How do writers use repetition to create meanings in their texts? (42 marks)

How do writers use repetition to create meanings in their texts?In your answer, refer to the work of the three writers you have studied.

(42 marks)

Within the following three texts I have studied The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Road by Cormac McCarthy and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, they use repetition to create different meanings both reflecting the atmosphere contextually and metaphorically.

In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald repeatedly distinguishes between the two places “West Egg” and “East Egg” throughout his novel which creates a separation both in the atmosphere of the two settings and the characters that belong in these societies.  Contextually, Fitzgerald set his novel in New York City and put it at the centre of American business to colonise the idea of the American Dream. However his main purpose focused towards changing the background of where he was already living from 1922 to 1924 in Long Island and the names of the two places of Great Neck and Manhasset Neck.  Using these two locations, Manhasset neck was full of the fashionable and on the surface, respectfully wealthy people (East Egg) and Great Neck was home to those who had acquired their fortunes within their own businesses or trades and were successful through their own adventure (West Egg). This cultural divide is a constant underlying thought that not only creates an impressionable backdrop of the urban America story but also how we should expect certain characters to behave when analysing their background and social class.

 Using Nick as his narrator, Nick begins the novel by explaining why he chose to move to West Egg, stating that he felt that, “life was beginning all over again” which echoes the idea to the reference of the explorers such as Christopher Columbus who discovered America and was the only one who found the way although others had tried.  We are told that both West Egg and East Egg look identical and it is revealed that as Nick is an observer from “both within and out” the reader will be taken into both communities.  Later on within the novel, when Nick meets characters from East Egg, they contrast deeply to Mr Gatsby from West Egg, who (although an unreliable narrator) Nick particularly warms to more than any other character. Tom and Daisy’s mannerisms repeatedly remind the reader of their position of obtaining their wealth and status through family name. Daisy talks to her friend Jordan in a complacent way, both making only a polite effort to entertain or be entertained; they waste away the day lying down idly, “the only completely stationary object in the room was an enormous couch on which two young woman were buoyed up as though upon an anchored balloon.  They were both in white and their dresses were rippling and fluttering as if they had just been blown back in after a short flight around the house…Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died about the room, and the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor.” Also, only Daisy makes “an attempt to rise” as Jordan complains, “I’m stiff…I’ve been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember”.  Nick remarks on this contrast to Midwest and how people were “continually disappointed” or spent the whole evening dreading the moment it would come to an end.  Finally, at the end of the novel, Fitzgerald draws in a piece of imagery which describes West Egg, the place of opportunity. Nick thinks, “And as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors’ eyes — a fresh, green breast of the new world”. This reference to when the Dutch sailors first arrived fuses the dreams of the explorers with Gatsby’s dream of Daisy on the dock and how although the West promised the world to everyone, the American Dream was unattainable to people such as Gatsby and would inevitably lead to his own destruction.  

Cormac McCarthy in The Road uses repetition as a technique to invoke his interpretation of a post-apocalyptic world.  To convey a bleak, lifeless world in which his characters of the Man and the Boy struggle to survive in, he repeats the word, “back” which is the most frequent word, may infer that they always strive to be able to refer back to the past and the “reality” that they are familiar with.  However, “down”, the second most frequent word, could link to the idea of a journey into hell of which they plunge into without choice.  Water is also mentioned which is a significant symbolisation of something from their previous lives that was once clean and now, contaminated and difficult to gain.  It is also, interestingly, something that our society takes for granted as a basic necessity which ironically is not often within their grasp.  The word “blanket” is often said, an object that is also taken for granted within society, and personally, I feel that it conveys the lack of stability and comfort that the boy has. He is only able to cling onto blankets for a glimpse of warmth in a world that has been destroyed. The idea of items with low importance being used, such as the trolley and the can of coke is a theme that is constantly referred to which connotes the idea that they have lost everything and they must cling on these things in order to keep clinging onto this past world. For example, we see that when the thief steals their belongings they value the things that they have left more almost as much as they value each other, “They took everything. Come on. The boy looked up. The boy was beginning to cry”.   

 McCarthy also repeatedly refers to the relationship between the man and the boy and portrays a deeper meaning that although their fragile world is crumbling around them, they manage to strive through this and stay strong. The word “okay” is frequently repeated between the father and the son, “Okay? Okay” which although on the surface displays a lack of emotion and communication it pragmatically displays a meaning to their hidden emotional connection.  Both characters are registered to the fact that words have become meaningless; there is nothing that either could say to one another that would provide comfort or make their situation any different.  They both only appreciate each other, nothing else around them and these words become words of reassurance.  They are all each other have and there is a clear attachment between them, although hidden, as words do not have to be said, for the father and son to still have a bond between them of trust and hope. This deeper meaning is something that never fades for the two characters and through these repeated words; it pushes the boundaries of love and commitment in a dying world.  

Samuel Taylor Coleridge conveys the supernatural theme repeatedly throughout his poem, The Rime of The Ancient Mariner to accentuate the difference between the supernatural and reality. For example, within the first part of this lyrical ballad, Coleridge uses the Ancient Mariner and The Wedding Guest, “He holds him with his glittering eye- The wedding – guest stood still, And listens like a three-years child: The Mariner hath his will”. The word “glittering” creates a sense of ambiguity from this omniscient third person narrative which contrasts to the natural world that society lives in and draws the reader towards the words of the Mariner as he is conveyed as someone deeply important.  Other examples throughout the poem relate to the supernatural behaviour of nature and the atmosphere upon the Mariners travels, “And some in dreams assured were Of the spirit that plagued us so; Nine fathom deep he had followed us from the land of mist and snow”. This refers to the water around them filling with colours and a “spirit” haunting their ship through a land of “mist and snow” which, by referring to meteorology, involves a sense of mystery for the reader and we see the impact upon the Wedding Guest, “I fear the Ancient Mariner!”

