are traveling. His lack of consideration to this fact spurs up confusion in the readers. This confusion could also lead to a lack of connection between the audience and the novel. I must admit that McCarthy sets a dark tone but he simply does not supply enough background information for us to truly feel fear.
MGC
11/13/2015 11:39:57 am
Cosmo
11/13/2015 07:29:21 pm
I like how you talked about dams and how we don’t think twice about them. This made me think about how true this actually is. In our world, we have a lot of things we would walk, drive, and look past while in this novel, these everyday things are made into such attractions or wonders. You also mentioned the coca cola scene which was a more shocking scene to me than the dam scene. This was more unbelievable to me because Coca Cola is something I have almost everyday or at least every week. Thinking about someone never having coke before was almost saddening to someone like me. I also agree with you when you say that you wouldn’t want to live in such a world. I definitely would not want to live somewhere where every moment could be my last.
Sophie Germain
11/15/2015 10:10:59 am
I agree that the McCormac uses ideas that are familiar to the reader but unfamiliar to the characters. It shows how the characters' world has deteriorated over time and what used to be common is now foreign. Dams and sodas are things that the majority of people have some knowledge of. The fact that the boy is witnessing these things for the first time is very sad. What makes it even worse is that when the child sees these things, it seems like they are in poor condition and abandoned. These two objects were once looked at as something good and the fact that no one has anything to do with them anymore is unfortunate. It makes the reader wonder just how much the world has changed.
SJH
11/15/2015 06:38:06 pm
I agree on the terms that McCarthy uses a lot of dramatic conversations to allow the readers to understand the imagery of the novel. McCarthy doesn’t have much conversation but when he does it is usually between the man and his son and they usually mean a lot more than the couple sentences they both say. I like the quote you used because it just shows the readers how innocent the son is even if we don’t know his specific age right now, we understand that he doesn’t know much and hasn’t experienced much in the world because of all his father has protected him from.
PAS
11/15/2015 10:37:25 pm
When I was reading and saw that quote, I thought about how the world was like before it got to the way it is now. i thought about how life was for the dad before all this happened, how hard it is to look back and see the life he had. I also find it hard for the boy to listen to his dad speak with passion about the world he used to live in. Having to hear all of this and look at where he is standing now, and how his everyday routine consist of surviving, I found this very sad.
ST
11/16/2015 10:11:20 am
I agree that this passage really reflects the harsh reality of both the father and his son. In this passage, they are both hesitant to drink the soda and are eager to share with each other. In the father’s life, before the apocalypse, drinking soda was nothing anyone ever thought twice about. Drinking soda, having electricity, having heat – these are all things that us, the readers, often take for granted. So McCarthy really illustrates the adversity the post-apocalyptic world has brought upon the characters because even the simplest things like fish swimming through a river or drinking a soda are some of the rarest occurrences in their reality. Because the father has lived in both spectrums, the boy cannot fully grasp those ideas, but both understand that the world is not as it used to be.
apple
11/13/2015 11:43:36 am
In his novel, The Road, Cormac McCarthy details the terrifying, dark, and brutal journey that a man and his son have to take in order to survive the brutalities and violence that come with the post-apocalyptic world. Through his narration, McCarthy uses very descriptive language in order to convey emotion, or the loss of emotion, when bringing the journey to life. “People sitting on the sidewalk in the dawn half immolate smoking in their clothes. Like failed sectarian suicides. Others would come to help them. Within a year there were fires on the ridges and deranged chanting. The screams of the murdered. By day the dead impaled on spikes along the road. What had they done? He thought that in the history of the world it might even be that there was more punishment than crime but he took small comfort from it” (McCarthy 32). The audience knows that the world is being destroyed by expansive fires, a loss of life, and fallen ash. However, McCarthy does not reveal the source of these dangers, which leaves the audience with a vague and abstract perspective on the possible shortcomings that can come our way when the Earth is taken advantage of. Through this passage, McCarthy sets in stone the gloomy and glum tone of the novel. The audience can envision dead people “smoking in their clothes” on the side of the road, and the “fires on the ridges and deranged chanting”. They can hear the “the screams of the murdered”. McCarthy’s descriptive language used in this passage, and throughout the rest of the section, contribute to the audience’s vague understanding of the harsh circumstances that the survivors must endure.
