Sunday, 2 December 2012
Symbolism in the Novel.
- The road or journey has often been used as a metaphor for life itself – the journey from birth to death.
The road may represent life as the man lives and dies on the road. It could be argued that the man is walking to his death. The two grow on the road, they change and mold into the people they are.The boy grows in to a positive and moral character. All the boy has ever know is the road, he has been brought up travelling along in the dark of night and the foggy days, his life began on the journey and may possibly finish on the same path however we don't find out as the boy is left walking along the road with the mysterious new family. Although the man is close to death we still see how he has changed throughout the novel and his journey along the dreary road, 'you have my whole heart. You always did' as the man is dieing we finally see the emotion between the man and the boy. It is as if the dark and long journey down the road has changed the man, he has grown to show the boy that it is okay to love something or someone. The man hid his emotion for so long i think this could be because his wife wanted him to hate her before her death. She hurt him. The man has never got over her death so he is never really open to his son until now. This shows the change throughout his life. The journey along the road represents the change within the mans life and how he dies happier now he has let out all of his feelings. I agree with this metaphor as many people live and die on that same road.
2. In American culture, the road is an important symbol. America is a large country and crossing the continent has been seen symbolically as representing a pioneering spirit – striking out into the unknown – or searching for oneself. Many classic American novels (and films) make a journey by road the focus for the narrative, for instance John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, Jack Kerouac’s On The Road or the film Thelma and Louise.
2. In American culture, the road is an important symbol. America is a large country and crossing the continent has been seen symbolically as representing a pioneering spirit – striking out into the unknown – or searching for oneself. Many classic American novels (and films) make a journey by road the focus for the narrative, for instance John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, Jack Kerouac’s On The Road or the film Thelma and Louise.
I agree that it could be argued that the man has a pioneering spirit. He is symbolised as a head- strong character that knows what he needs. This could be because of his past life? Maybe he was a soldier? Or a spy. He understand the world now, its as if he was trained for the end of the world, this is why he has a leading spirit. In my opinion McCarthy uses the road to present an adventurous narrative within the novel. It is a journey that represents hope. Where will it lead? Happiness or just more sadness? The reader follows the road as if they were there with the man and the boy. Although the man and the boy could be presented as having a pioneering personality, they have this kind of pioneering spirit because they have to. They have to keep following the road to survive. They don't want to give up because they don't want to die.The two are determined, they are determined to make it to the south to be safe. Therefore the road shows determination within the book, it shows hope. The road is an endless path. The road is symbolised as a endless path of sorrow, that no one knows if it will lead to happiness.
3. The epic journey has a much longer literary and cultural history. Going back to Greek literature, in Homer’s The Odyssey, Ulysses goes on a long journey and encounters many tests and trials, both physical and mental, before returning to his homeland. The epic work The Divine Comedy by the Italian medieval poet Dante shows the poet on a journey in the afterlife, to Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, shows the pilgrim Christian leaving his home in this world and travelling to the ‘Celestial City’. Gulliver’s Travels is a fantastical journey to other worlds, in which the main character discovers more about his own world by contrast with the societies he encounters.
I agree the journey shows tests for the man and the boy. The man is tested, 'just help him papa, help him' the boy is testing his father. Will he show morals and help a man who has wronged? Will he give a man a second chance in life, or will he take no pitty on the weak.
There are mental challenges for the man, challenges he can not overcome, 'i cant hold my son dead in my arms. i thought i could but i cant'. This is the constant challenge presented to the man throughout the whole of the novel however in the end we understand this challenge is just to hard for the man. He is distraught at the thought of this mental and physical challenge. The man is shown as a strong character and nothing can knock him down although towards the end of the novel we see his character deteriorate, we see he is not as unyielding as we once thought. In my opinion the road finally cracks the man's hard exterior. It gradually breaks his spirits, once he See's there is no hope left at the beach, he cannot keep going down the dark and gloomy road that never seems to end.
4. The journey as a structure for a novel implies a particular kind of pattern, where there are episodes along the way. The journey involves meeting new challenges and dangers, the chance of luck to bring fortune or difficulties, and is often structured around a struggle for survival, away from the routine and security of a home environment.