When the Mariner and his shipmates meet the skeleton boat that is holding life-in-death and death it could entail evidence contextually of Coleridge’s wild imagination which is impacted by the Greek and Roman myths that he was particularly interested in. The description of this moment, “ Alas! (Thought I, and my heart beat loud) How fast she nears and nears Are those her sails that glance in the sun, like restless gossamers?...Are those her ribs through which the sun did peer, as through a grate? And is that woman all he crew? Is that a Death? And are there two? They appear to carry the penance that the Mariner must serve for his disrespect to nature and immoral actions which draw us towards the overall moral of the story that Coleridge intended to convey.  By using the Mariner as a narrative perspective who has learnt from experience to love Gods creations, it could reflect on the feelings that Coleridge felt that society lacked this emotive perspective towards Earth. His constant reference to the supernatural, provoked the character of the Wedding Guest to become relatable to us which further makes the reader question and reflect on their attitude towards nature and change their ways, as the Wedding Guest does at the end, “He went like one that hath been stunned, and is of sense forlorn; a sadder and wiser man; he rose the morrow morn.”

 

How far would you agree that The Patriot and The Pied Piper are heroes?

How far would you agree that The Patriot and The Pied Piper are heroes?

It is questioned whether the poems of The Pied Piper and The Patriot present  characters who although both allegedly are offenders who commit a “serious” crime , could also be interpreted as heroes as their actions seem to be performed for the benefit of others, whether it is in the purpose of a moral lesson or good intentions. 

In the Pied Piper, Browning presents us with a rather secret and underestimated character who remains true to his word whether it is one or warning or of promise unlike the cooperation. For example, his words are similar to a saviour’s, “chiefly use my charm on creatures that do people harm” and he is earnest in what he says although there is an air of ambiguity when he uses the word “chiefly” as it implies that he may harm others as a rest of their wrong doings. He also, by listing that he has aided in their time of need, “Cham” and the “Nizam” adds a reassurance that he is capable and brave.

The Patriot, by definition, is a person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors  which is represented in his attitude at the beginning of the poem. For example, “It was roses, roses all the way” he is willing to fight for his country and as he is showered in rose petals, the repetition reinforces his patriotic attitude and how appreciated he was within this moment of time when he is going off to fight for his country. We could also describe him as saint-like from the reaction of the people around him when he asks for the sun, “They had answered, “And afterward, what else?” The religious reference of the “church spires” could also signify that God is accepting him and is on his side which also references to the end when he refuses to believe that he is sinful until God has told him so, “God might question; now instead”.

Contrastingly, it could also be argued that both characters are not heroic. Their actions (especially the Pied piper) can be classed as morally unjust and within today’s society they would not be permitted; they deserve retribution for their wrong doings.

 However, when revealing a greater depth to the meanings of their actions and their responses, the reaction to the Patriots, which were questionably to help the good of the people and provide for them, is negative and they turn him away from their doors. Also, as his name is purely “the patriot” and not a specific name, it suggests that this is an old story and has been repeated over and over again where society has turned their back and forgotten someone who has tried to do their country justice and have pride. It may be argued that it is our reaction, is to make the Patriot a villain and that we often see past any good actions and focus on the errors within the people of society by accusing them of their mistakes. It has to be asked whether it is our reaction to the Patriot which is what makes it feel as though he has committed a horrible crime rather than the reaction of the Patriot to his death as he feels as though he is being released from this world and will be praised by God in another life, “Tis God shall repay: I am safer so.”

Similarly, in the Pied Piper, it is the reaction of the corrupt corporation who immorally and selfishly refuse to pay him, even though they agreed in a bargain that drives the Pied Piper into committing the following actions of taking away the children from the town.  It is suggested that the corporation and the mayor may, through their language which effectively demoralises the Pied Piper, force him into teaching them this moral lesson of retribution.  If the money that had been promised was paid then this effectively never would have happen which highlights the pure corruptness and irony that the Mayor faces when he searched for the Piper and offers him anything to have the children back , “Silver and gold to his heart’s content” but he never returns.  Although, as readers, we initially would class the Pied Piper as a villain all young children but one (who is lame) away forever and their families never see them again, we often fail to notice that Browning may be implying that they needed to learn the moral lesson themselves of always keeping a promise. Evidence for this is also when the whole town forget about the Pied Piper as they busy themselves fixing up the town, “You should have heard the Hamelin people, ringing the bells till they rocked the steeped...poke out the nests and block up the holes...When suddenly, up the face of the Piper perked in the market place”  their arrogance lead them to displaying an apathy to the man who deserved a reward for his “heroic” actions.

In  conclusion, although on a shallow analysis both characters seem to be closer to a villain rather than a hero in our interpretations, upon closer reading they are heroic as they both leave a place of corruption and immorality and reveal and reflect the hypocrisy of the society around them.

The Roadrat Analysis

The Roadrat Analysis

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

McCarthy creates a calm and controlled atmosphere in juxtaposition to the climactic scene that occurs afterwards.  The boy, “took his truck from the pack and shaped roads in the ash with a stick. The truck tooled along slowly. He made truck noises. The day seemed to almost warm and they slept in the leaves with their packs under their heads” Through his actions, the boy displays a childlike innocence and it becomes more evident how young he actually is compared to the maturity that he develops which provokes the reader to become more attached to the vulnerability of his character.  On the surface, this scene is one which gives the reader hope towards the characters safety with the weather described as “almost warm” and is, in an aspect, a sad yet happy scene as the boy is able to play and act himself, without the worrying of their continuous fight to survive. However, on deeper analysis, this foreshadows what is about to happen and lures both the readers and the boy and man into a false sense of security. The truck noises, upon reflection, relate to the “diesel engine running out on the road, running on God knows what” which brings together the idea of something innocent being used for destruction.  The boys actions, we realise, are significant and depict the difference within the new generation (the boys innocence) and the old generation (focusing on immorality) and how they join together. Has all good in the world been demolished?  When the boy draws the shape of the road with a stick, it could symbolise that their journey is a fragile one which is cracking and as it is man-made, humans are the cause to their own downfall.