Cosmo
11/13/2015 08:10:49 pm
After reading your response, I can say that I agree with you when you talk about his use of descriptive language. His use of words and imagery help readers to visualize how grimy, gloomy, and dark this post-apocalyptic world is. I also like your idea that McCarthy did not reveal the cause of the post-apocalyptic in order to let the audience have a vague and abstract perspective. I agree with this idea since I do find myself thinking about what could have happened to the world for the father and son to be forced into such a difficult situation. They are forced to survive and are in constant fear of dying, and yet the author does not reveal to us the reason why.
PAS
11/15/2015 10:48:49 pm
I like that McCarthy doesn't tell us what is caused all dehumanizing actions, and the decaying of the environment. It makes us dig deeper and just wonder what happened to the world. McCarthy descriptive language is like puzzle pieces to what is happening in he book. For me it makes me relate it back to the bible, where it is the end of the world, also known as the time where god decides to take all his "disciples". The way it is described in the Bible almost matches the book. where first everything will start die, and humans will start betraying each other makes me think that is what is happening.
ME
11/17/2015 09:21:33 pm
I completely agree that one of the scariest aspects of this novel is simply not knowing. This allows the reader's mind to wonder. It would easy if readers knew what exactly was going on. We would have all the answers so there would be no reason to question any of it. But when we do question it, we not only question how this happened, but also WHY did this happen? I also enjoy that you pointed out the author's diction, as his words really set the gloomy scene of their world. He paints this dark scene in the minds of readers with his descriptive words.
Ummm
11/29/2015 06:29:55 pm
I agree with your response that there is a dark and gloomy tone set by Cormac McCarthy due to his descriptive language. His use of words help to evoke emotion in his audience to feel a better connection to the novel. I like your idea about the vagueness of the post apocalyptic era. The author not revealing the cause allows the readers to think up their own ideas. I never thought about it this way but that is a great idea. At first, I thought the author was just causing confusion for the readers. I now realize that it was a technique being put into place by the author.
CL
11/13/2015 11:48:46 am
Cormack McCarthy, in the book “The Road”, expresses the concern that he and his son experience on a daily basis. The man and the children pass their days walking and hiding from others, since even other humans would kill them to eat them. “You can’t protect us. You say you would die for us but what good is that? I’d take him with me if it weren’t for you. You know I would. It’s the right thing to do. You’re speaking crazy. No, I’m speaking the truth. Sooner or later they will catch us and they will kill us. They will rape me. They’ll rape him. They are going to rape us and kill us and eat us and you won’t face it. You’d rather wait for it to happen, but I can’t” (McCarthy 56). The man had a dream, in which his wife who is already dead, talks about how it would be much better if they simply died. She tells the man how this is not right for the kid; the kid doesn’t deserve to live in these conditions. The man and the child are at risk of experiencing terrible things, so the woman feels like it’s pointless to keep living. In her perspective, they live in a world full of fear; it almost seems like a never ending nightmare, which they would never escape. By expressing herself that way, the woman creates a horrifying image of the world.
GSG
12/9/2015 09:44:32 am
I agree that McCarthy creates a post-apocalyptic scene by expressing the concerns that the man and his son experience on a daily basis. Although this scene doesn't depict the setting or the harsh conditions they are living in it does depict the desperate emotion that the mother is feeling. The way she describes the world and what can happen to them shows us the fear that this world creates in everyone. It allows us to sense the fear and think about what humanity has come to. It's a very emotional scene because they are discussing whether their son gets to live or die. This in itself is a conversation no parent should ever have to have. It is very terrifying and gives us a deeper understanding of McCarthy's world.