The journey along the road is split up into sections as if they were chapters. The road has so many challenges along the way that it could be presented and symbolised as hopelessness. Eventually everyone along the road will have to give up as there will always be a new challenge around every dingy corner. One day it will be a challenge that they can not defeat. There is a on-going struggle for survival as the man and the boy are always searching for food. They are always hiding from the 'bad men'. The only routine the man and the boy have is the constant mention of breakfast and dinner. This shows the man wants to keep an inch of routine in the boys life, this will show the boy some normality.
3. The epic journey has a much longer literary and cultural history. Going back to Greek literature, in Homer’s The Odyssey, Ulysses goes on a long journey and encounters many tests and trials, both physical and mental, before returning to his homeland. The epic work The Divine Comedy by the Italian medieval poet Dante shows the poet on a journey in the afterlife, to Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, shows the pilgrim Christian leaving his home in this world and travelling to the ‘Celestial City’. Gulliver’s Travels is a fantastical journey to other worlds, in which the main character discovers more about his own world by contrast with the societies he encounters.
I agree the journey shows tests for the man and the boy. The man is tested, 'just help him papa, help him' the boy is testing his father. Will he show morals and help a man who has wronged? Will he give a man a second chance in life, or will he take no pitty on the weak.
There are mental challenges for the man, challenges he can not overcome, 'i cant hold my son dead in my arms. i thought i could but i cant'. This is the constant challenge presented to the man throughout the whole of the novel however in the end we understand this challenge is just to hard for the man. He is distraught at the thought of this mental and physical challenge. The man is shown as a strong character and nothing can knock him down although towards the end of the novel we see his character deteriorate, we see he is not as unyielding as we once thought. In my opinion the road finally cracks the man's hard exterior. It gradually breaks his spirits, once he See's there is no hope left at the beach, he cannot keep going down the dark and gloomy road that never seems to end.
4. The journey as a structure for a novel implies a particular kind of pattern, where there are episodes along the way. The journey involves meeting new challenges and dangers, the chance of luck to bring fortune or difficulties, and is often structured around a struggle for survival, away from the routine and security of a home environment.
The journey along the road is split up into sections as if they were chapters. The road has so many challenges along the way that it could be presented and symbolised as hopelessness. Eventually everyone along the road will have to give up as there will always be a new challenge around every dingy corner. One day it will be a challenge that they can not defeat. There is a on-going struggle for survival as the man and the boy are always searching for food. They are always hiding from the 'bad men'. The only routine the man and the boy have is the constant mention of breakfast and dinner. This shows the man wants to keep an inch of routine in the boys life, this will show the boy some normality.
- I was a little un-sure on this task.
Sunday, 25 November 2012
The end.
Part 2- more reading homework.
- hope can be found
-will the boy find happiness eventually?
-will the world be saved whilst he is alive?
It shows that the ending of the book, could be construed as happiness and hope for the boys life and the world being re-built.
- I disagree with this response as Ii personally think the ending should be taken on a positive note so that the reader may believe that their still good in the world and their will be happiness for the boy in his life with the strangers.
Part 2- more reading homework.
'knowing that some hope can be found for humanity in the form of the harmless young boy provides a glimpse of optimism in an otherwise completely depressing setting'
amazon reader view.- hope can be found
-will the boy find happiness eventually?
-will the world be saved whilst he is alive?
It shows that the ending of the book, could be construed as happiness and hope for the boys life and the world being re-built.
'uplifting ending for about 5 minutes and then i thought 'hang on a bit , why do we think this guy is good guy when we haven't come across any good guys in the whole book!'
-Makes the reader question the ending and re consider what they have read.- I disagree with this response as Ii personally think the ending should be taken on a positive note so that the reader may believe that their still good in the world and their will be happiness for the boy in his life with the strangers.
- How feminist critics would look at the novel.
- Death symbolises hope for the boy as he would join his mother and father.
- He is attracted to female personalities as at the end of the book he wants to spend everyday with the woman. (the boy)
- When the man dies the mood alters it is more relaxed and hopeful.