What does the description of the men teach us about them? (Characterisation pg 62-3)

The contrast between the two characters we are most familiar with (the boy and the man) to the men that McCarthy introduces immediately provides a distinction by referring to the group as “them” which separates the reader and the boy and the man from the others.  We learn that this is our first encounter with those who impose a violent threat to their survival that the man has forewarned both the boy and the reader; a definition  “the bad guys” is revealed.  The mans reaction to their arrival, “God, he whispered” turns the atmosphere into one of vulnerability and panic, we know that they could be a threat to their already small chance of survival.  McCarthy’s detail of how they “came shuffling through the ash” creates an impression by using the word “ash” repeatedly throughout that they bring with them a hellish world that is contaminated and burning around them. The group by “casting their hooded heads from side to side” and their weapons, “Slouching along with clubs in their hands, lengths of pipe” enforce that they are intimidating, superior and powerful and to some extent represent the fear of the unknown for the boy; he has never experienced them before.  They are aware of the destruction around them, with the impression and sense that death is a normality to them when McCarthy describes their clothing, “Some of them wearing canister masks. One in a biohazard suit.” They don't seem to have a sense of identity and although they are “protected” from the decaying atmosphere, to some extent they are still contaminated as they are described as “stained and filthy”. By giving the impression that they are ill, “coughing”indicates that they are desperate for any necessities in order to survive and will go to any lengths to get help.

McCarthy uses a simile when describing the truck 'Lumbering and creaking like a ship'. Why does he do this?

McCarthy could portray a reverse of the religious allegory of Noah’s ark by describing the truck as “Lumbering and creaking like a ship”.  The biblical reference is in paradox to the reality within this book and represents many different interpretations. In the bible, Noah built an ark with a purpose of saving animals from a storm to salvation and contributing to the greater good, by contrast humanity creates modern transport (as represented within the image of the truck) and lead themselves to their own destruction in this post-apocolyptic world. They journey, as McCarthy uses the word “ creaking” could imply that it is cracked and that there is a struggle if we use the idea that (as the ark was the good) the truck represents the good and the “bad guys” display the immorality. It displays how the bad is taking over the good and there is only a small minority of good things that are still alive, which causes the good characters to treat them with importance.  Also, it is ironic how, in the tale of Noah’ s ark, they are in search of dry land,with the symbolism of the “dove” and how the boy and the man are travelling towards the sea and when they arrive it is “birdless”.

Why does McCarthy describe the Road Rat in such detail? (Characterisation pg 65)

McCarthy, by naming this character, the “roadrat” gives the reader the impression that he is similar to a scavenger and as a “rat” could carry diseases and perhaps is contaminated with the immoral behaviour that the man tries to keep the boy away from.  Describing the roadrat in such detail enables McCarthy to make the theme of “good versus evil” prominent, displaying that good people are rare to find in this world of violence, being the minority of society. This man is the epitome of this devastated society and as we see the man’s interpretation of the roadrat (it is his perspective) he isn’t regarded as a person, but more as a figure who is a threat to their survival.  Further shown within the reference to an animal, “like an animal inside a skull looking out of the eyeholes” it is implied that this character has lost all humanity and all that is left is a hunger and desperation to survive with a capability to kill (The cannibalism).  The vivid imagery of his “eyes collared in cups of grime and deeply sunk” when put with sentences such as “lean, wiry, rachitic”, “He wore a beard that had been cut square across the bottom with shears” and “Dressed in a pair of filthy blue coveralls and a black billcap” add to the impression that he has no identity and is wasting away into the road itself. Interestingly, the description of how he had “a tattoo of a bird on his neck done by someone with an illformed notion of their appearance” may relate back to the biblical story of Noah; the dove within this story being a source of guidance to Noah. These men are looking for guidance but fail to notice that throughout they are, themselves, their only possible hope to leading them to salvation.

Why is the Road Rats character so explicit whilst the man is so implicit?

McCarthy creates a divergence between the two characters of the roadrat and the man as both are subjectively his definition of the moral and the immoral within society (good and bad).  By the roadrat being explicit, it is implied that he represents that they aren’t educated and have a harsh background with the slang and the swearing, “I aint goin’ nowhere”, “chickenshit”.  This simple mind of the roadrat could link to their lack of knowledge which misleads them into crimes against human nature.  This character is both hostile and aggressive towards the man but in doing this, reveals his personality and actions for the man to use at his advantage. He doesn’t recognise his potential, not even seeing the man as a threat; he has to fight for his survival all the time and perhaps has been brought up purely surrounded in the morally corrupt society without any person to guide him (the boy to the man).   By contrast, the man implicitly takes on the role of the higher educated, which leads us to think that this is why the boy is able to trust him and he is understood to be the boys protection.  The man doesn’t use many words and his language is simple and instructive “No you can’t. If you look at him again.  I’ll shoot you” which imposes much more of threat.  The man creates a sense of mystery as he doesn’t present any identity, “I’m not anything” which McCarthy may use to portray that if he had an identity he would consider himself weaker and vulnerable; it is easier to be cold and emotionless in order to not be thought of as a target.

What do we learn about the man through his exchanges with the Road Rat? (Pg 68. Consider the Man's impressive medical knowledge, look at the description of the grabbing of the boy and the shooting of the Road Rat)

Until this scene, the reader knows little of the man apart from that he is protecting his son from the outside world and aiding him to survive.  Before, he was simply (using the previous idea) a character who didn’t want to appear with any identity, he was portrayed as intrinsic. Although the roadrat initially seems to be a threat to the boy and the man, there is a reassurance as we learn of the man’s impressive medical and military knowledge which essentially saves them.  The man indirectly forewarns the roadrat when talking of how the bullet will hit him if he shoots. The jargon lexis such as, “frontal lobe”, “colliculus”, “temporal gyrus” reinforces he is intelligent and there is also the underlying threat that he may have more knowledge that someone like the roadrat would never be able to understand or acquire. We learn that the man is truly willing to go to any extent to save his child which we see that when the boy is at knife point, “the man had already dropped to the ground” as though it is his instinct. The description of how he killed the man, “he swung with him and levelled the pistol and fired from a two-handed position balanced on both knees at a distance of six feet” is very accurate and exact, suggesting that he has done with before although as the reaction from his son is, “mute as a stone” we have an impression that he has never acted this way in front of him.  It is a quick death, “the man fell back instantly and lay with bloody bubbling from the whole in his forehead” which reiterates that the the man cannot think of this action as immoral as he was protecting and saving the one thing he loves the most.  