Sophia Moss
11/13/2015 05:44:21 pm
During this first section of The Road, the description is very raw; McCarthy doesn’t spend much time trying to overdress the scenery that the characters are facing. He adds descriptive words so the place itself isn’t just ‘a house’ or ‘a place’, but he describes it like a person would see it. A normal person doesn’t see into every nook and cranny that is around them, they see certain things in detail, but not everything. Though what is seen in detail is realistic and isn’t over detailing the setting around the man and boy. A passage that was very vivid was “By dusk of the day following...long since stolen” (24). This was one of the more vivid scenes within this section of the novel. The bodies being “mummied” and ”shriveled” add to the time that they’ve been out and gives the reader more insight on approximately how long this world has been around for. It shows how many people were affected when this world came to be if they were scattered everywhere. This passage provides a lot of information on the book and describes the situation to the reader in a simple paragraph. I think that one of the worse things of the world is the lack of animals and plants in it. In most post-apocalyptic stories, nature survives. Through war, through everything, nature survives. So the fact that there are no plants and there are no animals, adds to how much the world is destroyed when nature can’t even come to life. The survivors within it don’t overly shock me besides the boy and others reaction to him. In this hard world, that the boy is present is a slight juxtaposition; something so frail and vulnerable shouldn’t be in a world like this. Yet here he is, and as of right now, he is the only one amongst corrupt and damaged people.
apple
11/14/2015 10:21:42 pm
I love your word choice when you described McCarthy's word choice. His word choice, I agree, is "raw" and he doesn't "overdress" the scenes that he describes. This is so true; McCarthy doesn't give too little detail that disengages the reader. He also doesn't give too much detail that makes the setting seem too unrealistic. With his descriptive language, McCarthy is able to make the post-apocalyptic world vivid and realistic. Your idea of the lack of nature in the setting is interesting. Although I don't know too much about other post-apocalyptic novels, it's interesting how you pointed out that nature continues to exist. In "The Road", nature is gone, which, like you said, comes to show how destroyed the world became.
SJH
11/15/2015 06:46:19 pm
I completely agree with you when you describe how McCarthy chooses his words for description. It’s exactly what he does, he describes everything how a normal person would view something. He doesn’t describe things as a professional literature writer; he just does it so the readers understand because it’s just as a normal person. Yes, I also enjoy the fact that we know that something traumatic happened to the world, because of all the ash, fire, diction, but also describing how nothing is alive as the man and his son can see on their journey just shows how serious this event is. McCarthy has yet to tell the readers straight forward what the problem is but we are sure that it is something very large and serious.
Chicken101
11/13/2015 07:33:40 pm
The first part of the book “The Road”, by Cormac McCarthy, carries the read on the beginning journey of a father and a son to the south. The author uses a lot of imagery in is written so that the readers can picture the dark, horrific journey. McCarthy uses descriptive words describe the setting of the world that is now present. “They passed through the ruins of a resort town…Burnt forests for miles along the slopes…No tracks in the road, nothing living anywhere” (McCarthy 29-30). This quote shows the run-down of the world around them, and even back to the first page, “black and ancient lake”, the lake has become black by the ash and destruction. He also made it realistic written about the struugle of pushing the cart through the snow, readers who have been through snow knows what that is like. The most horrify thing about the survivors are that they have/chose to resort to cannibalism. The most part that I find sad is the old man that the son wanted to help, “He was as burntlooking as the country, his clothing scorched and black. One of his eyes was burnt shut and his hair was but a nitty wig of ash upon his blackened skull…He’s been struck by lightning” (McCarthy 49-50). I’m not too sure about you, but I definitely wouldn’t want to be struck by lightning (I probably would be alive). The fact that you have to live in fear, and death becomes a highly thought option out of the world makes it horrifying.
Maggie Greene
11/14/2015 08:24:10 pm
You say the large amount of imagery is what is used to make the reader feel like part of the journey, But, if you really look at it there are very few descriptive scenes.Yes, I agree that the scenes that are thoroughly descriptive are of much importance to the plot line and immersing the reader, but, I thinks it's really the lack there of that makes the reader more involved in the book and making it more realistic for them. For example, the lack of description that the main characters and the nature of the apocalypse have better allows the reader to personify themselves on to the characters and make for a more realistic apocalypse to a larger span of people.
