Handling of time and structure

The basic handling of time that McCarthy displays is not in chronological order and he uses his speech and descriptions of the surroundings to expand and contract time. He telescopes moments to shorten them, therefore the audience has little awareness of time passing throughout the novel. McCarthy does however occasionally mention the passing of morning and evening and makes reference to the protagonists eating when they wake up and before they go to sleep, which indicates the days passing. The characters have no routine, but they are desperately grasping to the humanity left in the world by having a meal which they class as breakfast and a meal at night which is their dinner, this is because there is no real structure to their days as they travel down the road, so to save their sanity they keep this eating routine.

• Passing of the days

"They'd slept the night through and the day that followed" (pg. 152)
"three nights later" (pg. 27)
"When he woke in the woods in the dark and in the cold of the night." (pg.1)

• Markers of the year

"He thought the month was October but he wasn't sure" (pg. 2)
"On cold Winter nights" (pg. 26)

• Narrative time is expanded (elongated time)

The whole scene with the road rat (pg. 62-72)
'He raised his head slowly'
The cellar scene (pg. 116-119)

• Telescoped time

"It's snowing" (Pg. 15)
"It's almost warm" (pg.62)

• References to before-Flashback

"In his dream his pale bride came to him.." (pg. 17)
"There was a lake a mile from his Uncle's farm where he and his uncle used to go in the fall" (pg. 11)

• Time seems suspended

"Coldness and damp. An ungodly stench" (pg.116)
"he caught it in his hand and watched it expire there like the last host of Christendom" (pg. 15)

• Abstract reference to time

"Tolling in the silence and minutes of the earth and the hours and the days of it and the years without cease" (Pg. 1)

McCarthy does give particular evidence to time passing because of the description of the loss in weight of the characters. The protagonists get hungrier and they get thinner throughput the novel, to indicate time has past.
There is also a continual description of the cold weather which gives the impression that the world is in a constant winter, which is interested because there could be two possible reasons for this;

1. Time is passing at a considerably slow rate so winter never seems to leave
2. Because they are in a post- apocalyptic world, the weather is in a constant state of cold because everything is dying and decaying around them.

Also throughout the novel there is a continuous present- A paradox. It feels like they are in todays world, with all the billboards and coke cans. The boy was born at the beginning of the apocalypse and has therefore only lived his life in this decaying world.   
There is an increased amount of entropy, increased disorder and chaos even though the world seems to be desolate.

The RoadRat analysis

 1. What element of foreshadowing is employed in this section and why? - (pg. 62)

This section of the novel employs a sense of hope and innocence to the story of the protagonists journey on the road, 'The day seemed almost warm and they slept in the leaves.' However, hidden beneath the hope about the world may not be completely dead and winter may be coming to an end, McCarthy employs an element of foreshadowment by having the boy play with his truck,  'The boy took his truck from his pack and shaped the roads in the ash with a stick.' From first glance the reader can see a child, finding amusement and some sort of entertainment from a toy truck, which lures them into a false sense of security and hope that things may start looking up. However, McCarthy is foreshadowing the boys truck in relation to the truck that is about to come around the corner in the next section. The truck that appears on the road in the next section, is a complete juxtaposition to the truck the boy was playing with, it symbolizes destruction, cannibalism and all sense of hope and innocence is destroyed. The boy is foreshadowing the noise of the truck, 'they could hear the diesel engine out on the road, running on god knows what', with the innocent statement of, 'He made truck noises.' The boy is seemingly the only good thing left in the world, and even he cannot prevent the course of human destruction for more than one section at a time. McCarthy is bringing to light the importance of the goodness in the boy and the question that will him 'carrying the fire' be enough to save himself let alone the rest of the world.

