Quotations

'This is my child, he said. I wash a dead man's brains out of his hair. That is my job.'


'Yes I am, he said. I am the one.'


'Tomatoes, peaches, beans, apricots. Canned hams. Corned beef.'


'Are we still the good guys, he said.'


'We should go, Papa, he said. Yes, the man said. But he didn't.'


'The snow fell nor did it cease to fall.'


'Okay? Okay.'


'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.'


'Tolling in the silence the minutes of the earth.'


'She was gone and the coldness of it was her final gift.'




What do these extract tell us about:


- The type of novel it might be (the genre/s it seems to draw on or fit with)
The novel itself is set in America, with McCarthy using a classic American style of writing to indicate this. He calls the tarmac "blacktop" and an area of land "yard". This suggests that the novel is heavily associated with specifically American thoughts and dreams, echoing McCarthy's own experiences in life as an American citizen.

The novel is presented to be of the dystopian/post-apocalyptic genre of literature. McCarthy utilises simplistic and depressing vocabulary to suggest that everything beautiful has died, due to some kind of devastation, and that the only thing left is raw humanity. The unsettling genre of dystopia is evident through how the man washes a "dead man's brains" out of his son's hair and call it his "job". This is indicative of how society has fallen apart as this action would never happen in a "normal" world.

The post-apocalyptic nature of the novel can be identified through the "silence". It implies that a worldwide catastrophe has stopped the buzz of life. Something has wiped out civilisation, leaving only a few survivors, including the man and the boy. It's created a divide between "good guys" and "bad guys", showing that people have to had to fend for themselves, with some resorting to violence and cruelty.



- The story (what might happen)
It's implied that the man and the boy must undertake a journey, particularly when the boy says "We should go, Papa". He seems insistent on leaving the place they're in, which suggests they're in some kind of danger. The fact that they're eating foods like "canned hams" indicates that finding food is an integral part of their journey, the story revolves around them surviving. Within the story, the characters come across miserable surroundings as they follow the seemingly never-ending road, encountering extreme hardships as they slowly make their way across a dead world to salvation.


- Themes (the ideas it might raise)
One of the prominent themes in The Road is that of survival. The man and the boy must fight their way through the dangers they come across to reach a place of safety. There's a particular focus on food, as that's the key ingredient for survival. They eat anything good they can find - "tomatoes, peaches, beans, apricots". Another important theme is the inevitability of death, particularly when associated with a post-apocalyptic society. There's no sense of hope left in the world as it's been ripped apart, leaving only death to come.


- Characters and relationships
The key relationship in The Road is between the man and the boy, it's a father/son relationship. However, it isn't a typical representation of this bond. The man seems distant from his son, never showing much emotion in his presence. This could be to protect the boy from becoming emotionally attached to him, so that if something bad was the happen to the man (which it does), the boy can carry on living. In a way, this is the most loving thing to do as the man is protecting the boy. The relationship between the man and the woman (the boy's parents) is briefly touched upon. It's stated in the novel that when she commits suicide "the coldness of it was her final gift". This implies the relationship had turned bitter by the end as she'd ignored the man's pleas to stay, but he still misses her and does remember her fondly.

The characters themselves don't have any personal identities. The only name we're given is "Ely" (the old man), however this turns out to be a fake name. This implies that names and identification aren't important in the post-apocalyptic world. All that matters is survival, at all costs. The lack of names also suggests that, in theory, the characters are more representative of humankind. Names are a way to differentiate people from each other, but McCarthy wanted to show that everyone is the same on the road.


- The way the story might be told
A way the story is told is through simple sentences. An example of this is the repetition of "Okay? Okay." The simplicity of this phrase suggests that life has become straightforward on the road (to an extent), it's all about survival. There isn't much punctuation, with McCarthy only using full stops regularly (with the occasional comma and apostrophe). This adds to the telling of the story as the lack of punctuation reflects the lack of beauty and complexity in the world, post-apocalypse. Opposed to this is the descriptive way McCarthy writes. In the novel, descriptions such as "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" are used. The extensiveness of these descriptions give the reader a vivid image of the situation, that even though a catastrophe has happened, life is carrying on.