Chicken101
11/15/2015 10:39:38 am
The reason I said that the imagery helps the reader feel a part of the journey is because as a reader I can definitely follow along, and picture the journey. I can picture a world with fires burning, ash everywhere, and the coldness, run through the dark. I can feel the fear the man feels. I get all of this even from the vagueness of the author's writing. The lack of description of the main characters gives the reader the opportunity to personalize the characters to make this journey close to them. I think that both the imagery the author uses and the lack of description of the main character helps personalize the reading.
GSG
12/9/2015 09:49:27 am
I agree with this a lot because McCarthy does create a horrifying scene by using very descriptive words. By including the description of every place they enter, McCarthy helps the reader understand how isolated the man and the boy are. Isolation brings fear into anyone, knowing you're alone in a run down world where death is preferred over cannibalism or any other horrible death is crazy. The ash and destruction also help form imagery in the readers head by depicting how dead the world is. It's very sad that people are living in this environment where its hard to maintain hope and have faith. Losing hope is scary enough, losing humanity must be utterly terrifying.
Sophie Germain
11/13/2015 09:45:59 pm
In Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road”, the author describes a lot of disturbing situations. There is a lot of death in McCarthy’s book and a lot of the deaths seem to be a result of murder. The idea of someone being murdered already makes the novel terrifying to readers. “In the living room the bones of a small animal dismembered and placed in a pile.” (McCarthy 26) In this scene, the man and the boy walk into an old house and see a mutilated cat. The sight of this would be shocking to anyone, especially a child. Most people would think of cats as relatively harmless creatures so it would be hard to understand why someone would dismember a house cat. Another excerpt was even more gruesome. “Within a year there were fires on the ridges and deranged chanting. The screams of the murdered. By day the dead impaled on spikes on the road.” (McCarthy 32-33)The image of corpses being skewered on spikes would is very haunting. The scariest thing about the world these characters must live in is that it seems like it is everyone for themselves. No one is working together and people may even be trying to hurt others for their own personal gain.
The Supreme
11/15/2015 10:12:08 pm
I agree that death is a prevalent topic in this gritty, dark post-apocalyptic world in "The Road." Many of the deaths mentioned in great detail do exhibit traces of murder. However, I do not believe it is what makes the novel so utterly terrifying. It isn't the fact that living things are dying and being murdered that is meant to cause chills of horror down the reader's spine. Rather, it is the creativity in their deaths that cause such vivid imagery in one's mind and lead one to cringe at such thoughts just as you mentioned how imagining those people impaled by those stakes can haunt one. A cat was mutilated meaning it was not simply killed; it was slashed at multiple times. It is that very imagery than can induce fear in a the reader.
MGC
11/15/2015 10:24:57 pm
After reading your response I can see how death is a result of murder. I never viewed the passages you choose as being results of murder. There is just so much death in the book I believe I over looked that part. But I agree that the language makes it seem that these deaths are results of murder. I know that hearing of murder in communities close to mine makes me nervous and scared. They are terrifying. The deaths that the characters in McCarthy’s novel come across occur often. This also adds to the terrifying effects of these scenes in the novel.
ST
11/16/2015 10:27:51 am
I agree that McCarthy emphasizes the ideas of death, which provoke fear and terror. If readers put themselves into the shoes of the characters, they would realize how harsh of a reality the father and the son live in. They live in a world where they could hear the screams of people burning to death and they see corpses everywhere they go. What is even more haunting than hearing and seeing those people die, are the ones who are alive and out to kill others. Some people resort to eating or killing people just to survive. It can be understandable now why the man’s wife didn’t want herself and her son to live in a world like that, because living in a world where those are the typical norms are not something that many could deal with or accept. These terrifying scenes and passages really set the tone for the book.
