Week 5 Post A

Definitions

Tableau (77)-a picturesque grouping of persons or objects; a striking scene.
Bedlam (82)-a scene or state of wild uproar and confusion.

Figurative Language

"He looked at the house an he looked out over the dripping countryside an then let the door back down and descended the steps and set about making breakfast"(130) This is a little like personification but humans can't exactly "drip" so I would call this more of a metaphor. Even though McCarthy doesn't spend a lot of time describing the father's viewpoint, this sentence brings memories of camping and all of the times I have been wet and miserable. I can relate to the feelings that the father and son are going through.

"The faintly lit hatchway lay in the dark of the yard like a grave yawning at judgment day in some old apocalyptic painting"(131)

"The boy going ahead with a broom and clearing the way of sticks and branches and the man bent over the handle of the cart watching the road fall away before them"(131) McCarthy uses clever personification to describe the monotonous journey to the ocean from the father's point of view. It is almost like the races I compete in and how I pick a spot in the road as a short term goal and use that to reference my long term progress. This is how I imagined what the father and son must have been doing.

Quote

I know you thought we were going to die.
Yeah.
But we didn't.
No.
Okay.

Here is another example of McCarthy's dialogue. It is hard for a majority of writers to write about death and being close to death because it is often times hard for the reader to relate. In this case, McCarthy keeps the discussion of death simple and straight forward.

Theme

Throughout the novel, the son always asks his father about good and bad. One theme that reoccurs in the story is that of good, and the temptations of evil. The father and son's journey is a test to see if they can remain "the good guys" and not give in to the bad. These tests include ravaging hunger, opportunities to take advantage of people and mental hardships that test their will.