"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?

McCarthy uses this moment to invoke the past words of the woman who is the man’s ultimate weakness as she is the one who lures him away from the boy and towards death, “you will not face the truth. You will not” which links to “they are going to rape us and kill us and eat us and you won’t face it.” Throughout he repeats the words of her to himself, which is a reminder to the control that she holds over him and the fact that she has doubt in his chance with the boy of survival.  Repeating the haunting words of, “you will not”  he is talking to himself and in an aspect, tormenting his mind that this very act has caused there to only be “a single round left in the revolver” which provokes a guilt that he is allowing his son to stay alive in a dead world. The theme of insanity is prominent within this as the man is talking to himself and this makes the role of the boy all the more important as he is the one thing that is able to drive the man away from this.  The man is unable to accept that death is their own escape from this harsh reality and no matter how far he tries to run away, they are only getting closer.   The significance of only having one bullet is both positive and negative. This is the point of realisation for the man that although he has given himself, the reader and the boy (on the surface) more hope in their chance of survival, he has just secured a nastier death for both of them.  This also foreshadows the ending of the novel with how he is unable to kill his son and the word “single” relates to the fact that only one of them will survive.

Why don't the other men chase after the boy and the man following the shooting? (there are clues on pg 73-4).

McCarthy chooses to create an image upon the man and boys return to where the murder took place to reflect the horrific notion of cannibalism and desperation which will be revisited at other points during the novel (the cellar scene and the baby on the spit).  When the father and son find that everything has been “plundered” it reinforces the name that the father gave to the man ,” roadrat” and that they are more like animals and scavengers than humans.  The relief of tension that they didn’t chase after them is initially almost comforting to the reader however, this scene highlights a bigger threat as when they arrive “there was nothing there”. The inhumanity of their actions which the man finds, “Coming back he found the bones and the skin piled together with rocks over them. A pool of guts. He pushed at the bones with the toe of his shoe.  They looked to have been boiled. No pieces of clothing” echoes their pure sense of desperation, they even ate their friend who they had been walking with. This adds to the idea of none of them having a sense of identity or importance, it is a “survival of the fittest” which will inevitably lead to their own destruction and we learn that the roadrat was being sincere when he said that they eat “whatever we can find” reflecting their greedy nature.  The notion that they don't even cover up what they have done implies that they are not ashamed of their actions. Cannibalism is their normality; the horrific nature of the act echoes this new, harsh society that McCarthy portrays.

It is not until page 77 that the man finally cleans the "gore" and "dead mans brains" from the boys face. Why? (Be aware that in the intervening pages he has kept him warm with blankets, fed him etc yet not cleaned his face)

Within today’s society, if this event were to take place, the man would naturally and instantly clean the “gore” and “dead mans brains” from the boys face however McCarthy chooses to put this action after the man feeding the boy and looking after him.  Although on the surface this is extremely shocking to the reader as what was left of the child’s innocence is effectively ruined, it is revealed that he fails to clean his face as it is not a priority; survival is their only priority.  He provides the boys basic necessities by wrapping him in blankets and feeding for him which indicates that the father has evolved and his own priority is to ensure that the boy is safe.  Choosing not to wipe away the gore first highlights the role that the father feels he must take on as being cold and practical and this particularly plays on the fact that if the boy did have a motherly figure within his life, then this scene would be entirely different.  The father has to push through and not linger on past events which highlights the pure extremity of their situation; feeding his son and keeping him warm is more important than the fact that the boy is covered in another man’s remains. He cannot undo his actions, he is only able to continue with their journey to survive, and this is his instinct throughout the novel.

My Analytical Statement

My Analytical Statement

We are given both the perspective of the atmosphere in this post-apocalyptic world and the account of the emotions of the surviving main characters (The man and the boy). By doing this, it highlights the struggle of the characters in this dead world and provokes us to focus on their relationship.

Examples

“It’s because I won’t ever get to drink another one isn’t it? Evers a long time. Okay, the boy said. By dusk of the day following they were at the city. The long concrete sweets of the interstate exchanges like the ruins of a vast funhouse against the distant murk”.

“I don’t know. But it’s okay now. I’m going to put some wood on the fire. You go to sleep. The boy didn’t answer. Then he said: The winder wasn’t turning. It took four more days to come down out of the snow and even then there were patches of snow in certain bends of the road and the road was black and wet from the upcountry runoff even beyond that.”

“The boy stood looking down. He nodded his head. Then they went on and he didn’t look back again. At evening dull sulphur lit from the fires. The standing water in the roadside ditches black with the runoff”.

“The filth dried in his hair and his face streaked with it. Talk to me, he said, but he would not. They moved on east through the standing dead trees. They passed an old frame house and crossed a dirt road. A cleared plot of ground perhaps once a truck garden”.

“That’s right. Because we’re carrying the fire. Yes. Because we’re carrying the fire. In the morning a cold rain was falling. It gusted over the car even under the overpass and it danced in the road beyond.”

“I always believe you. I don’t think so. Yes I do. I have to. They hiked back down the highway through the mud. Smell of earth and wet ash in the rain. Dark water in the roadside ditch.”

“Why don’t you ride for a while? I don’t want to. It’s okay. Slow water in the flat country. The sloughs by the roadside motionless and gray. The coastal plain river s in leaden serpentine across the wasted farmland”.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you. He looked up. That okay, Papa. Let’s start over. Okay. Ian the morning it was raining and a hard wind was rattling the glass at the rear of the building.”

“Is that all right? Yes. I thought you didn’t want to talk? I don’t. They left two days later, the man limping along behind the cart and the boy keeping close to his side until they cleared the outskirts of the town.  The road ran along the flat gray coast and there were drifts of sand in the road and the winds had left there.”

“No.  Don’t listen to me. Come on, let’s go.  In the evening the murky shape of another coastal city, the cluster of tall buildings vaguely askew.”