SJH
11/13/2015 10:49:34 pm
In “The Road”, Cormac McCarthy was able to make the post-apocalyptic world seem so real because of how vivid he wrote the novel. The novel has a very vague plot, discussing a man and his son walking to the south. But because of all the imagery and use of descriptive words he uses, helps the readers better understand what McCarthy is talking about. McCarthy describes every single detail that occurs throughout the journey the man and his son take. We, the readers, are able to carefully imagine how the characters feel and what they are seeing as they walk through the dark, scary forests or how they felt as they swam in the cold waterfall. “They camped in a bench of land on the far side of a frozen roadside creek. The wind had blown the ash from the ice and the ice was black and the creek looked like a path of basal winding through the woods.” (McCarthy 35-36). So far in the novel, the man and his son haven’t traveled very far, but being able to read this much just shows that McCarthy was able give many details in such little story line. McCarthy is also the type of author to greatly describe something but not specifically giving away what it is and the audience will still be able to understand what he’s trying to say. For example, ash and fire and smoke is constantly being brought up, McCarthy didn’t say what happened in the story but the audience was able to infer that some type of major event occurred
Chicken101
11/15/2015 12:00:34 pm
I agree with you that the imagery used in the piece helps the reader understand the journey to the south that the main characters are embracing on. The character may not have traveled very far, but McCarthy gives such a detailed description of the scenery that we, the readers, feel like if we are on this journey too. The vagueness now of the main characters' description and the reason the author didn't mention the cause of this post-apocalyptic world is so the reader can make the reading have a greater meaning to them. The mention of the ash, fire, and smoke being constantly brought up to remind the reader of the destruction.
Alex
12/2/2015 02:05:15 am
I agree with the comment because the author is definitely using imagery in this book to emphasize the extreme atmosphere it holds. It creates this tone for the readers that is not pleasant, but interesting because they’ve never experienced it. The readers discover more along the way of the book through imagery which gives them more of a hopelessness feeling for the characters in it. The sights that the author describes through the characters makes a horrific reminder that the world is destroyed. I also agree when this comment said that the author didn't tell the readers how the world came to be how it was because it makes for a more interesting story. Its almost like the author wanted the readers to figure it out for themselves and really think about what could happen, which is terrifying.
The Supreme
11/13/2015 11:02:16 pm
Cormac McCarthy incites the sensation of fear in the post-apocalyptic novel "The Road" by highlighting the fact that in this world life is a desperate struggle and one has to be aware of every single detail in their surrounding environment. Such as they have to pay such close attention to what may seem like the smallest of details. The smallest things in this changed earth can mean the difference between life and death and that is what makes it so truly terrifying. It is the fact that one can die so easily from something like just getting too wet from the rain and not being able to dry and warm up efficiently enough so one would die. It is also because of this sense of constant evasion from a horrific force that threatens to make the characters suffer and end their very own existence. The father in the story has to think ahead in case they need to flee from this force. He thinks there may come a time where he and the boy may have 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 him" (McCarthy 6). He even has to keep constant vigilance of the area behind him which he cannot directly see in order to have a chance of escape. This feeling of having to constantly be vigilant also induces fear.
Jane Gloriana Villanueva
11/17/2015 08:15:46 pm
I think that your noting in the fact that every detail of the surroundings of the man and boy are vital is very important and I couldn’t agree more. The growing suspicions and paranoia that the man is gaining is what I think is driving him to question the point in moving southward and if it is even worth it to suffer and struggle to live anymore. The man’s paranoia is definitely justified, given their circumstances but the fact the other remaining survivors have resulted to such vulgar means of survival heightens all reason to just end the both of their lives and that is even more terrifying than the predicament in itself.
ME
11/17/2015 09:01:07 pm
I really like that you highlighted the man and boy's whole way of living as what makes the novel so terrifying. In our world (and country), we live pretty comfortable. We do not have to worry about our lives every minute and constantly keep tabs on our surroundings like the characters do. This is terrifying because I would imagine not many people would have ever felt this in way in their lives and it would be quite difficult to imagine and understand. You also touched upon how the characters are constantly prepared to flee. Adding to that, I would say that the characters have been reduced to their basic instinct: the fight or flight response. They're either going to challenge their enemy (possibly to the death), or they're run for their lives. It is scary that there are really no other solutions to their conflicts.
