'Roadrat' questions

What element of foreshadowing is employed in this section and why? (pg 62)
McCarthy uses the foreshadowing with the boy is playing with a toy truck and the 'roadrat' gang. 'The boy took his truck from the pack and shaped roads in the ash with a stick' this gives the reader a sense of normality and reminds the reader that the boy is still a child and so through 'playing'  is trying to keep the boy sane through this horrific journey. McCarthy has used this piece of description to emphasise the innocence and vulnerability the boy still carries with him. Through the novel, we see the child develop into a stronger and more understanding person, almost in a bildungsroman approach of the journey of the boy. As this event is the beginning of the novel, this may show that his innocence and vulnerability slowly fades away in the novel as he witnesses more horrific, life threatening events. The boy also makes truck noises which indicates that he has heard the sound of a truck and therefore when he was younger more humanity remained but has gradually fallen apart. This event foreshadows the arrival of the gang of cannibals- 'The truck had rumbled into view' the truck is also making noise like the boy used earlier. There may be symbolism of the boy controlling the truck when he was playing with it, maybe taking control of the 'bad guys' in the novel as he represents the 'good guy' linking to the theme of good vs evil. Taking control of 'bad guys' is maybe a reference to the job of God, and as readers we could make that comparison with the boy as he claims later in the book ' I am the one'. He also makes roads with a stick in the ash which may symbolise the gaps in society and humanity. There is another reference to 'ash' which does reinforce this concept of burning which links to the hellish place they find themselves in and could suggest the cause being a nuclear disaster or war. 


What does the description of the men teach us about them? (Characterisation pg 62-3)
McCarthy's reference to 'them' indicates they are a firstly a group but then also a reference to the 'bad guys' in general, everyone has lost their identity, the man realises what sort of people they are, cannibals, and so by calling the men 'them' generalises the bad and the good in this world.McCarthy takes away any human characteristics away from the men 'They came shuffling through the ash casting their hooded heads from side to side' this could be a reference to death as they have 'hooded heads' which is feature of the original 'grim reaper'. They are 'shuffling' through the ash showing they are weak and deprived of food, the repetitive use of the 'ash', still suggests this idea of a hellish world of 'burning'. They are also wearing 'canister masks' and one is wearing 'biohazard suit' which are items of protection against toxic fumes, maybe protecting themselves from the toxic fumes of the Earth or a symbol of their separation from society as they are cut off from the clothes they wear. The biohazard suit is 'stained and filthy' showing even though they are protected from society and humanity, nature can still leave a mark on them. The stains are inferred to be blood, as they go through the world murdering people as a way to survive. They possess a presence of violence with the 'clubs...lengths of pipe' comparatively  to that of gangsters and other criminals. They are 'coughing' which infers more disease and filth, which shows the protection they wear cannot protect them from the dangers of nature and society.


McCarthy uses a simile when describing the truck 'Lumbering and creaking like a ship'. Why does he do this?
The truck is described by McCarthy as a 'ship' which is a biblical reference to Noah's Ark. Although in the case of 'The Road', the 'ship' does not carry the 'good guys' on it, whilst Noah's Ark did carry the animals upon it. The purpose of building the 'Ark' is to preserve the good and wash away the bad in the storm. Here the 'bad guys' are upon the 'ship' maybe showing how the minority of good, have been overwhelmed with bad and are being taken over by them. The ship is also reference to a journey of the man and boy's tiresome ever lasting one. The man and boy continue to follow the birds migrating south, like following the 'dove' in the tale of 'Noah's Ark'. The man and boy still remain the 'good guys' in this reverse of religious imagery.      


Why does Mccarthy describe the Road Rat in such detail? (Characterisation pg 65)
Firstly, McCarthy describing this man as a 'roadrat' infers an image of a scavenger, filth and disease which is what is suggested by the word 'rat'. The fact this character is a 'roadrat' shows he is scavenging along the road, the road being the link across the world and is a base to find humanity. The 'roadrat' is described 'Eyes collared in cups of grime and deeply sunk' showing he is exhausted and has faded away and has no ghost like facial features. His eyes are 'deeply sunk' showing he has many things to hide behind them, for all he has seen his eyes have retracted further. 'Like an animal inside a skull looking out the eyeholes' , his animal reference shows that he has lost his humanity and now hunts and kills people, turning to cannibalism. This perception of him looking out of the eye holes of an animal skull, shows death and but also the view of the world through the eyes of animal, hunt to kill. 'He wore a beard that had been cut square across the bottom with shears and he had a tattoo of a bird on his neck...' McCarthy describes the 'roadrat' to be 'wearing' the beard, again reinforcing that all his human characteristics have gone and it is not real and does not tie into his form of humanity. The tattoo of the bird on his neck is another biblical reference to guidance, as the dove guides Noah, he is guided by himself along the road. He is also described as 'lean,wiry,rachitic' showing that he is skinny and has an animal appearance to him. He is wearing clothes from a business firm 'logo of some vanished enterprise embroidered enterprise across the front of it' Here again, McCarthy demonstrates that humanity and society fades away as this link to business and work and 'living' is becoming invisible to everyone. The 'roadrat's description is very vivid and gives the reader a focus and insight on a 'bad guy' compared to the good of the man and boy.  