“She said that the breath of God was his breath yet through it pass from man to man through all of time. Once there was a brook trout in the streams in the mountains.”T

Moments of Rich Lyricism

Moments of Rich Lyricism

Examples

“Like pilgrims in a fable swallowed up and lost among the inward parts of some granitic beast”

“Cold Glaucoma dimming away the world”

“Crouching there pale and naked and translucent, its alabaster boons cast up in shadow on the rocks behind it. Its bowels, its beating heart. The brain that pulsed in a dull glass bell.”

“Lying there in the dark with the uncanny taste of a peach from some phantom orchard fading in his mouth”

“Creedless shells of men tottering down the causeways like migrants in a feverland”

“Like a great pendulum in its rotunda scribing through the long day movements of the universe of which you say it knows nothing and yet know it must”

"And the dreams so rich in color. How else would death call you? Waking in the cold dawn it all turned to ash instantly. Like certain ancient frescoes entombed for centuries suddenly exposed to the day."

“You could see them standing in the chamber current where the white edged of their fins wimpled softly into he flow. They smelled of moss in your hand.  Polished and muscular and tensional. On their backs were vermiculite patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming.”

A Limited Palette- Literary Analyses

A Limited Palette

Cormac McCarthy writes with a limited palette in The Road, like a painter choosing a restricted range of colours. Certain adjectives crop up repeatedly, for instance, ‘gray’ and ‘ashen’. The dialogue often follows a similar pattern, ending with the father asking the boy if he’s ‘okay’ and the boy responding ‘okay.’ The sentence structures are also often highly repetitive, with simple and compound sentences being used rather than complex ones.

Examples of literary analyses in the text-

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.

Through this analysis, poetically the dark and dead atmosphere is described with a direct impact that provokes us to think of this post-apocalyptic world.

·     “Nights dark beyond darkness and the days more gray each one than what had gone before”

“Barren, silent, godless”.

“The segments of the road down there among the dead trees. Looking for anything of color. Any movement. Any trace of standing smoke.”

“The road was empty.  Below the valley the still gray serpentine of a river. Motionless and precise. Along a shore a burden of dead reeds. Are you okay?”

“Charred and limbless trunks of trees stretching away on every side. Ash moving over the road and the sagging hands of blind wire strung from the blackened light poles whining thinly in the wind”.

“The faint light was all about,quivering and sourceless, refracted in the rain of drifting soot.”

“In that long ago somewhere very near this place he’d watched a falcon fall down the long blue wall of the mountain and break with the keels of its breastbone the midmost from a flight of cranes and take it to the river below all gangly and wrecked and trailing its loose and blowsy plumage  in the still autumn air. “

“Lumbering and creaking like a ship.”

“Eyes collared in cups of grime and deeply sunk. Like an animal inside a skull looking out the eyeholes. He was lean, wiry, rachitic.”

“There found nothing. All the stores were rifled years ago, the glass mostly gone in the windows.  Inside it was all but too dark to see.”

“All these things he saw and did not see. What is coming? Footsteps in the leaves. No. Just the wind. Nothing. He sat up and looked towards the house but he could see only darkness”.

“His dreams brightened. The vanished world returned. Kin long dead washed up and cast fey sidewise looks up him. None spoke. He thought of his life. So long ago.”

“Dark and black and trackless where it crossed the open country”

“Cold. Desolate. Birdless.”

“Maps and mazes. Of a thing which could not be put back. Not to be made right again.”
  

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

This analysis draws us closer to the emotional state of the characters and although it is simplistic language in moments, we connect with the relationship the man and the boy hold and we too, cling onto it throughout the novel as it is the one stable thing. 

“Tolling in the silence of the minutes of the earth and the hours and the days of it and the years without cease.”

“He thought the month was October but he wasn’t sure. He hadn’t kept a calendar for years. They were moving south”.

“Wrapped in blankets, watching the nameless dark.”

“The cold and the silence. The ashes of the late world carried on the bleak and temporal winds to and fro in the void. Carried forth and scattered forth and carried forth again”

“Look around you. Ever is a long time. But the boy knew what he knew. That ever is no time at all.”

“How many miles? Ten, twelve.”

“I just keep going. I knew this was coming. You knew it was coming? Yeah. This or something like it. I always believed in it.”

“A man sat on a porch in his coveralls dead for years. They went down the long dark wall of the mill, the windows bricked up. The fine black soot raced along the street before them.”

“He measured the road with a piece of string and looked at it and measured again, still a long way to the coast. He didn’t know what they’d find when they got there.”

“Things abandoned long ago by pilgrim’s enroute to their several and collective deaths.”

“There was no place for him to go.”

The limited palette makes the story more universal, a fable for all time, rather than pinning it down with lots of elaborate details describing specific places. 

By avoiding elaborate details in moments within the novel, the repetitive techniques reflect a monotonous world. Time is merged together and rather than focusing on this, the reader perhaps focuses on the characters and their relationships.

“Tolling in the silence of the minutes of the earth and the hours and the days of it and the years without cease.”

“He thought the month was October but he wasn’t sure. He hadn’t kept a calendar for years. They were moving south”.

“Wrapped in blankets, watching the nameless dark.”

“The cold and the silence. The ashes of the late world carried on the bleak and temporal winds to and fro in the void. Carried forth and scattered forth and carried forth again”

“Look around you. Ever is a long time. But the boy knew what he knew. That ever is no time at all.”

“How many miles? Ten, twelve.”

“I just keep going. I knew this was coming. You knew it was coming? Yeah. This or something like it. I always believed in it.”

“A man sat on a porch in his coveralls dead for years. They went down the long dark wall of the mill, the windows bricked up. The fine black soot raced along the street before them.”

“He measured the road with a piece of string and looked at it and measured again, still a long way to the coast. He didn’t know what they’d find when they got there.”

“Things abandoned long ago by pilgrim’s enroute to their several and collective deaths.”

“There was no place for him to go.”

