The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The novel 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy, published in 2006, is the story of a father and his son trying to survive in a hostile environment.
The world they live in is hostile in terms of nature and society. Nature has been destroyed completely, and because of that society is in pieces, everybody fights for survival, marauding bands of looters, robbers and man-eaters make the main characters' trip a nightmare.
It would be wrong, however, to read this book as a dystopia as the cause of the disaster is not mentioned. It may have been man-made (nuclear war) or natural (meteorite). A dystopia would not have kept the reader in the dark about that. In dystopian novels the author extrapolates from current trends that worry him or her; usually a warning is issued what the world may come to if these trends should continue. Totalitarianism, uncritical belief in science, human hubris, religious fundamentalism, the destruction of the environment are frequent topics.
There is nothing of that kind of warning in 'The Road'. True, the world has become bleak and hostile but this scenario is only needed as a setting, maybe a metaphor of the society the characters (we?) live in. In this setting of extremes McCarthy can develop his (partly) heart-warming story of father and son on the road towards survival, perhaps salvation.
The earth is dark, cold and rainy, nothing grows any more, there is starvation, people are sick and the hearts of many have hardened. A world like this does not seem to have any more room for ethic, let alone altruistic behaviour. Yet father and son refuse to behave unethically, they want to be 'the good ones', most of all the son, whose insistence on altruism may seem a bit romanticized, especially in the face of the dangers compassion with one's fellow-sufferers entails in such a destabilized society where you can trust no one. At the end of their journey both father and son have learned valuable lessons from each other, and love, which seems to have died out elsewhere, is the motivating force that keeps them going.
As bleak as the earth is McCarthy's style. Short, simple sentences prevail, reflecting the barren environment. But instead of reading 'It was very cold' about three dozen times I should have liked a bit more description of just how cold it was.
Then there is a great deal of dialogue but quotation marks are missing. That makes it sometimes hard to understand who is speaking, which is a nuisance, in my opinion. I like to reread certain passages of the book for their content or the beauty of the language, not because I need to make sure who said what. Adding to this problem are the pronouns. There are no names given, the main characters are called 'father' and 'son', but often not even that, but just 'he'. That may become confusing, especially when the two meet other (male) people. Isn't the first thing you teach a writing class to mind their pronouns?
These flaws may bother some people more than others, I was somewhat put off by them. But there was compensation: beautiful, even poetic, passages that show McCormac's mastery of language.
On the whole, reading 'The Road' was not a waste of time. It may not be the author's masterpiece but if you do not read it as a dystopia and once you get used to punctuation and pronouns, it is well worth reading.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
I finished this book today on the bus to work. I read most of it on the bus as it is a quick read. It is stylistically similar to Kurt Vonnegut as McCarthy presents us with a series of ashen and desolate vignettes of the road trip of a man and his son towards the US coast.
It is a depressing read in some respects as it details the grim downward spiral of humanity in the wake of a post apocalyptic world. You never find out the cause of the disaster – though it could be nuclear – and this ignorance of the wider world mimics the experience the Man and his Son in their desolation.
There is horror in the book, though this too is kept to a de-populated minimum. There are simply too few people left for an elaborate gorefest. Instead you have a relentless, solitary journey through an ashen land punctuated by the violence of desperation.
Much of the book details the solitude, cold and hunger of the two, and their constant efforts to find food and water. Conversation between the two is stark. McCarthy clearly wants to reflect the psychological denuding of hopes and dreams. Stories become a thing of the past, as the happy endings merely serve to highlight the improbability of any comfortable outcome. The only story is the outcome of their grim trip, and the uncertainty of any kind of happiness.
The redemptive ending is also a sparse affair, though it hints at ancient mystery. I enjoyed the relentless description employed by McCarthy, and the real moral dilemmas posed by the situation of the survivors.
praise for McCarthy’s work
I read this book in one take late at night and immediately headed downstairs to kick up the fire and drink some bourbon. I was chilled, chilled emotionally, stunned, awe-struck by McCarthy’s words. I mentioned The Road to a singer/songwriter mate and all they could say was “That one put me off my feed for a few days.” Knowing the man as I do, despite his lyrical, beautiful and often comic music, I took the comment as high praise for McCarthy’s work. Dark is dark as well as a number of us have arcane addictions....its good regards..
