Imagery...

Water, cleaning and washing
Throughout the story, the idea of water and what it can do changes. When it's first metioned, the sentence reads "Deep stone flues where the water dripped and sang" which is altogether a rather beautiful sentence, which creates the image of something created by natures, that's bother tranquil and extradionary.
In the story water is seen as one of the most important things, and takes on the primary purpose of being the most important thing they need to survive and centering their lives.

The mountain
The man and boy travel through the mountains in hope finding something better on the other side. This happens a lot within many books, people travel through mountains, suffering many'a hardship on their way through in the hope that it'll be worth it on the other side, they'll be able to lead a better, saffer life. In this story, the man and boy travel through the mountains, firstly because they're following the path of the birds and hoping to find something better, and secondly because if they stay on the side of the mountains they are on for any longer, they will freeze to death.
Fire
Fire is something that's been with man since the dawn of time, it's one of the main things which originally seperated us from the animals. It's used for survial in the way that it's used for both food and warmth, it's one of mans most basic essentials. Within the story we are brought back to the begining of civilisation when once again mankind is left to rely upon this basic tool, it signals both the regression of society and the fall of mankind.

Sight/sightlessness
In the story, the mans wife is blind. The world is also blind in the sense that it's a dead world. To survive in a dead world, in which hummanity has descended into nothing more than  plagues of savages, roaming around with the aim to hunt and kill, one would have thought you'd need sight, the man's wife proves you do not. I'm unsure whether this is because of the man's help or not, as she manages to leave and kill herself without him. Another thing which makes me believe sight may not be as important as I'd think is the fact that in the dark, when they cannot see they still manage to escape from the bad guys :/

Seeds
Music/musical instruments
Religious imagery
The Coca Cola can

The sea
Through part of the story, the man and boys goal is to reach the sea, a place where they hope things'll be better or adleast appear more hopeful than the dreary and althogher dead landscape they travel across. The first description of the sea we get it "the ocean vast and cole shifting heavily like a slowly heaving vat of slag and then the gray squall line of ash" the whole description being like one long list of negativity. The ocean is not described as one would expect an American ocean to be, as a beautiful blue expanse surrounded by golden sandy beaches, it's instead one that creates a desparingly sad image.

The colour grey (gray American spelling) Ash
Firstly the spelling itself helps to create a sense of place, as it's the American spelling, which is also another huge clue towards the fact that the book is set in America.
Everything from the landscape to the sea is covered in ash within the book. Ash is associated with fire, and ruin, and death, within the story it is also associated with this. Throughout the story, the ash plagues the man and boy, acting as a constant reminder to the loss of hummanity, covering everything that once meant something to someone.

The road rat!!....

• What element of forshadowing is employed in this section and why? (pg 62)

• What does the description of the men teach us about them? (Characterisation pg 62-3)
• McCarthy uses a simile when describing the truck 'Lumbering and creaking like a ship'. Why does he do this?
• Why does Mccarthy describe the Road Rat in such detail? (Characterisation pg 65)
• Why is the Road Rats character so explicit whilst the man is so implicit?
• 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)
• "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?
• Why don't the other men chase after the boy and the man following the shooting? (there are clues on pg 73-4).
• 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)