– 

The Woman Analysis

The Woman – My Analysis

Throughout the novel, an aspect of the woman could be that she represents temptations of the warmth and familiarity within the man’s memories that he constantly battles against.  It is an unavoidable conundrum that even though all of his memories, for example the references to nature, connect the protagonist to beauty and goodness, it only reminds him of the things that no longer exist. For example, the romantic memory which the man dwells in, “He remembered waking once on such a night to the clatter of crabs in the pan where he had left steak bones from the night before. Faint deep coals of driftwood fire pulsing in the onshore wind.  Lying under a myriad of stars. The sea’s black horizon. He rose and walked out and stood barefoot in the sand and watched the pale surf appear all down the shore and roll and crash and darken again.  When he went back to the fire he knelt and smoothed her hair as she slept and he said if he were God he would have made the world just so and no different”.  This particular memory happens before the apocalypse where ironically the man thinks that he would have made the world any other way. Although it is a romantic piece of imagery, with his wife being a figure of pure perfection, memories like this make the man’s battle for survival even harder as he feels a strong constant temptation to let the dreams take control and to simply live in these memories. As the woman chose not to survive, she could represent the idealism of being able to live in the memories and not face this new world.  The memories of the description of living creatures and nature are relatable to us and they draw us closer into appreciating the beauty of smaller things; as readers we can imagine the impact of loosing what is around us. For example, the opening description of this destructed post-apocalyptic world, “Nights dark beyond darkness and the days more gray each one than what had gone before. Like the onset of some cold glaucoma dimming away the world” epitomises the reason why the protagonist feels as though he needs the sustenance of the past. We are lead to question why whether the representations of the memories are the morals of the world or whether they are a weakness that can be exploited (for example by the woman).  The woman could also be the temptations of letting the dreams take control; it is as though the suppressed happy memories from the protagonist are only regarded as distracting.

The woman could also be having an ambiguous function of representing both the giving of life and the temptation of death. This symbolism is powerful throughout presenting the irony of the boy being born (a new life) into an effectively destructed and dead world.  The sudden end to the woman’s life constantly lures the man into a liminal state of feeling between life and death and drawing closer to wanting escape this world through the influence of her.  If the woman represented this aspect, it may further relate to how although the boy is born, the man dies at the end and we learn that even though life can be given in this destruction, it can also be taken away again; it is extremely fragile.  Furthermore, the father is unable to control what happens; is it considered justice that the woman brought a new life but also took away her own and left the boy?  McCarthy, by drawing the woman away from the main frame of the plot, could use the woman to represent both states of life of the man and the boy; we can question whether she is just a figure and whether she could even be considered the equivalent to a human.   The spirituality the man refers to, is caused fundamentally by the woman leaving the man close to death and drawn into the temptations to stop resisting the suffering, “He rose while the boy slept and pulled his shoes and wrapped in his blanket he walked out through the trees. He descended into a gryke in the stone and there he crouched, coughing and he coughed for a long time. Then he just knelt there in the ashes. He raised his face to the paling day. Are you there? He whispered. Will I see you at last? Have you a neck by which to throttle you? Have you a heart? Damn you eternally have you a soul?”

McCarthy’s presentation of the connection between the boy and the mother is vague and distant which we see when the man reflects on the boys reaction to the mother leaving them, “She’s gone isn't she?”  Although the father must be strong and distant in order for the boy to be able to survive without an emotional attachment, as the boy has no motherly figure his vulnerability is far more evident.  This also impacts the reader to draw closer to the character of the boy and intensifies their vulnerability and lack of control to the life and fate of the boy. The boy sees so many horrific things for example, in the cellar scene where the son begs his father not to go downstairs,  and his innocence to this world creates the whole novel to feel much more disturbing and impacting. It could also be interpreted that if this motherly figure was more prominent, it would have a negative impact to the journey that they are trying to achieve; the woman within the man’s perception appears to be someone who doubts that they will be able to survive, hence why she ends her own life.  The mother also shares the son’s innocence as we see when she “cradles her belly” and “clutches the jamb” the son and the mother in this section are almost symbolised as one person all together.  However, as the vulnerability of the boy is more evident, it causes the attachment of the father and the boy to become questionably the most essential part of the novel. It is doubtable whether this is better or worse when the man then leaves as there is only a possibility of the boy surviving on his own; however we do see that the compassion of the boy inspires the man at the end, “You have my whole heart. You always did”.

The alternative to the struggle to survive is also a characteristic of the woman.   She could be a representative of the theme of threat within death and this could relate to the constant violent cough that subtly is repeated throughout the novel, “he coughed till he could taste the blood” , “he was coughing again”, “he stood leaning on post coughing”, “he concentrated to stifle the cough”. The man’s perception of the woman and the way she deserted him is a resentful one which is displayed in her final words to him, “It’s meaningless...Then don’t. I can’t help you... Maybe you will be good at this. I doubt it, but who knows...No I will not. I cannot.” Her absence creates this suppressed underlying thought of their struggle to survival being one that is fragile and vulnerable which the boy at moment cannot understand, “I wish I was with my mum” The woman appears to have escaped this survival and is able to be in a better world. Also, we can see the man’s internal struggle as he doesn't reference to death as a “nightmare” it is described as a “dream” which connotes something that he desires but as we see he is unable to fulfill as he is protecting his “warrant” (the boy).                     

The Woman

Why is the Woman Mentioned? 

30 Minute Question- How does McCarthy tell the story in pages 1-28 of The Road?

30 Minute Question- How does McCarthy tell the story in pages 1-28 of The Road?

Beginning in media-rez, within the first 28 pages of this novel, we are introduced to the two main characters; the man and the boy. We learn that they are continuing to travel towards South on a road in search for some form of safety, struggling to survive in the destruction of a post-apocalyptic world.  McCarthy’s distinct style of writing presents this world as something similar to a wasteland which is lost and almost forgotten for example, “nights beyond darkness and the days more gray each one than what had gone before.   Like the onset of some cold glaucoma dimming away from the world” creates the idea of a saturation of life and the reference to “glaucoma” which is an eye condition where sight is clouded, could link to the presentation of a clouding of humanity or morality.