Why is the Road Rats character so explicit whilst the man is so implicit?
The 'roadrat's' explicit speech infers that he is uneducated 'I ain't goin nowheres'. McCarthy uses colloquial language here to maybe suggest that even the standard English language in the world is beginning to disappear or that the majority of the 'bad guys' are uneducated and become mislead in to crimes against human nature whilst the man, who contradicts the character of the 'roadrat' seems highly educated takes the role of the 'good guy'. The man is implicit as he hides the fact that he is highly educated throughout the novel up to this point, however his language and actions support the suggestion that he is. On the other hand, the aggressive manner of the 'roadrat' also contradicts that of the man, as the man tries to avoid being aggressive, however there are points in the novel when he does become that 'bad guy'.McCarthy's use of the 'roadrat' is as a demonstration of a typical 'bad guy' in the novel, his blunt and also causal behaviour shows he is not intimidated by the man and boy and seems to threaten them 'Whatever we can find', from this section we learn that the Earth has lost humanity and people have turned against human nature and reverted to cannibalism.  The man's reference to 'I'm not anything.' proves he believes he has lost his identify and may be a reference to being 'alive in a dead world' as the emptiness inside of him and his desperation to let go of the past spurs him to continue with this journey. As readers, we feel sympathy for the man as he has lost everything, everyone and is being to lose himself, whilst the boy begins to find himself and grow stronger. 


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)
The man's intelligence is demonstrated through his impressive medical knowledge 'frontal lobe...colliculus...temporal gyrus' which infers that he was trained as a medical professional. Throughout the novel, up to this point we learn little about the man's past life. When McCarthy reveals this to the reader, it shows that in crisis, all humans remain the same in the sense that there is equality of social class. At this point the 'roadrat' is equal to the man, however was presumably poorer and uneducated before. This point is demonstrated again as both of their swift movements show they have both killed before, the 'roadrat' tries to take the boy captive to basically eat him 'He dove and grabbed the boy...'  whilst the man, as a father instantly defends his son '...he swung with him and leveled the pistol and fired from a two hand position balanced on both knees at a distance of six feet'. This may make the man a 'bad guy' to kill someone however this was only instinct to defend his son and he was killing the enemy. The distance he shot the man from, also suggest that he has done this before. Whilst the man, strives to be good, he is still a murderer and may becoming one of the 'bad guys'. The boy's reaction of being 'mute as a stone' shows that the boy is disappointed in his father for committing this crime against nature. He is also in shock after this event and begins to realise the true dangers of this journey they embark on. However I believe the most significant point from this event is that the boy learns that he is 'the one' to preserve humanity and remain the 'good guy' prepared to sacrifice himself for humanity which may be a biblical reference to Jesus.    


"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 are the words of the man's wife echoed in his mind as a constant reminder of her presence. The wife reminds him that he cannot face the truth either meaning he cannot give up or that he is a coward and wont accept that death is the only option to escape the harsh reality of the world they now find themselves in. She believes he will never be able to kill his son and so wont accept that there is no hope. 'A single round left in the revolver' shows that he has killed not once, but twice, with the 'roadrat' and someone else. This therefore means that only one of them can escape the hellish world if it comes to it and the other will suffer alone. This may foreshadow that only one of them is too survive until the end of the novel with means of protection- the boy. 'You will not' may spur the man to prove himself to his wife or to maybe start to give up.


Why don't the other men chase after the boy and the man following the shooting? (there are clues on pg 73-4).
The other men do not chase after the boy and man, in this incident they are furious for losing their friend, but take the opportunity of eating their dead friend ' bones and the skin piled together...a pool of guts'. This horrific unimaginable violence just reflects how these men would go to the extremity of their own friend in order to survive. The cannibalism is a normality to them now as they did not disguise the evidence of their doings, they are not ashamed of who they have become. The men have become more like animals than humans now and will hunt to kill, and will literally eat 'Whatever we can find' as they don't have the energy to find them.