2. What does the description of the men teach us about them? (characterisation pg.62-63)

 McCarthy introduces the arrival of the new characters in a way that makes the reader believe that the men approaching are not good men, he makes the readers believe that these are 'the bad guys', 'the pistol in his hand..God, he whispered'. McCarthy then goes on to give the reader a description of the way they look and the way they walk which also gives us a negative opinion of the men, 'They came shuffling through the ash, casting their hooded heads from side to side'. McCarthy is always sure to refer to them as 'they', rather than individual people, maybe because McCarthy wants to depict them as having lost humanity and therefore lost individuality.  These men are also made to look like they are being held prisoners by whoever is in the truck which follows them, 'Slouching along with clubs in their hands..Coughing', there seems to be no escape for the men and the destruction they are seeing as they 'cast their hooded heads from side to side' seems to be normal for them. Amongst the destruction and desolate landscape the men see no escape and can imagine no change for the future.
The road rats character is so explicit that is in direct contrast with the implicit character of the man.

Why does McCarthy describe the road rat in such detail?(characterisation pg. 65)

 The road rat is described in such detail to separate the characters of the man and boy from him, so the reader knows the difference between the good guys (being the man and boy) and the 'bad guys' which is the road rat. The name 'road rat' itself is a derogatory way to describe someone and the way he describes his clothes and the tattoo on his neck of a bird which he claims was done by someone, 'with an ill formed notion of their appearance', all are negative descriptions of the road rats appearance.McCarthy makes it clear to describe his belt being too small for him, 'the holes in it marked the progress of his emaciation', which tells the reader that although this man is a 'bad guy' he has no privilege over the 'good guys' in the way of food of survival. McCarthy also makes a comparison to an animal when describing the man, 'eyes collared in cups of grime and deeply sunk. Like an animal inside a skull looking out the eyeholes', this description is, again, making the point of the bad guys, including the road rat, have lost all sense of humanity. The men have lost morality and are digressing back into animals who will eventually waste away on the road to nothing and join the ash which already lies on the roads surface.

What do we learn about the man through his exchanges with the road rat? (pg.68)

 From the previous section where the man displays his extensive medical knowledge, in this section we understand that the man is of many talents and another one is that of some kind of military r army training. The man shows extremely quick reactions and he had a keen eye for description around him. In what seems like seconds, however the audience is never sure because McCarthy gives little sign of time passing, the third person narrator has described the man knowing a detailed list of the things on the road rats belt, whilst being aware that the man had taken exactly two steps forward and was almost between him and the boy. In the following sentence the road rat has reached the boy and is holding a knife to his throat, the man simultaneously has, 'already dropped to the ground and swung with him and leveled the pistol and fired', the man knew what the road rat was going to do and was two steps ahead of him. The description of how the man kills the road rat is extremely accurate, 'leveled the pistol and fired from a two-handed position balanced on both knees at a distance of six feet', which implies the man has done the maneuver before. In the mans previous life he was clearly not an ordinary civilian, he had special skills which included an in depth knowledge of the brain, quick reactions and military skills, indicating a very intelligent man.

"A single round left in the revolver. You will not face the truth. You will not" Who is the man echoing here? how do you believe these words are uttered? 

These words were originally uttered by the woman, the mans wife, before she killed herself. The reason for her killing hersewlf was because there was not enough to kill all three of them and dshe thought he was selfish for wasting a bullet, and the reason he is remembering those words now is because he has just shot the road art, using up another bullet. The fact that there is only one bullet lefts means that if there is a point where they both want/need to die, one of them wont be able to because there wont be enough bullets to kill them both. The man is having conflicting thoughts over the right choice to make, that will benefit both of them in the long run, he is becoming more and more doubtful as to if they actually find the good guys. These words would have been uttered in a sinister voice at the back of his head, by his wife, almost like a guilty conscience.

Why don't the other men chase after the man and the boy following the shooting? (pg. 73-74)

Once the man shot the road rat, they run and expect the other men to chase after them, however that is not the case. When the man returns after what we can only guess as a few days to collect his trolley, the body was gone and only s few bones and guts lay spread on the road. Therefore the reason the men did not chase after the man and boy was because they were so hungry that when they saw the opportunity of food they took it. Cannibalism was the reason behind the man and boy getting away safely, because the other men were more interested in eating the remains of there friend, than chasing after 'food' they might not catch.