PAS
11/14/2015 12:05:47 am
In "The Road" McCarthy does a great job showing that the world that the two characters are in is post-apocalyptic by noting the actions they take to survive. An everyday routine for them is very different from our reality world. Right in the first couple pages of the book he starts describing how the environment around them looks."Everything is paling away from into the murk. The soft ash blowing in loose swirls over the blacktop. He studied what he could see. the segments of the road down there among the dead trees" (McCarthy 4). What I think is so terrifying about this is that the man has to care for the little child all by himself. Also, we find out that the little boy do understand a lot more than we think. "'You promise not to do' that the boy said. 'What?' You know what Papa.' He poured the hot water back into the pan and took the boys cup and poured some of the cocoa into his own cup then handed it back to him" (McCarthy 34). Not only is it hard enough surviving, but he also have to care and worry someone he cares and loves live too.
Sophie Germain
11/15/2015 10:23:24 am
I agree with you that it is terrifying how the man and his son must live on a daily basis. Many of us are able to do our daily tasks with ease and not have to worry about the world around them. For the characters in the book, it is crucial that they stay alert 24/7. It is a constant struggle for them to find safety and food. It is incredibly daunting to have to go through life always watching your back. The author mentioned that the father keeps a mirror on a cart so that he can see any danger approaching from behind. It is also terrifying to see how limited their resources are during such a cold time period.
The Supreme
11/15/2015 10:23:59 pm
I agree that McCarthy has done a well job in expressing the kind of world our characters are living in. The details that our characters have to pay such close attention to in the novel cast a constant sense of foreboding which is something we do not have to go through at all times. It is difficult to survive in the type of environment they are in and for the father it is even harder for he must constantly monitor for himself and his son. Twice as much the burden for him to carry having to watch out for him and his son.
Jane Gloriana Villanueva
11/17/2015 08:01:35 pm
I agree with your ideas on the fact that the actions that the man and the boy take to survive are an aspect in what drives the fear in the situation. I also think that if we read subjectively to the extent of the situations that they face we’d find ourselves questioning if we’d even want to have hope for continuing life on a world that has died. Even what you said about the deteriorating environments around them, I think was vital in McCarthy’s description because how could a person expect growth or prospering in themselves if their surroundings are failing to survive.
Jane Gloriana Villanueva
11/14/2015 02:34:01 pm
In the first section of The Road by Cormac McCarthy, McCarthy presents an intense and in depth description of the post-apocalyptic world primarily featuring a father and son. What makes the journey so horrifying to the survivors, in my opinion is the fact that they aren’t facing the struggle of survival alone and the father’s having to trust his judgement on what is best for the boy. At this point in the journey while traveling south, the pair is learning that they are nearing the path of other survivors that in following a natural section have resulted to cannibalism and blood cults. As the father recognized this as a threat to he and his son’s endurance he has to make the calls on whether it would be worth the fight to make it to the south where there would be a shred of hope for living further or using his last two bullets to spare the boy’s misery and his suffering. The worse part of it all is having to deal with both dangers at once while the father still has to work through his own emotional attachment, like when, “he watched the boy sleeping [and thought to himself] Can you do it? When the time comes can you do it? Can you?”, he was contemplating if he would be able to end the boy’s life when the time came (McCarthy, 29).
CL
11/15/2015 12:35:06 pm
I definitely agree how everything such as the other survivors and the cannibals make the story quite scary. They also create doubt as if it's even worth it to continue living. I feel that the doubt is probably the most scary part, since for someone to consider life not worth living, it definitely means that it's a dark place that they're in. The man's consideration of death definitely creates a much better image of how bad their world truly is. When you feel as though the idea of a future is uncertain, it becomes terrifying of what really can occur in a matter of seconds or hours.
Sophia Moss
11/15/2015 03:52:34 pm
I really liked that you focused a lot of the father son interaction between the man and the boy. Their dialogue and the man’s internal struggle adds to the reality and harshness of the life that they’re living. You aren’t focusing on just one or the other in terms of how they are and how they’re dealing with everything. The struggle within the man about granting a mercy killing on the boy’s life does show how bad the world has really gotten and if the boy is better off not in it in the father’s eyes. A way to protect his son from this life is there, but it will compromise his morals if he does so.