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)
Although the man doesn't clean he boy's face straight away he does supply him with blankets and fed him. This is because in this world of survival, cleaning the boy's face is not a priority even if it is covered in 'gore'. The man has practically cut off his emotions in order to survive, his coldness and distance he keeps from the boy, doesn't allow him to empathise with the boy. The boy has just seen his father kill another man and so I am sure would desperately wanted the reminder of it washed from his face. In a modern society, this would be seen as a lack of a good parenting and the boy must come first in all situations, however the man views their way to survival as pushing through, not stopping to linger on past events.   

My response to the ending

Defines ultimate moral message whilst leaving reader suspended. Hope is never lost in novel, as humanity is never lost-boy represents 'good guy'-biblical reference.     

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

 McCarthy's lack of emotional descriptions in the novel add to the fact that life on the Earth is ending and that humanity is becoming a lost moral. As we loose emotion and feelings in human behaviour, we become more animal like and block out the sense of humanity with interaction. Although McCarthy lacks hyperbolic language, the reader does still feel a sense of emotion through the simplicity of the characters speech and also the actions of the characters . The father tries to distance himself from the boy in order to protect him, the boy will learn to fend for himself and to not become too attached to his father. The father's conversational tone with the boy is blunt:
 'Can I ask you something?'
 'Yes. Of course' 
'Are we going to die?'
' Sometime. Not now.'
The boy is very naive and vulnerable but is not afraid of death it seems as he does not react to the fathers comment. McCarthy's monosyllabic tone continues the pace and drone of life around them- an on going journey that is the road. The boy's character differs from the fathers as the boy is protected through innocence, whilst the father deals with the loss and tragedy he has in his mind and understands what is happening to the world. The man begins to loose his humanity through the killing the 'roadrat' and also the stealing of the man's possessions and making him stand naked and alone in the road for punishment. However the boy is clinging to humanity and helps the father to. He is a symbol of the 'good guy' in the novel opposed to the 'roadrat' who is the 'bad guy'. The lack of variety of punctuation from McCarthy still makes the novel powerful as although there is no description, the reader can imagine how these actions reflect upon their emotional bond. 
 'I was going to run. To try to lead them away. But I can't leave you. ' 
The reader can emphasise with the characters as their situation is so dreary and although McCarthy shows that they are distanced, as readers we know they rely on each other to keep each other going. The boy refers to his father as 'Papa' all they way through the novel which shows he still wants that link between them to remain strong.
Although McCarthy uses limited emotions in the novel as readers we still can feel their emotion through the actions and suggestion of emotion of the character. McCarthy has done this to show how dull life has become-loss of humanity, everything is 'gray' and there is a constant looming of death and so using little emotion follows this pattern of nothingness.    

The death of everything living – plants, trees, creatures and most other human beings – is evoked through the bleakness and ‘deadness’ of the language.

  The bleakness and dullness that McCarthy uses, does create the sense of everything being 'dead' which adds to the lost world that the man and boy find them selves in. McCarthy's chocie of language is bleak and his lack of hyperbolic language gives the reader a limited description of time, place and emotions (aspects of the narrative). Although McCarthy does telescope on some moments in the novel to emphasize the gore and loss of humanity. There is lots of references to the colour 'gray' when describing the landscape which shows the loss of colours, the different colours of the seasons which has seemed to have come to a stop- maybe representing life and it stopping. Whilst in the flashback to his uncle's farm everything is alive 'Yellow leaves' the cycle of life is going on and there is other colours in the world. This past memory gives the reader an insight into how the Earth was before it fell into this peril. On the road, nothing seems to change, it doesn't get better or worse and the landscape stays the same derelict dying environment which is created by this continuos pace of the journey along the road. In the beginning of the novel, McCarthy uses a metaphor to describe the world slowly deteriorating, as humanity fades away- 'cold glaucoma dimming away the world.' The darkness is taking over the world representing the evil 'bad guys' whilst the minority is the 'good guys' slowing dimming away. This also may be a reference to the Bible as Jesus is a symbol to represent the light of the world and as it is dimming away, the hope of God is also lost. 'Charred and limbless trunks of trees stretching away on every side'  McCarthy personifies the trees to create that sense that maybe only humans remain in this world, as all animal and plant life has perished. The constant reference to 'burning' and 'ash' and 'fire' may be a symbol of hell, as hell held a myth to be a world full of fire and burning- maybe referring to be 'alive in a dead world'. These references infer what might have happened to the Earth-either nuclear war or a mass fire. This creates vivid imagery and gives an insight into the state of the Earth in the novel, which as readers, we compare to our world now. McCarthy also uses pathetic fallacy 'It was raining' and 'It was very cold'. He is very simplistic in his chose of words to demonstrate the simplicity of this world they live in now, almost going back in time to when people hunted to survive. This technique of pathetic fallacy is also used in the father's flashback to his uncle's farm however contradicts the dullness of the Earth in the novel 'The shore was lined with birch trees that stood bone pale against the dark of the evergreens beyond' . Here life is still going on, there is use of the colour 'green' which shows nature and purity and healthiness- the world is still 'living'.  However the world that they live in now, is a 'dead world' full of darkness and loss of humanity.       