Interestingly, McCarthy employs a brickolage of low and high cultured things which connote to the lost world that takes things that had little significance, for example toe Coca-cola and places them to suggest that there is little left to be valued in the world and therefore, the father and the son value objects like this and the grocery-cart with great importance.  Although, it could be argued that these items lead to their own destruction of civilisation.  Within the lexis, the setting conforms to the genre of a horror from the beginning, “alabaster bones cast up in the shadows on the rocks behind it” and suggests a super naturalistic and ambiguous style. McCarthy’s detailed imagery paints a realistic image that is somewhat harrowing and threatening with an element of uncertainty within the “murk”, “standing smoke” and “rolled away in the gritty fog” as if something is being concealed from the readers.  The reference to the “dead trees” visage a world without oxygen that is suffocating in death and the word “barren” that is repeated implies isolation through the destruction society has caused. The prominent sense of industrialisation, for example “concrete” implies something permanent and irremovable and this builds with the rhythm created, “carried forth and scattered and carried forth again” to display a repetitive life that is “dead to the root”. 

The narrative perspective is established as an omniscient third person narrator however in a free indirect style, it is focused through the protagonist, the man, as we see his thoughts, memories and perceptions of the events that are happening around him. Within scenes where McCarthy is painting a picture through the man’s eyes, the narrative slows down and immerses the reader in the time and place for example, “the shape of the city stood in the gayness like a charcoal drawing sketched across the waste. Nothing to see. “Also, at moments, through the use of short declarative sentences, there is a feeling of a cold detachment which mitigates the tragedy of the horrific moments, “the bones of a small animal, dismembered and placed in a pile”. This links to the characterisation of the man and the boy that McCarthy portrays, as through this indirect style, the man may be trying to hide the true horrors from the boy and therefore he doesn’t describe the full ruin of scenes and develops a lack of emotion. 

The opening of the conversational style of language between the father and son, “I’m right here. I know” expresses the tone for their relationship for the rest of the novel. They provide a paradox of characterisation, the man constantly detaching himself from humanity and the pain of the destruction in order to survive, whilst the son symbolising the fundamental nature of humanity.  The element of trust between these two characters as “each the others world entire” strains the insecurities that they both have towards their lack of control, “nameless dark come to enshroud them” and there is the idea they are being swallowed up by nature. A religious allegory that refers to the boy, “if he is not the word of God, God never spoke” conveys perhaps that the boy is the fathers only hope and guidance, similar to how God sent Jesus to earth to save human kind and this further relates to the purpose of protecting the boy and the mans key motivation for the boy to survive.   When looking at the sense of journey within this American novel and referring to religious aspects, for the man it is a “pilgrimage to death”. 

Throughout within their relationship, there is the theme of protection and responsibility, as portrayed when the father regards the son as his “warrant”. Although a strong character, the father also holds certain vulnerability when regarding his past; for example when they find his old house, he stops suddenly and a familiarity and desperation is revealed in which he is unable to move from. In contrast, the boy’s character is more direct in the sense of displaying his own vulnerability. The boy’s character is more direct in the sense of displaying vulnerability. As a child, he wants his father to “read him a story” yet there is also a sense of maturity and growing responsibility. When the father works, “the boy sat watching everything” perhaps he knows that he will have to take on this role one day and as “the father left the boy standing in the road holding a pistol” he understands the trust that the father has within him. 

The structure of his sentences, with the use of commas that fade within this opening section of the story and the repetition of “and”, outline  that they are not only their never ending journey, but also trapped within the disintegration and decay of society.  The chronological layout from McCarthy, “it took two days”, “in the morning they went on”, “by dusk of the following day” creates a flow of sequences that they are unable to escape or break which could link to the theme of a loss of control as everything is merging together.  McCarthy also includes moments of analepsis when the man dreams, they are regarded as his sense of weakness, containing memories and the constant lure of death, “and his dreams so rich in colour, how else would death call you?” The “flowering wood” and the “phantom wood” almost taunt the father and as he refers to them as “Dreams” not “nightmares” it connotes something that he wants to achieve (he wants to be released from this world but his son’s existence is stopping this). Referring to the past, McCarthy conveys that there once was a life that existed that wasn’t dark and hopeless for example when he describes the mother’s beauty, “stockings” and “summer dress”. 

Post-Apocalyptic Literature

Post-Apocalyptic Literature

Post-apocalyptic narratives are set after some devastating event has occurred which has destroyed the fabric of society. This might be anything from nuclear war, terrorism, biological warfare or industrial disaster to disease, climate change or technological meltdown. In some cases the event which has brought about such devastation might never be specified.

Fall of Civilisation

Throughout this novel, McCarthy’s frequent use of items that have very little importance to us, convey that we have the potential to be the cause of our own destruction of civilisation.  The threat of death, which is prominent within the idea of the “pilgrimage” that the boy takes the father on, leading him to death, foreshadows that there is no hope for anyone, that they are, “borrowing time”.  All these everyday items, ironically could lead to the cause of our own death.  For example, the grocery-cart  that is used, although insignificant to us, portrays how much they have lost and the little that they have left to hold onto in this decaying world.  Also, when the father shares the boys first can of Coca-cola with him, there is an effect of loss and high value that they hold towards this item from the past world which is very daunting towards the reader and feels almost haunting that they very little hope.  The violence within this moral collapse however, as McCarthy keeps these items with the father and the boy, suggests that this evil has always been within humanity and this gives a larger threat within the overall novel itself towards the power of the unknown.

Civilisation has always been criticised for wanting move forward with technology, development and always reaching for something more. McCarthy identifies this within this novel perhaps a fall to humanity as we have overreached and not appreciated anything around us.  Although there has already been destruction beyond hope towards this world, the father continues to search for something more, hence why they never stop on the road, only when they reach the coast and the father dies.  Through ignoring the moral code, there is never any end or satisfaction that is displayed. The boy is a contrasting character within this overall presentation of humanity. He has grown up in this world and we are able to see how he is able to find the good in things that are existing,unlike others. He perceives everything that is ruined and he highlights how much has been lost  and is still being lost due to our actions. The definition of “apocalypse” is a Greek word meaning “to uncover” which gives the idea that through humanity uncovering too much of the earths potential, it will lead inevitably to destruction. 