- McCarthy uses 3rd person free indirect style, where the reader feels that they are feeling the events from the characters prospective.
- >critical
- >symbolism
- >hope
- >relaxed -Protection.
McCarthy in his own words.
-McCarthy doesn't plot his stories, he expects the ideas to come to him naturally.
-wrote it in a few weeks - like it came natural to him.
-McCarthy took a trip to his son and imagined the town they were staying in 100 years down the line, 'fires up on the hill and everything being laid to waste' -The ideas for the actual book came from that night in the hotel when he wrote 2 pages and realised that the ideas were good enough to become a book. He realised that the book was 'about the man and the boy'.
- 'I had no idea where it was going to end' - This could be the reason he added deus ex machina. Why people may think the ending is a little plain. Maybe McCarthy didn't finish it the way he should.
-'simple straight forward story' - why he uses simple sentences and punctuation. He hides the devices he uses within the sentences so the reader doesn't notice them until they properly Analise the novel.
-Alot of thing that the kid says are things that john said' - The boys character was based on his son, his son gave him inspiration for the boys character. 'papa, what would you do if i died'. Their conversations are like the man and the boys.
-Its more important to be good than it is to be smart'. This links to the boy as he is the good one in the book. He shows morals, it could be suggested he is a good omen in the book.
He received the same letter from a few people around the world that said the same thing, 'i got up and went upstairs and got my kids up and i just sat there in the bed and just held them' -Its as if he wrote the novel to be sad and heartbreaking because he wants to make the reader appreciate what they have.
-'If you write properly you shouldn't have to punctuate' -Thins he is good enough writer to make the book simple and hardly punctuate.He wants to prove you don't have to use alot of punctuation to make a great story.
- [is this a love story to your son?] -'in a way i suppose it is' -Having a son affected his life dramatically and gave him the inspiration to write the novel.- The novel is about the man and the boys relationship and how it is affected by the dangers on the road. It could be argued that it is a love story to his son as although there are bumps along the road in their life they will always love each other unconditionally.
-McCarthy doesn't plot his stories, he expects the ideas to come to him naturally.
-wrote it in a few weeks - like it came natural to him.
-McCarthy took a trip to his son and imagined the town they were staying in 100 years down the line, 'fires up on the hill and everything being laid to waste' -The ideas for the actual book came from that night in the hotel when he wrote 2 pages and realised that the ideas were good enough to become a book. He realised that the book was 'about the man and the boy'.
- 'I had no idea where it was going to end' - This could be the reason he added deus ex machina. Why people may think the ending is a little plain. Maybe McCarthy didn't finish it the way he should.
-'simple straight forward story' - why he uses simple sentences and punctuation. He hides the devices he uses within the sentences so the reader doesn't notice them until they properly Analise the novel.
-Alot of thing that the kid says are things that john said' - The boys character was based on his son, his son gave him inspiration for the boys character. 'papa, what would you do if i died'. Their conversations are like the man and the boys.
-Its more important to be good than it is to be smart'. This links to the boy as he is the good one in the book. He shows morals, it could be suggested he is a good omen in the book.
He received the same letter from a few people around the world that said the same thing, 'i got up and went upstairs and got my kids up and i just sat there in the bed and just held them' -Its as if he wrote the novel to be sad and heartbreaking because he wants to make the reader appreciate what they have.
-'If you write properly you shouldn't have to punctuate' -Thins he is good enough writer to make the book simple and hardly punctuate.He wants to prove you don't have to use alot of punctuation to make a great story.
- [is this a love story to your son?] -'in a way i suppose it is' -Having a son affected his life dramatically and gave him the inspiration to write the novel.- The novel is about the man and the boys relationship and how it is affected by the dangers on the road. It could be argued that it is a love story to his son as although there are bumps along the road in their life they will always love each other unconditionally.
Friday, 23 November 2012
Voice and Point of view.
122...
Had no idea...he slept.
-Begins with the narrator.
-The man begins - 'in what direction did lost men veer?'
He questions himself, (rhetorical question)
-They've been following a map.
-Just escaped the house of cannibals now the mood is panicked and disorientated.