In this section of the book, forshadowing is used "The boy took his truck from the pack and shaped roads in the ash with a stick. Th truck tooled along slowly." Later in this section they come across people along the road with a truck. It also goes on to say "He made truck noises." this shows that the boy came from a time where there were still enough trucks for him to make noises, and also for the noises to be something for him not to fear, as if they heard truck noises now it's mean someone bad is coming e.g the road rat. It also mentions that he is playing with ash, hinting towards the nuclear disaster and the earth being burnt.
On pages 62 and 63, McCarthy describes the men who came with the truck in great detail "They came shuffling through the ash casting their heads from side to side." This description reminds me of an unhuman like rable, though at this point it could still be argued that they are from the goverment as it then goes on to say "Some of them wearing canister masks. One in a biohazard suit." the goverment are the people most likely to have equipment such as this, to protect themselves. The biohazard suit also hints towards nuclear disaster, the man wearing it wishes to seperate himself physical from the world, he does not wish to be contaminated by the air, he could also be mentally seperating himself also from the things they are doing. The next few lines inform us though that these people are definately bad "Stained and filthy. Slouching along with clubs in their hands, lengths of pipes" these men are stained and filthy, they do not wash, they travel together in a pack and they intend to kill and eat those they come across. He also then writes a sentence of one word "Coughing." These men then become almost zombie like, they are the walking diseased, each of them are dying slowlying, stumbling on, eating flesh in a mindless rable. The man also describes them as having "hooded heads" like the grim reaper, further enforcing the idea that this is death coming for them.
McCarthy describes the truck as "Lumbering and creaking like a ship." I think this is to repersent the whole ongoing idea of Noah's ark, throughout the book references are made to birds e.g when the man remember how he woke one morning to see the birds flying south, the man is following the birds in hope of finding better things, such as in the bible Noah followed the dove, which led him to safety.
The Noah's ark reference is also continued on into McCarthy's description of the road rat, who he describes as having "a tattoo of a bird on his neck" the others are also going south, the road rat has a bird tatooed on his neck, his truck is described as a ship. I'm thinking maybe this is a metaphor for people's wrong doings and treatment of the planet, we will all eventually cause our own downfall and this time god will not chose to safe us.
The character of the road rat is very specific in they way that he talks. He uses informal words and answers in basic and simple sentences. I think this is done to show the difference between good and bad, the good guys try to retian the proper way of doing things such as with speech to keep some elements of humanity. In contrast to this, the bad guys talk in a basic and simple way, to show their loss of humainty. This is done to show that at the end, all things descend and we revert back to basic instincts of living to kill and survive. In a dead world, proper prunication doesn't matter for who is their to hear it?
The man talks with the road rat "What are you eating? - Whatever we can find. - Whatever you can find." when the road rat says it, he litterally means whatever they can find however, when the man repeats it back he means human, humans are whatever they can find as there basically is nothing else to find. Later in this section, after the man shoots the road rat, as instead of following them to kill/eat them they already have a ready killed meal before them, which they chose to eat instead, so they can save energy. Waste not want not! This shows the lack of sentimentality, mere minutes, seconds even before he was shot, the road rat walked amongst them as one of them, but he meant nothing to them so they ate him.
Towards the end of this event, the man remembers the words "You will not face the truth. You will not." These are his wife's parting words to him, said when she went of to kill herself. She killed herself as a sacrafice for him, and now he has wasted the bullet. If anything happens now, he will have no choice but to shoot the boy as there is but one bullet left in the gun. The man may be remembering this in a state of dispear towards the situation he now finds himself stuck in, and yet still he feels he cannot truely face the truth of it all, for if he does there is no hope left.
The man waits till the end of this section to wash "gore" and "dead mans brains" from his sons hair, he does other things such as providing his son with blankets and warmth and making sure they have somewhere to sleep. This is done because the boy will still live with it in his hair but in contrast he could die from exhaustion or cold. Washing the brains out is not a necessity so therefore it is not done straight away.

The End in 25 Words...

I disliked the ending as I found it all to convenient that the boy would just find a new family to replace the man with.

Little Red Riding Hood

The girl wores a red cloak. She traveled through the forest, carrying food to give to her sick grandmother. Her mother warned her not to stop on her way there, she also said she shouldn't under any circumstances talk to any strangers.
Soon forgetting this advice, she was approached by a wolf who wished to know where she was going.
To see my grandmother, she replied. She's very sick.
Maybe you should pick her some flowers to cheer her up, said the wolf looking at her with a hungry gleam in his eyes.
That's a good idea. Maybe I will.
The little girl began to pick her grandmother some flowers as the wolf dispeared into the woods. The wolf hurried to the girl's grandmother's house. When there he knocked on the door pretending to be the little girl decieving her grandmother into letting him in.
Once inside the wolf swallowed the grandmother whole, not even giving her time to notice that he wasn't who she thought. The wolf then dressed in one of her nighties and caps and got into her bed leaving the door unlocked.
A short while later the girl knocked on her grandmother's door. Come in, said the wolf.
Why Grandma, said the girl. What a deep voice you have.
It's my cold.
And what big hands you have.
All the better to hug you with.
And what big eyes you have.
All the better to see you with.
And what big teeth you have.
All the better to eat you with.
The wolf swallowed the girl whole, as he did with her grandmother. He then fell asleep on the bed.
A near by woodcutter heard the girls screams, and looks through the window to see the wolfs asleep with his fat belly. He ran through the door, violently cutting the wolf open. He pulled the girl and her grandma from the wolfs stomach. They draged the wolfs dead body out of the house and filled him with stones. The woodcutter then threw the wolf into the river. They stood and watch as he drowned, and eventually sunk to the bottom of river. They left, leaving his body behind, alone at the bottom of the river.