It is not until page 77 that the man finally cleans the 'gore' and 'dead mans brains' from the boys face. Why?

On page 77 the man 'washed the boy's face and hair', however the blood and brains had been sat in his hair and on his face for days. The reason for this was because they had to hide and run away from the cannibals in case they found them, they could not afford to spend time washing the boys hair if the men were looking for them.  The importance of washing the boys hair was shown to be lesser than that of feeding and keeping him warm, this shows that McCarthy wanted to highlight the way different societies rank things of importance. The man and boys number one priority was to be fed clothed watered and to find shelter because they were running away from death, and although the boy would not have wanted blood on his face and in his hair, he was able to cope with it because he faced the possibility of starvation and hypothermia on a daily basis. The last line in this section the man says, 'This is my child, I wash a dead man's brains out of his hair. That is my job.', this phrase highlights the mans thoughts as to why he didn't was it out sooner, he is convincing himself that looking after the boy and helping him is his job and he doesn't really want to be doing it, although that is not true. This idea of the man distancing himself from the child is again riveted in everything the man does, he tries to show little affection to the boy so when the time comes when they both have to die, he won't feel guilty if he has to shoot his own son.

A limited palette (part 2)

Moments of Rich Lyricism

'Although Cormac McCarthy is known for the spareness of his prose, there are also moments of rich lyricism in The Road.'
McCarthy uses hyperbolic language to exaggerate and emotionalize the situations. McCarthy's use of rich lyricism is engaging to the audience, almost more so because he uses it sparingly.
Evidence of these uses of laguage are;
'like pilgrims in a fable wallowed up and lost among the inward parts of some gigantic beast.' pg.1
'Cold glaucoma dimming away the world.'- Pg.1
'Alabaster bones.' -Pg.2
'Sulfur'
'Creed less shells of men tottering down the causeway like migrants in a feverland.' 
'Flake of Obsidian' -Pg.60
'The linoleum was stained.'- Pg.5
'Enshrouded them.' -Pg. 8
'Descended into a gryke' - Pg.10
The transam grated in the sand.'
'Periodic rack ad shuffle of the carlocks'.
'polished and muscular and tensional. On their backs were vermiculite patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming.'  

A limited palette

The repetitive language echoes the idea of being on a road, constantly travelling. 

 'nights dark beyond darkness and the days more gray each one than what had gone before.'
 'From day dreams on the road there was no waking'
'ashen'
'Darkness'
'night'

There is a powerfully poetic effect in the simplicity of the language. By avoiding rhetorical flourishes and elaborate language the writer makes a stronger impact.  

'Like pilgrims in a fable swallowed up and lost among the inward parts of some granitic beast."

'If only mt heart were stone'. 
'There is no God and we are his prophets.' 

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

'She was gone and the coldness of it was her final gift'.
 'Maps and mazes. of a thing that cant be out back. Not to be made right again.'
 'Okay. Okay.'

Statements representing the play through my eyes. 

1
2
3	The man and woman represent the different ways in which humanity might react to such a situation.
4	This is a novel about minute by minute survival. Showing the man resisting the temptation of his memories brings this home to the reader.
5	The woman has a powerful and ambiguous symbolic function in the novel: she represents both the giving of life and the temptation of death.
6
7
8	For the man, the woman’s absence is a constant reminder of the alternative to struggling to survive.

The woman 

The context and representation in which the woman is portrayed.