At the begining of the paragraph on page 122 it starts with the voice of the omniscient narrator. However it then changes to 3rd person point of veiw of the man as he asks himself a rhetorical question, 'in what direction did lost men veer?' , The voice only changes to the man for this one question this gives us a disorientated feeling. The man doesnt know where he is going and he is questioning his life as he know's it. He does not understand his life anymore and if it even has a purpose.
It is not signalled when the narrative ends and the dialogue begins. -Leaves the reader confused and lead to make up their own assumptions.
McCarthy uses 3rd person free indirect style -'he woke in the dark woods in the leaves shivering violently' The reader fells the mans feelings at this point they feel involved. As the readers we want the man and the boy to make it out alive. We want them to survive so we become emotionally attatched to their characters and their life throughout the novel.
'phantoms not heard from in a thousand years' - dream sequences related.
We enter a luminal state. The mood is dark and weary.
Confusing, is it the mans thought or is it his dream.
unattributed thoughts?
'thousand years' - he's bringing up the past. The man rembers what he wants to forget. His feelings haunt him.They control the way he acts and his personality now. - Makes the reader wonder what the 'phantoms' could be? has he done something in his past life that he regrets?
Is it his wife he is thinking of? - Controling him even in death.
His past life has destroyed his future, he cannot conrtol his feelings. He cant imagine the happy thought as the bad out weighs the good. He may struggle with certain things now, Like the bad memories have cursed him and that is why his life is pointless. He cant imagine a happy ending for himself.
122...
Had no idea...he slept.
-Begins with the narrator.
-The man begins - 'in what direction did lost men veer?'
He questions himself, (rhetorical question)
-They've been following a map.
-Just escaped the house of cannibals now the mood is panicked and disorientated.
At the begining of the paragraph on page 122 it starts with the voice of the omniscient narrator. However it then changes to 3rd person point of veiw of the man as he asks himself a rhetorical question, 'in what direction did lost men veer?' , The voice only changes to the man for this one question this gives us a disorientated feeling. The man doesnt know where he is going and he is questioning his life as he know's it. He does not understand his life anymore and if it even has a purpose.
It is not signalled when the narrative ends and the dialogue begins. -Leaves the reader confused and lead to make up their own assumptions.
McCarthy uses 3rd person free indirect style -'he woke in the dark woods in the leaves shivering violently' The reader fells the mans feelings at this point they feel involved. As the readers we want the man and the boy to make it out alive. We want them to survive so we become emotionally attatched to their characters and their life throughout the novel.
'phantoms not heard from in a thousand years' - dream sequences related.
We enter a luminal state. The mood is dark and weary.
Confusing, is it the mans thought or is it his dream.
unattributed thoughts?
'thousand years' - he's bringing up the past. The man rembers what he wants to forget. His feelings haunt him.They control the way he acts and his personality now. - Makes the reader wonder what the 'phantoms' could be? has he done something in his past life that he regrets?
Is it his wife he is thinking of? - Controling him even in death.
His past life has destroyed his future, he cannot conrtol his feelings. He cant imagine the happy thought as the bad out weighs the good. He may struggle with certain things now, Like the bad memories have cursed him and that is why his life is pointless. He cant imagine a happy ending for himself.
Thursday, 22 November 2012
Exploratory analysis of the woman,
5,8,2,1,7,4,3,6.
Five 'The woman has a powerful and ambiguous symbolic function in the novel: she represents both the giving of life and the temptation of death'
-symbol of hope.
-She kills herself - symbolicof hope for the young boy? 'just take me with you, please'
He wants to die so he can be with his mother and father. -Happiness
-Peace.
Could she be seen as selfish for killing herself?
-She killed herself slowly, painfully.
-Maybe to punish herself for leaving her son and husband alone.
-She had the option to take the bullet but she chose to let them have the bullets to save themselves eventually
'Wake himself from just such siren worlds'
-symbolis that the woman can control him even in death.
'Cradling her belly in one hand'
- symbolises hope, she is giving life.
- woman represent a light at the end of the tunnle?
Could be misread as selfishnes, she is bringing a new life into a world that is over.
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