Key Episodes

- coming across the man who has been struck by lightening (pp. 50-53)
Within this section of the book, the man and boy encounter a man who has been struck by lighting along the road, it's the first time the audience meet someone else from the road. The man is described as being "as burntlooking as the country" we already know the country is in a dreadful state, having been ravaged by fires, so it hints towards the dire state which the man is in.
The reaction of the man when he saw the others tells us about the attitude of people towards eachother "As they passed he looked down. As if he'd done something wrong." this quote shows that the man fears the others, he doesn't want to provoke them by getting direct eye contact, getting the audienced to question what others on the road are like.
The father tells his son they can't help the man "I'm sorry for what has happened to him but we can't fix him" the father repeats sentences similar to this over and over to the boy, in an attempt to harden him to the world and make him realise not everyone can be helped. I also think he repeats it in attempt to justify that they couldn't have helped. I think the father feels bad about not helping the man, and also feels anger towards his guilt, so he casts of the last thing he has that reminds him of his old life, his walet and left it and all it's conents "Some money, credit cards. His driver's license. A picture of his wife." These are items that remind him of a life that he's lost, in that life he would have felt guilt for not helping that man, but in this life he casts of the guilt as he can't help the man. It's also listed in the things that are most significant/important, money reperesenting normalicy, his driver's license showing who he is, a form of identification and finally, a photo of his wife, the woman he married and who in turn abandoned him. He abandons his wallet in the middle of the road, like his wife abandoned him and also as normalicy and his life did.

- shooting the 'roadrat' (pp. 62-69)
In pages 62 - 69, the man and boy encounter the bad people, who from the moment they are introduced we know they are to be feared. McCarthy writes "They came shuffling though the ash casting their hooded heads from side to side." This is not the usual way people walk, they are searching for something. The fact they wear hoods also hints towards them being feared, as symbolically those who wear hoods are hiding something, such as in the case of cult groups like the KKK in 1960's America, they wore hoods to hide their identity when hunting down black Americans, these people wear hoods when hunting people to eat as they no longer have an identitiy.
The boy and man run leaving their stuff behind, "He had the pistol in his hand. He couldn't even remember taking it from his belt" showing he is acting by instinct, like an animal  in danger. This demonstrates what people have been reduced to, hiding from and killing one another.
A man comes over to where they are hiding, and the father immediately reacts by threatening him. The other man talks less formally, using words such as "I aint goin nowheres" the writer choses to give him a more basic dialect to show the difference between him and the man and boy. The more basic tounge hints towards him being less educated and informed, it shows him to be more savage in the way he talks, like he is to be blunt thick and stupid, following others for food, as if he barely has a mind of his own.
The man threatens to shoot the other man, but he calls his bluff, claiming he wouldn't. They argue for a short while, until the other man grabs the boy, so the man automatically shoots him. McCarthy doesn't even write about the man thinking about shooting him, but he does like a defensive action. This part shows how at the end we are all brought back to our basic survival instincts.
The man shoots the roadrat in the head, which is symbolic in the way that in most horror films it's taken as a general rule that the only way to kill a zombie is to shoot them in the head, the roadrat is like a zombie as he eats human flesh to survive.
At the end of this key episode, the man places the boy on his shoulders and runs away from the bad people. The boy is described as "clutching his forehead, covered with gore and as mute as a stone." Gore is a word used in horror books, to show bits of human flesh that are beyond reconginising, it's a disgusting, not descript word. 