Handling of Time

Pages 29-49;

"Ate cold beans they'd cooked days ago"-(page 29) Telescoping through time.
"Late in the year"-(page 29) Telescoping through time.
"Where once he'd watched trout swaying in the current"- (page 30) References to time before (flashbacks)
"They set out again in the morning"-(page 30) Passage of time.
"He woke towards the morning"- (page 31) Passage of time.
"A few miles each day" (page 32) Telescoping through time.
"Dark of the invisible moon"-(page 32) Time expands.
"Within a year"- (page 33) Telescoping through time.
"Tomorrow came and went" (page 33) Telescoping through time.
"And then one evening he stopped and looked all about..."- (page 33) Time expands.
"Where he stood once with his own father in a winter long ago"-(page 34) References to a time before (flashbacks).
"In the morning they pressed on" -(page 34) Passage of time.
"They slogged all day..."- (page 35) Telescoping through time.
"It took four more days to come down from the snow..."-(page 37) Telescoping through time.
"Then it returned" -(page 38) Time expanding/a more abstract reference to time.
"They were all day reaching the river"-(page 38) Telescoping through time.
"It's getting colder every day"-(page 42) Time expanding.
"The tree had been there for years"-(page 45). More abstract reference to time.

Passage of the days:
"In the evening" pg 92
"In the morning" pg 93
"He woke in the morning" pg 95
"In the afternoon" pg 98
"Eternal blackness" pg 101
"Blackness... darkness..." pg 102
"When day broke" pg 103
"Within the hour" pg 110


Markers in the year:
"It could be November" pg 93
"Snow" - winter - pg 100


Telescoped time:
"In the evening... tomorrow... dark of night" pg 92 - all in one paragraph

"They might have covered three miles" pg 107
"They'd had no food and little sleep in five days" pg 111



Time expands:






Before (flash backs):
"He'd had this feeling before" pg 93
"He'd seen it all before" pg 94


Suspended time:
"The snow fell nor did it cease to fall" pg 101




Abstract references:



Other:
"In time to wink out forever" pg 93
"It takes a long time" pg 106
"In the early dawn at latest. Running the road in the night" pg 108
"We probably don't have much time" pg 109

Handling of time - Pg 113-133
Passage of days
‘In the night’ – p121
‘it was almost light enough to see’ – 123
‘The boy wouldn’t wake for hours’ – p124
‘He lay there a long time’ – p129
‘They spent the afternoon’ – p131
‘He wondered if it was even midnight’ – 133
‘By evening’ – p133
Telescoped time
‘...rose and set out.
He came across the barn...’ – p124
‘Afternoon... evening...light draw down over the world’ – in one paragraph p131
‘He was gone longer than he’d meant to be’ – gives an indication of time flying p130
Expanded narrative time
‘It was as long night as he could remember out of a great plenty of such nights...dawn was a long time coming...after a while it was day’ – gives a sense of expanded time p132
Before and flashbacks
‘Lingering odour of cows... and he realized they were extinct’ – p127
‘nothing in his memory anywhere of anything so good’ – p130
Abstract references
‘When the time comes? When the time comes there will be no time. Now is the time.’ – p120
‘Phantoms not heard from in a thousand years rousing from their sleep’ – p122
Other
‘He would have ample time later to think about that’ – shows there are no deadlines/rushing p113
‘No time to look’ – contrasts to above quote, shows how we perceive time differs depending on our situation p117
‘stopping to rest each fifty counted steps’ – shows a new way of making references to time; whereas we might say every 5 minutes, the man uses steps as an indication of passing time p123