The woman is mentioned sparsely throughout the novel, however so appears in his dreams at the beginning of the novel.  To the man the woman represents happiness and light and therefore does not belong in the world him and the boy are now living/ surviving in. The woman is mentioned at first, in the context of a romantic encounter the man once had with her, 'her nipples pipeclayed and her rib bones painted white. she wore a dress of gauze and her dark hair was carried up in combs of ivory, combs of shells.  The man missed her. Gradually however, the image and memories of the woman became darker and colder. the reader finds out that his bride killed herself, without even saying goodbye to her own son. She was cruel to the man, and told him, 'she had claimed a new lover in death'. The woman feared she and the boy would be raped killed and eaten by cannibals if they stayed alve, so she was only speeding up death, but under her own control. McCarthy was either portraying the woman as weak for killing herself and giving up on life and her family, or portraying her as strong. There were only two bullets left in the gun so she took it upon herself to make the decision of who may have to suffer if the time came where they all wanted to die, and she killed herself with obsidian in order for the ma and boy to have a way out in the future. The woman could be seen to be represented as both a savior to the other two protagonists and also as a topic of sadness because she left them behind.. Te boy d the an together are not enough to make her want to stay in the world they are living in. she doesn't belong in this world.

Thematic functions of the woman. 

McCarthy does not always make the themes clear in the novel, however the idea of the woman and there old life always appears in the mans mind and changes the feel of the story. A theme of old and new appears, with the woman and there old life verses the mans son and the desolate world they are now living in.  The theme of good verses evil is relevant, with the woman being the evil source, almost sucking the life and soul out of the man in his dreams until he disregards her picture in the road, and the good of the boy who is almost the mans savior and 'his warrant' although only a child.
Good verses evil is also apparent between the 'good guys' and the 'bad guys'. The man refers to the bad guys are evil beings who they should avoid at all costs, and they are on a journey to find the good guys.
Desolate landscapes and the protagonists being alone in a destructive world is a theme present throughout the novel. McCarthy continuously describes the roads as being bleak and deserted, a sense of loneliness is always lingering over the mans shoulders.
Death is a clear theme, highlighted with the subject of the woman who has died. She appears in his dreams and the boy remembers her and the man asks him 'do you wish you were dead'. It is as if death is fast approaching, and there journey is a never ending struggle to run and hide from deaths evil clasp.
McCarthy is influenced by low budget horror films, such as, 'the hills have eyes' and 'the walking dead',  and the themes and situations the protagonists find themselves in are very similar to that of characters from those movies.
Although this is a bleak and deathly story, the theme of love is hidden under the surface of the protagonists. Even though the man tries extremely hard not to show love or affection towards the boy, he is unable to hate him. And the love that the boy shows the man, is so heartfelt and real, that when the man dies at the end, the reader feels pure emotion for the boy who, although has been taken in by the 'good guys' has now lost both parents. The reader also experiences the love the man had for the woman long ago. The emotions he feels for her, when he describes his bride walking towards him and 'her dress of gauze', we understand why the man is still having dreams of the woman, why he is finding it so hard to let go, the reason is because he did once love her, and she once loved him.

Structural functions

McCarthy's way of writing speech is by using minimalistic use of punctuation and the mans conversations usually consist of short sentence answers. However when the woman is described or speaking, then there is a large section of speech. This contrast between the man and woman's speech brings to light the different worlds in which they belong to, the woman's belonging in the past world and the man in the present post- apocalyptic world. 
The way the woman is described is always from the man's voice, his perspective of the woman, and so therefore we see and feel what he sees and feels when the woman tells him its over. McCarthy never allows the reader to see from the woman's perspective, 'i have taken a new lover in death'.

Symbolic functions

McCarthy describes the post-apocalyptic world as a comparison to death and the darkness, 'your dark and your cold and be dammed', that although they are not dead they are trapped in a never ending liminal space where death is following them and will take them when they fail to reach the end of the road. The dreams he has of the woman are happy memories which give light to his thoughts and for a moment takes him away from the destructive world in which him and the boy are surviving in, symbolizing the light and happy world they had before which the woman was a apart of, compared to the evil one they are in.
The fact that even from when the man notices the clocks have stopped, there is a clear indication of the different characters the man and woman have. The naivety and weakness of the woman compared to the practical attitude of the man, McCarthy may be highlighting the differences between the characters of men and women in general as well as the difference between these two protagonists.
'i have taken death as a lover', is a quote the woman speaks to the man and symbolizes the decay of society and morality that the post-apocalyptic world has made her and the rest of humanity face.