We are familiar with all of this decaying imagery and the description of how humans have contributed to this presents the idea that we are going to lead to being morally corrupted.   There is not only a metaphorical fall of civilisation but almost a physical one.  The moral decline within the violence that McCarthy portrays is disturbing, for example the cellar scene in the abandoned house, “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.”   There is no escape from this imagery, even within the decaying landscape which is “dead and black” and “gray and nameless”. There is an overall feeling of complete destruction within all aspects, we seem to be the cause of the end to civilisation but there is the overwhelming feeling that we have already began to sew the seeds for our own destruction in the future. 

Mythologizing of the past

McCarthy’s elegiac language portrays the idea of the past having similar traits to a “myth” connoting something that has been perhaps altered by interpretation, unrepeatable, past on and that isn't always strictly true (could be seen as having an ambiguous frame).  Things and creatures that once alive are described with beauty for example the trout in the river,” You could see them standing in the amber current where the white edges of their fins wimpled softly in the flow. They smelled of moss in your hand, Polished and muscular and torsional.” There is an extensive amount of detail which contrasts deeply to the language when describing the present “dust and ash everywhere”, “cold and silent”. As the man is referring to the past in this manner, his attitude represents that everything was better than their current life; it was a life where they had hope and familiarity. This hope is also shown when the man described how the people used to behave “their eyes bright in their skulls... in the first few years, the roads were peopled with refugees shrouded in their clothing”. 

It can be interpreted that when the man is remembering the past, he feels as though he is altering his memories of it so he tries to preserve it. For example when he is thinking of his wife, he abruptly states, ”freeze this frame” and replaces it with negative imagery. I think that the man throughout tries to control what he wants to remember from his memories by being selective with how he imagines his wife and the beauty that they have lost. The irony in one of the most prominent lines to this idea, “you forget what you want to remember and remember what you want to forget” is that he is unable to cast of this previous life and he “mistrusted all of that”; everything becomes bitter to him.  When mythologizing of his wife, she becomes a figure of near perfection “her nipples were pipeclayed and her rib bones painted white. She wore a dress of cause and her dark hair was carried up in combs of ivory” particularly plays on his view of her, he focuses on the sensual details, not the emotion.  She is the reason for his attitude to this world; his memories of her change, “the coldness of it was her final fit” to be dark.  The mans cynicism towards the world, unlike the boy, means he has no hope of finding beauty in this world and must rely on the past.

The boy, in comparison, has no recollection of the past life, only of the stories that his father tells him of although he sometimes is unable to believe them because of what he perceives around him.  Everything that once existed is only left to human memory; the humans that have survived are already living in an empty world but the boy hasn’t been taken by the past. I think that the father sees this perhaps potential in the boy, hence why they carry the fire, representing hope of a new world beginning with a new generation that isn't inflicted by the past.

The thoughts and actions of the survivors are what counts

The characters of the man and the boy in the midst of this barbaric world are focalised throughout as they hold a surprisingly tender story of compassion and protection throughout the novel. The theme of love is prominent within their relationship; they care for each other with a level of self-sacrifice which undermines perhaps a reality to the extent they would do for each other, particularly the father.  When the father and the son are talking of death the man tells him, “If you died I would want to die too...Yes. So i could be with you”.  Their isolation creates the idea that their love portrayed is precious and we, as readers, focus on the value of how it has stayed within these survivors (it is a rarity).  When analysing the man’s thoughts, his parental figure is reflected in his actions towards the boy, “They had a single blanket, in the back and he got it out and covered the boy with it and he unzipped his parka and held the boy up against him” , there is a responsibility always there. This story of the survivors presents the man as willing to do anything within his actions to keep them both (particularly the boy) safe from the horrors of the outside world. The soulful feeling created within this aspect focuses more on the minds of those who have been left in this destruction.

These survivors that McCarthy develops his novel around have certain significance that isn't able to be seen within the other characters.  The idea of the son’s breathing, “his hand rose and fell softly with each precious breath”, “sustained by a breath” provokes us to question the purpose of the man and the boy within this dying world. Why would a breath be called “precious” if it as no significance to a post-apocalyptic place without hope of recovering? The father talks of the “frailty of everything revealed at last” which connotes that he values his sons existence more than anything else; it is his hope to his sons survival that we see throughout this with the compassion of keeping him alive above all obstacles.  These two characters hold the only significant part of life in this otherwise dead world.  The representation of light, “carrying the fire” is the hope that the father, through his actions towards the boy, ensures that they boy will never loose this, even when he has gone, “You have to carry the fire...Yes you do. Its inside you. It always was there. I can see it.”  When the father does leave the boy at the end, the boy asks a man who approaches him “are you carrying the fire” which is hopeful in the sense of security; the boy will continue to be a survivor. 

The protagonists use a language that is different to the language spoken by other characters to describe the goodness in the world. The theme of “good versus evil” is portrayed through these two characters and through the fathers distinction to the boy they are the “good guys” but there are also “bad guys” who are a threat; McCarthy creates the plot as almost a “game” to survival. At moments the father has to reassure the boy that they are still the good guys when they commit a crime, such as killing the road rat, “Yes we’re still the good guys...and we always will be”. When the father kills the roadrat and uses one of the two bullets they have, we see that the father has faced a difficult decision as these bullets were their last resort to suicide. By shooting the road rat, he commits to staying alive to be able to protect the boy but also he condemns them to a horrific torturous death. It is shocking how those who do not kill their own kind and are not cannibalistic are considered the “good guys” which makes us focus intensely on how the man and the boy have been able to survive and their behavior when perceiving this world.  It is a battle of morality, there is a potential for good within the boys relentless positive attitude which protects his father from insanity but there is also the clear endless and threatening potential of evil.  This is presented in the primitive nature of the bandits, “He wore a beard that had been cut square across the bottom with shears and he had a tattoo of a bird done by someone with an illformed notion of their appearance...carrying three-foot lengths of pipe with leather wrappings...Behind them came waagvns drawn by slaves in harnesses”. These characters represent the corruption and disintegration of society which the boy and man constantly fight against.