Maggie Greene
11/14/2015 08:08:54 pm
The lack of detail in "The Road" is really what makes this post apocalyptic world seem so real and terrifying. By not adding a lot of detail to the setting and main characters it allows us as readers to use our imagination to fill in the holes and form a world that seems most real to us. It's the ambiguity of it that is so terrifying because an apocalypse is so hard to already fathom but this lack of description and image give the brain suggestion on how one might be in an apocalypse, we are able to personalize each situations and seeing yourself or someone you know or create go through things like the events that occur in the book make it seem so real. But, with the lack of description in the main characters and setting, McCarthy provides ample description to important events and secondary characters. For example, "The boy hung on to his father’s coat. No one spoke. He was as burntlooking as the country, his clothing scorched and black. One of his eyes was burnt shut and his hair was but a nitty wig of ash upon his blackened skull... The boy kept looking back. 'Papa?' he whispered. 'What is wrong with the man?' 'He’s been struck by lighting"' (McCarthy 49-50). Before this, the events prior had been vaguely described to us. But, this encounter with the man was depicted in such detail. This gives our self made main characters easily imagined advisories. With characters we create our self what they face just seems more real and this is how McCarthy makes his book so realistically terrifying. Facing us with a balance of unknown and known.
Sophia Moss
11/15/2015 04:24:57 pm
The lack of description until certain important scenes really does help increase the reality of the book since it does leave room for the imagination. This personalizes the experience for each reader since the gaps are closed by each person’s mind. Not only are characters viewed differently but the scenery and plot is also given a unique light to the novel. The unknown is what the majority of humanity fears, so to be able to put that unknown sensation into a novel rather than just a short story speaks for McCarthy’s skill in being able to make the simple into something more.
MGC
11/15/2015 10:40:50 pm
I agree that the lack of detail in McCarthy’s novel allows us to fill in the blanks. Before reading your comment I never viewed the novel this way. However, I can see how the novel is open for interpretation. It allows us to make decisions about certain scenes. Our interpretations make the world the characters live in more personalized to us. In the conversations the characters have in the novel McCarthy does not often include who is saying what. He leaves it open for interpretation. I think when you decide who is saying what it could change the meaning. I could read one conversation a certain way, while someone else will read the same conversation a different way.
ST
11/16/2015 09:07:43 am
In his novel, “The Road” McCarthy is able to make the post-apocalyptic world a dark and terrifying reality through dramatic dialogue. I think that describing the landscapes of the world are one thing, but having readers absorb the deep conversations between those who “live” in this world put it all entirely in a different perspective. McCarthy illustrates this in a passage where The Man reminisces on a conversation with his wife. She says, “sooner or later they will catch us and they will kill us. They will rape me. They’ll rape him. They are going to rape us and kill us and eat us and you won’t face it” (McCarthy 57). In this conversation, he tries to talk her out of killing herself. Unlike him, she sees the harsh reality of the world and wants neither herself nor her son to live in it anymore. McCarthy shows how killing, raping, and cannibalism are a norm in their reality. Their dark reality is portrayed by seeing that many contemplate suicide just because they see no other way out.
Alex
12/2/2015 01:55:14 am
I agree with this because the author of the book really makes the characters give off these feelings that help set the tone for the book. The readers can really connect to what the characters are saying because both have not really experienced the world of destruction. The words make the readers think of how life is really like. The thoughts that come from the human brain about something so inhumane and unusual only makes the book more terrifying. I also agree that the father doesn't want this life for his son because of the terrifying atmosphere of the world.
ME
11/16/2015 10:51:05 pm
In the novel "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy, McCarthy creates a terrifying post-apocalyptic world in which the two main character struggle to survive. The scene that made this world the most terrifying was when the man and the boy came across a giant truck rammed into a bridge. The man and boy go to it to rummage for any supplies and spend the night in the truck. The next morning the man investigates more of the truck and, "... when he did he could see almost to the rear of the box. Human bodies. Sprawled in every altitude. Dried and shrunken in their clothes" (McCarthy 47). This scene is particularly horrifying as it is a shocking reminder of the state of the world they live in. As the man and boy avoid the living, they constantly come face to face with the dead. This is also shocking to readers as it is not clear to us what happened that caused the fall of the world. Questions flood readers mind: how did the bodies get in there? Were they dead before or after getting in the truck? How many are there? These questions make the mind of the reader wander and create possible horrifying scenarios for the end of the world.