- finding the cellar of naked and mutilated people (pp. 112-121)
In this key episode of the book, the man and boy are starving, when they come across a stately home. When they walk up to the house, it's written "Chattel slaves had once trod these boards bearing food and drink on silver trays" to be a chattel slave means to be owned by the slave owner, to be their property, to know there were once slaves their forshadows what they are find. The contrast between the chattel slave and the silver trays shows the greed of the owners that once lived their, the contrast between the hardship of the slaves, and the cruetly carried out by the slave owners, which forshadows the cruelty of the 'bad people' towards the people in the cellar.
In this chapter, McCarthy also describes the "smell of mold and excrement" this smell should have alerted the man to the fact that there are people living there, as an old house wouldn't smell like excrement. As the man missed such an obvious thing, it shows how hungry he is, and how desperate he must be. Another rather obvious clue to show there are people already living there is the "gray trampled grass", showing that there is people there, as the snow is freshly fallen. Other clues to other people being there were the "trash piled everywhere", the padlock on the cellar, and the piles of clothes. Having missed there clues, it shows the mans obliviousness, as he key focus was food, part of me though feels that the man  must have noticed, and just ignored these signs, as he was so desperate, knowing without food they'd die anyway.
The boy though had picked up on these signs, and unlike his dad, decided that they were in danger. The boy wanted to leave "Papa, the boy said. We should go. Papa." It's significant that the second "Papa." has a full stop after it, where I'd expect to see a question mark, as in the boy questioning whether or not his father heard him, but it instead has a fullstop, as if he is telling his father they should leave. The boy is so scared "he was almost in tears" showing he is near hysterical about the whole thing. The boy claims "I'm not hungry, Papa. I'm not." The boy is lying to his father in a desperate bid to get him to leave. The fact that they boy sensed these things, or chose not to ignore them shows that he's being more careful than his father. Also, they way that the Father ignored the boys fears, or thought them wrong shows that he doesn't quite trust the judgement of the boy, though it turns out to be right.
In the hall "in one corner of the room was a great heap of clothing. Clothes and shoes. Belts. Coats. Blankers and old sleeping bags." These are all the items the people in the cellar, and those before them would have valued the most. It's odd that the man doesn't question why they are there, and to the audience it's pretty obvious that they belong to people who are dead, though the audience cannot comprehend what actually happened to them.
As they make their way into the cellar, they describe what they can see starting with simple description such as "part of a stone wall. Clay floor. A mattress darkly stained." ending with the descriptive sentences becoming longer and more detailed "Huddled against the back wall were naked people, male and female, all trying to hide, sheilding their faces with their hands." McCarthy lengths the descriptive sentences and adds comma's into them to reperesent the mans eyes adjusting to the light in the basement, the sentences get more descriptive as his eyes adjust due to the fact of him being able to see more.
In the book, after seeing the sight at the bottom of the stairs the man reacts "Christ, he said. Oh Christ." which is a line said in a horror movie, when the good guys looking down at all the victims. McCarthy does this, as really his books are mere rip off's of 70's B movies, in the way that the bad guys commit acts of cannibalism, where they eat those weaker than themselves.


- the baby on the spit (pp. 210-215)
In these pages, the boy and man see a pregnant woman and two men. The man decides to go and see what they're doing and who they are, whereas the boy does not want to. "The wooden and the true" <---- I'm not sure what this means, but I shall hazzard a guess it's something to do with the smoke of the fire?
The man describes "the leaves were soft from the recent rains and quiet underfoot" this is an unsually large amount of description for the man, hinting at the slowing of time, building up to an eventual event. He then goes on to describe "The small dirty face wide with fear." when talking about the boy, he put it in one sentence as if it's a statement of something that usually happens when they find themselves in any situtation he's not used to. It's also an odd what to describe a child's face when it's filled with fear, it's as if the word "dirty" taints him. Through out this part it seems as if the man is more desperate to get to the food than the boy, the boy seems more cautious.
Though, the man is so cautious to exposing his son to physical dangers, that he forgot about the mental ones. The boy had been exposed to the image of a "charred human infant headless and gutted and blackening on the spit", which isn't something you'd want your child to see. What's also key is the McCarthy writes this statement, as if it's matter of fact, also his use of punctuation or lack of it . I'd have expected to see commas but I don't, he writes it in a long descriptive list kind of fashion.
Having saw this, the man picks the boy up and they run for the toas with the man whispering "I'm sorry" I think he's appologising for not listening to the boys fears and carrying on regardless. I also think his appology could be linked to what he said in earlier of chapters of "you forget what you want to remember, and remember what you want to forget" he knows the image of the baby, dead and cooking on a spit will haunt the boy forever, this idea is repeated when the man wonders "if he'd ever speak again" or if this image had irrevertably damaged the boy?
Towards the end of this section, we are given a glimpse of how much it has effected the boy"Okay. Do you want to ride in the cart? - It's okay. - Why don't you ride for a while? - I don't want to. It's okay." It's as if the boys childhood has completely left him, something that was hinted at happening in an earlier chapter when he talks about how the boy used to pick things up from the road but no longer did, it shows how this incident has changed the boys view of the world. It also shows he's grown up when he says "I don't want to. It's okay." as if he's reasurring his dad that it's okay that he doesn't want to ride in the cart, he's growing up and that's good.


