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The Characters In Joseph Mccarthy's The Road

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In the most extreme situations, people are constantly looking for a solution to their problems. Specifically, a boy and his father start off in a post-apocalyptic world where all they can worry about is the next step towards their destination. With little food and zero sense of direction, the journey only gets harder and harder as they trek through the mountains. The coastline is their only glimpse of hope in a unorthodox world. McCarthy’s religious and literary background inspired him to write his novel The Road which showcases the relationships he created amongst the characters.
McCarthy was a Christian man and because of this he was able to implement some unique traits into his character’s dialogue and attitude. He added references to God …show more content…

He felt that if he related the dialogue in his book to the conversations he had with his son, it would heighten the reader's understanding of the intensity of the time period that the family was experiencing. It all began with how his son acted as a selfless soul who wanted no more than to give to others. His son said, “He was just hungry, Papa. He’s going to die. He’s going to die anyway. He’s so scared, Papa” (McCarthy). The son felt as if he should step aside from his struggles and do his best to help another lone man who is in need of aid. From a grander point of view, the father stepped in and put the lives of him and his son first so they can succeed on their journey. The father then interrupts, “It’s because it’s here. There’s nothing left to talk about. I’m sorry” (McCarthy). The boy knew grave times were coming in their voyage and the father asked his son to face the reality. As a result, the struggles that the boy faced illustrates the environment that McCarthy’s son was exposed to while they lived in numerous hotels. The worry and suffrage among the family frames the relationship McCarthy created with his son showing how much McCarthy’s daily life impacted his

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At first he was eager and scared to find his dad. On page 7 it states “I've never met him,but I have a pretty good feeling that this must be my father”. The detail supports that he want to find his dad because he is eager to to have a family to care about him. The author said on page 21 it saids “ The only thing I could hear was my own breath”. This shows that he was scared because he was out of breath.

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An example of this is in paragraph 12 when they were talking about the name that the Father had gotten from the other citizens, Noah Count, “To me it was just downright embarrassing.” In paragraph 13, it also provides evidence of the son’s embarrassment, “Lucky for me school was out, or I’d’ve had my hands full, fighting all the boys that would’ve called my Daddy crazy.” Which shows that the son feels embarrassed to even be seen with his own family because of how they are treated like they are

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Papa has now become an alcoholic. The book even describes how he became so bitter that he tries to strike his wife. The family begins to lose respect, thus making Papa even more bitter than before. The emotional toll of being in prison has finally set in on

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While the child was feeling down; instead of picking her son up, the mother scolds her child “[reminding] him, once again, not to shout out in public. And never to speak with his mouth full” and his sister reminds him that, “Papa’s gone” (Otsuka 50). For one of the few emotional outbursts in the novel, there is no consolation for the distressed child. There is only condemnation of his actions and a reminder of not only of how he should act but also of the very topic that is distressing him, his missing father. It is clear that it did not matter what age an individual was, it was expected that the child would remain silent and distant from

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512 Words | 3 Pages

Cormac McCarthy’s novel written during the 20th century, conveying dramatic experience in which McCarthy’s use of rhetorical and literary techniques providing themes, symbols, motifs and other figures of speech emphasizing the impact on the main character, and other parts throughout the text. Throughout this deep understood text, the author conveys negative tones and dictions to the text. The character is described to be very dull and adventurous. He is very ominous yet a mysterious character , however it is yet to be described to be somewhat positive in regards of the symbols used in relation to the text.

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It is after apocalypse world where all signs of life are extinct. People and animals are starving, and predatory groups of savages wander around with pieces of human bodies stuck in their teeth. It is both oppressive and disheartening. McCarthy sets an atmosphere like one mediately after the world wars. It is not far-fetched to imagine the possibility of such a sad environment today.

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804 Words | 4 Pages

In this scene, the man recalls the final conversation he had with his wife, the boy’s mother. She expresses her plans to commit suicide, while the man begs her to stay alive. To begin, the woman’s discussion of dreams definitively establishes a mood of despair. In the

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1529 Words | 7 Pages

In everyday life, there are so many people worth to love and worth for giving them much affection. But have you ever thought, who is your dearest? For everyone, the answer may be grandparents, mothers, siblings or friends. For the boy in McCarthy's novel,"The Road", his father's image will forever be the sacred fire that warms his soul forever. "The Road" written by McCarthy not only about the relationship between a father and his son but also about the contradiction in itself every human.

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The Road is an amazing novel that shows the struggles and moral conflicts that arise from living in a post-apocalyptic world. While reading the story, the use of McCarthy’s distinctive diction, imagery and tone helps the reader become more understanding of what they are reading. It helps the reader better connect and understand what the man and the boy are experiencing. Through third person, one is able to know the feelings and thoughts of both the man and the boy which is important since the man knew what it was like before the apocalypse and applies that knowledge to situations he is currently facing while the boy only knows this post-apocalyptic “society” therefore his views are vastly different from his father’s. While reading the story,

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624 Words | 3 Pages

The father’s wife had recently died, leaving him with the boy to take care of with the only mindset of keeping him alive, doing anything for their survival. This affected the father in a big way, leaving him with little hope and hardly any reason to stay alive, but the boy was “his warrant” (McCarthy 5) , his only reason for life. The boy starts out very scared and weak, always wanting to hide behind his father, knowing that one day he will die. The boy matures with every event that happens, and he maintains to have hope throughout most of them. “The man fell back instantly and lay with blood bubbling from the hole in his forehead.

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646 Words | 3 Pages

Fear eventually catches up to them because what the father had been afraid of since the beginning has finally come. He dies, leaving the boy to fend on his own. Mccarthy concluded his novel with a tragic ending filled with gloom and

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863 Words | 4 Pages

In enduring these complex emotions, this section was the most remarkable part. One of the first apparent emotions the boy experiences with the death of his father is loneliness to make this section memorable. The boy expresses this sentiment when he stays with his father described as, “When he came back he knelt beside his father and held his cold hand and said his name over and over again,” (McCarthy 281). The definition of loneliness is, “sadness because one has no friends or company.”

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289 Words | 2 Pages

He believes that good things are unattainable, which is why he is so desperate to have nightmares instead of good dreams. The old man trusts no one and isn’t willing to take the chance to speak to any others they encounter. This is evidence of McCarthy’s own cynicism. The world is dismal and the people in it are malevolent. The hopeful ending to the book counters this.

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1072 Words | 5 Pages

“Desiree’s Baby” is a short story by Kate Chopin. “Desiree’s baby” is a story about a family in the era where the colored were neglected and treated poorly. Desiree was abandoned and left as a baby. When she was adopted she grew up in a very wealthy family. Armand and Desiree have known each other ever since they were little so when they grew up they got married.

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774 Words | 4 Pages

As the narrator learns of Father Flynn’s death during a dinner with his guardians and Cotter, he “knew that [he] was under observation, so [he] continued eating as if the news had not interested [him]” (Joyce 2). By presenting the narrator’s family members as an antagonistic force, Joyce deepens the turmoil as the narrator must conduct a battle within his mind over Father Flynn, while simultaneously concealing the fact that this battle exists. However, the source of this inner turmoil, Father Flynn, provokes the narrator into conflict without a physical presence. Rather, as the narrator ruminates on his interactions with Flynn, the memories of Flynn begin to haunt the narrator, leaving the narrator consumed by ambivalence.

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