Handling of Time (Page 176-196)
‘When did you eat last?’ ‘I don’t know.’ ‘You don’t remember.’
This shows the reader that there is no reason for people on the road to remember when they have eaten as they have no reason to plan meals. We only plan meals today because our day follows a set routine and we eat to keep up with this. On the road however, day and night have almost become one due to the ash and dust that falls, blocking out the sun. They have no concept of time and no reason for it so all they can really distinguish between is day and night so it is easy to imagine how a person could lose track of the days as they are all the same; as long as they are alive, they have no reason to remember when or what they eat.
‘How old are you?’
Similarly to the food, the old man is unable to truthfully recall his age as there is no reason for him to know it and no reminder of the date. Time and day are hypothetical things created by humans to gain a routine in life. However, mankind is dying out and everybody lives in the moment and has no cause to plan ahead, unless people meticulously count each day then it would be impossible to tell precisely when a year has passed and even if someone did work it out, what would be the point? It’s hardly like they’re going to celebrate. McCarthy uses the old man as an example to show that in the novel, the reader can never be certain as to how much time has passed, as the characters have no idea either.
‘How long have you been on the road?’ ‘I’ve always been on the road.’
Once again, in this section, McCarthy uses the dialogue between two characters to make the reader question the necessity of time; the fact that the man can’t actually remember how long he has been on the road for suggests that time is insignificant. The way that the man says he has always been on the road would suggest that time is standing still for these people. McCarthy handles time simply by putting a halt to it to show that it is just another thing on the road which is dying.
‘People were always getting ready for tomorrow. I didn’t believe in that. Tomorrow wasnt getting ready for them.’
This quote is suggesting that for all the care we take over time, it doesn’t care about us. It is telling the reader that all the worry we have over keeping to a schedule is ridiculous because time is a made up thing and isn’t going to alter itself to suit us. All the people who worried and invested plans in the future, ironically, weren’t actually as prepared for the next day as they could have been where as those who take each day as it comes are surviving still as they had no expectations and don’t need time to rule their lives.
‘In the morning the stood in the road’
McCarthy gives the reader absolutely no idea what time in the morning they are talking about to once again highlight the lack of importance time holds for people on the road. All they have to go by is the road; they walk along it when it is light enough and sleep when it isn’t, to them it is completely irrelevant what time it is as they have no goals in life other than to get to the sea as quickly as possible with no real aim when they get there, meaning that they can take as long as they need to.
‘In the early afternoon’McCarthy uses slightly more detail in this section. This could be because this is the first time phrase used since they left the old man alone in the road so the man and they boy are paying more attention to time as they are feeling guilty, wondering where the old man is and how long he has been left on his own for.
‘In the night he woke in the cold dark’
McCarthy uses this phrase to lead onto ‘coughing and he coughed till his chest was raw’ to fit in with the image that cold dark night quite often symbolise death, something that we know is imminent for the man but the way the author associates it with time suggests that his time is running out quickly.
‘You said it would last a few weeks’ ‘I know.’ ‘But it’s just been a few days.’
This back up the previous quote in suggesting that time is speeding up and things are going a lot quicker than the man and the boy expected them to.
‘He’d slept little in weeks.’
This shows McCarthy skipping through time to move the novel on but also showing the rapid declination of the man’s health, he gets several weeks worse in the few seconds it takes the reader to read it, to emphasize the point.

Handling of time pg 218-238Page 226: 'They stayed in the house for four days eating and sleeping'. Time is contracted into a short paragraph.

Page 229: 'Long days.' Time has suddenly moved on, we cannot tell whether it is days or weeks. 

Page 230: 'An hour later...' Chronological order. 

Page 233: 'With dark they built a fire.' Shows the turning of day to night.

Page 235: 'In the morning...' Chronological order. 

Page 219-224: Several pages devoted to a short time, less than half an hour. Every little detail is told. 

Page 228-229: Time goes very fast, one second they are at the abandoned house and in the next paragraph they are standing in a supermarket. Then it skips to 'Long days' and we cannot tell whether is has been days or weeks or months. 

Page 234: Flashback, 'he remembered walking once on such a night...' he is comparing his old beach memories to his experiences on the beach now. He is remembering a better time. This is significant because flashbacks occur throughout the novel as a running theme.

Handling of Time

Pages 302-307

Reference to before-'Once there were brook trout in the streams in the mountains' page 306
Time seems to be suspended and more abstract view of time-  'On their backs were vermiculate patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming' page 307
Time is telescoped 'He cried for a long time' page 306
Time seems suspended 'You could see them standing in the amber current where the white edges of their fins wimpled softly in the flow' page 307