First Reactions: 

When I first began to read The Road, I was expected an action filled book: filled with survival stories and adventurous endeavors made by the boy and his father in order to survive. After the first twenty page, I knew this would not be the case. I found the book to be extremely repetitive and, at times, confusing. The authors style of writing grabs the reader and forces him or her to focus on what he is portraying in his novel. McCarthy uses his unique style to create an immersive, apocalyptic world that makes us question what is so wrong with our lives today. 

Style 











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I was confused consistently throughout the book because of McCarthy' s unique style of writing. He does not use quotations any where in the book and he rarely says who the quote is coming from. It is left up to the reader to figure out or decide who is saying what, or if a person is even saying anything at all. There are many apostrophes used to portray what the father and the son are thinking at certain points in the story. I often confused these moments for a character's dialogue, when really it was only their thoughts. McCarthy uses this style to hook readers into his incredibly repetitive storyline. Without the in-depth reading that is required, the story would be much more bland and direct. The lack of "He said..." and "She said..." in the story creates a much more accurate narration. For example, in a movie, a narrator usually does not state who says what, the characters just say their lines. Similar to The Road, the narrator rarely states who is saying what, but just leave the dialect bare. This creates a more immersive experience for the reader. 

McCarthy somehow manages to create one of the most repetitive stories ever, and still receive numerous awards for the bland creation. This is due to one thing, our tendency to expect a plot twist or a climax in stories. Although there are some climaxes, such as when the father saves his boy by killing a traveler or when they come across a house that holds a vat of frail people waiting to be cannibalized, there are very few considering the book's length. This anticlimactic storyline keeps us hooked on the next page, waiting for a climax or a plot twist. Waiting for anything to make the story a little more interesting. His style creates an addiciton within readers, keeping them hooked and wanting to read more.

Purpose

Why create such a bland book? I believe that McCarthy wanted to portray a minimalistic lifestyle in its purest sense. Today, being a minimalist means living in a small house with food, running water, clothes, and other basic necessities. McCarthy takes this to an entirely new tier. He creates a story where people are content to have a meal for two consistent days, a life where you are lucky if you sleep warm rather than cold one night out of a whole month. This lifestyle is so minimalistic by nature (not by choice) that it creates a feeling of thankfulness for every small thing present in one's life. This feeling is then conveyed to the readers through an incredibly dull book. The smallest climax is anxiously anticipated, and the smallest discovery made by the duo is appreciated. I am sure that when most readers saw the old man, Ely, first appear on the road, their first reaction would be that of an approaching climax: to keep turning the page to see what happens next. Ely turned out to just be another old man wandering the road, but still the discover and change of pace is appreciated. This is what McCarthy wants us to feel, a sense of appreciation even for the smallest and most uneventful things in life. 

Literary Merit

This book is a literary work due to the unique style used and the insight it provides to an minimalistic and appreciative life. A life that is centered around appreciating what you have and focusing on the things that are the most important: morality, family, religion etc. This book demonstrates literary merit because it posses a rhetorical theme that gives readers an insight into their own lives, rather than just setting up a story. An example of a non-literary, post-apocolpytic work would be The Hunger Games. This book portrays a great storyline (this is debatable amongst some), but it has a fairly simple context. The lessons and ideas given in the story of The Hunger Games are fairly obvious (sacrifice, respect for humanity, corruption etc.) and do not require a great amount of rhetorical thinking provided by the reader. The Hunger Games is also create for the pure enjoyment of the reader/viewer without much effort required to grasp the purpose or meaning of the work. The Road describes more complex and numerous rhetorical ideas throughout, such as empthay in youth vs. empathy in adults; or the benefits of being minimalistic vs self centered. All of these reasons could be argued for why The Road is a work of literary merit. 

Questions

1. Can the man who rescued the boy after his father died be argued as a representation of Jesus? 
2. What are some of McCarthy's other styles when writing The Road (i.e no quotation marks)?
3. Since the boy is portrayed as so innocent and pure in a world so desolate, can the same be argued that every child is at one point in their lives completely pure? 
4. What is the purpose of Ely in this story? Is it simply to show the boy's waining innocence after he does not look back at the man as they leave him? 
5. Why else did the man who saves the boy wait for the father to die? Or did he wait at all?