Drew
11/16/2015 11:19:28 pm
In the book "The Road" by McCarthy it is so far about a young boy and his father and how they are living in a life after some terrible disaster happened. They are now on this journey trying to go south, by them going south it will allow them to live longer during winter. They are walking through this apocalyptic version of the world that is turned into fire and ash, “The city was mostly burned. No sign of life...A corpse in a doorway dried to leather. Grimacing at the day” (McCarthy 12). They are scared of people coming, they walk away from smoke which may mean signs of people living. This shows life after death, but this book only shows the "hell" and how there is only a bad. With people eating people and just the world as we know it now not existing. Not only is it like a "hell" but they are also going through a struggle. A struggle of looking for food, things that will help them survive. There is a point in the book where the father gives the son some coca and doesn't take any for himself (McCarthy). But he is going this because the boy is the fathers main priority, his health is more important according to the father. It also shows how they rarely get to enjoy these things that we do/use everyday.
Ummm
11/18/2015 12:15:50 am
In “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, there is a great use of descriptive words in order to establish a dark setting for the novel. These words allow for a better view of the journey the father and son are traveling. "The frailty of everything revealed at last. Old and troubling issues resolved into nothingness and night. The last instance of a thing takes the class with it. Turns out the light and is gone. Look around you. Ever is a long time. But the boy knew what he knew. That ever is no time at all”(McCarthy 24). This quote from the first section of the book gives the readers a feeling of darkness in the world for the father and son. McCarthy uses words such nothingness and night to describe this dismal tone that exists. He also inputs the phrase “Turns out the light and is gone”. This simple phrase shows how quickly their world becomes dark and lonely. To many, this may not seem frightening but I personally could not imagine living in such a dark and lonely world where you just hope for the day to be over. To me the most horrifying features of this world and its survivors are the darkness and lack of hope.
Alex
12/1/2015 09:18:53 pm
The author of the The Road makes the book sound very terrifying by making it so much different from the world that we live in. We are not used to the extremes that they characters are going through in this book. Yet with all of these terrifying scenarios, the world itself is so real in a way that the readers understand. We understand where they are and what the world looked liked before. But its just the thought that our own world could possibly turn out to be like that is the scary part. McCarthy chooses character which have seen both worlds, and characters that have only seen the apocalyptic destroyed world. The readers can relate with the father more because he has seen the world before it was destroyed and we can have a connection with his thoughts and decisions. The scary part is that we could possibly be like the father who has seen both of the worlds and knows what its like on either side of the spectrum. “Within a year there were fires on the ridges and deranged chanting. The screams of the murdered. By day the dead impaled on spikes on the road.” (McCarthy 32-33) This quote shows how the father has seen it all. He's seen the terrifying events and changes that the world has made to become the kind of hostile environment it is.
GSG
12/9/2015 09:37:39 am
McCarthy manages to be very descriptive in the way he describes the setting and scenery of the places he and the boy go to. His words help form visuals and clear vivid images in the readers head, this helps create a clear scene and makes the reader understand what the man and boy are going through, what they are seeing. For instance, when the man and the boy are woken up and they started running away. The man "had the pistol in his hand, he couldnt even remember taking it from his belt. They could hear the men talking. Hear them unlatch and raise the hood. He sat with his arm around the boy. Shh, he said. Shh (19)." In this scene McCarthy manages to have our heart pumping b/c we can all relate to this emotion. The man is so scared for his life and the boy's that he can't even remember when he took the pistol out. We can imagine how much fear is flooding through him that he's already ready to shoot at any moment that danger arises. We can picture the scene and the man holding the boy telling him to be quiet, we can see the men talking at a distance and the pistol ready to shoot. This helps us see what the world has come to in McCarthy's world, how fear is felt by everyone. Comments are closed.
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