- getting to the shore (pp. 227 - 230)
In the beggining of this section, the man and boy have just stopped at a house for a few days to get their energy back. They gather new supplies and when they leave they talk "We did good, didn't we Papa? he said. Yes we did" I really like this quote in the way that it's a loving exchange, that fills me with hope, having read just this quote and not all of this book, it could be talking about anything that they've done together, even something as simple as flying a kite. It's amazing in the way it's merely the boy seeking his fathers approval, like anyother boy his age. This quote shows that even in a dead world, small elements of normalicy can survive. It shows hope that things can get better and not all is bad.
In this section, he also talks of how "his hand pushed over his head against the blackness. Like a man waking in a grave." Firstly, he talks about the darkness as if it's a force which leaves him defenseless, which essentially it is, because at night they have both sight and warmth taken from them. Secondly, he talks of men waking from graves reiniforcing the idea of McCarthy's book being merely based around bad 70's B movies, which the main of focus of them were zombies. The man and boy are like zombies in the way they seem to wander with the main aim to find food, that's all they survive for. This idea is also reinforced within the sentence "The dull green antique coppers spilled from out the tills of their eyesockets onto the stained and rotted coffin floor" this idea reinforces the zombie one as it talks about rotting of things and flesh. It also talks of the how they eyes have rotted away, which are described to be windows to the soul, therefore leaving the bodies without something that makes them human?
"He looked at the boy. He could see the dispointment on his face. I'm sorry it's not blue, he said. That's okay said the boy." This is where they've reached the sea, and it's not like they expected. The man feels responsible for it not being blue, knowing he lead the boy to believe it would be, inspired false hope within him. Where the boy says "It's okay" it sounds as if he is actually saying it's not your fault, because he can tell in some odd way that the man blames himself for the lack of blue.


- the theft of the man and boy's belongings (pp. 270-278)
In this section of the book, someone steals the man and boys belongings, it impacts the man and boys relationship because of the actions the man choses to take against the thief. The man takes all the theif's stuff, and when he begs him not to, the man replies with "I'm going to leave you the way you left us." the theif left them with nothing, he took all their supplies and left them to die, the man intend to do the same thing. This section hints towards the man losing his humanity, something that's already been hinted towards in prior chapters.

The Road - Quotes

This is my child, he said. I wash a dead man's brains out of his hair. That is my job. The quote is very bleak, it comes across as if it's been said without emotion as if you could hear it being said in a monotone voice. The man appears to be resigned to the fact that this is how his life is, that is his son, it's job to take care of him and therefore it's up to him to do the jobs that nobody would want to. The part "That is my job" combined with the rest of the quote, sounds as if he isn't doing it for love, but out of necessitty. Yes I am, he said. I am the one. Having read this quote, the audience will question who the one is? The one is the father, the only one reffering to the fact that he is the only one who wil take care of his son, as everyone else is gone or evil. Tomatoes, peaches, beans, apricots. Canned hams. Corned beef. When read aloud, the quote sounds like a song, as if having this food is an amazing, sacred gift. The man lists the foods, which to us can be found anywhere and aren't considered to be things of great value, to him at the end of the world it's the thing he lives to find. The mans sole existance revolves around finding food for himself and his son. The food itself, is stuff of little value, found in most shops or kitchen cuboards, and all of them can come in the form of canned goods. Canned goods can last a long time without being damaged, and because they're airtight they can't be ruined through radiation. The fact that they're surving of canned goods suggest there has been some sort of disaster, meaning they can't get fresh food. Are we still the good guys, he said. After his father shoots the man, the son questions whether or not they are still the good guys as now they've killed someone. The father taught the son that they are the good guys and the bad guys are the bad guys because they kill people, so once his father kills someone the boy questions their own goodness as they've done what he's been taught was wrong. We should go, Papa, he said. Yes, the man said. But he didn't. What is immediately noticeable about the quote above, it how short the sentences are, as if they are like thoughts or breaths. In the quote, the act contradicts what they are saying, the boy wishes to leave, and the man reasures him saying they will, but they don't. By doing this the man is appeasing the boy, in some ways it may be looked at as being selfish as he wishes to stay even though the boy is scared and it also could be looked at as a kind act as they father lies to his son because he wants him to stop feeling frightened? The snow fell nor did it cease to fall. The quote conveys a sense of hopelessness, nothing could be done to stop the snow fall. McCarthy could merely have written the snow fell all night, but the way he wrote it gives over a sense of dispair, it's both past and future, continous like the snow fall.  Okay? Okay. This quote is intresting as it's the exact same word, with two different implied meanings. The first okay is a question of whether or not everything is okay, and the second is an agreement of yes it is. The man asks the boy if it is okay by him, to which the boy replies okay. I think the man asks the boy more if he's okay to see if he understands why they're doing what they're doing and the boy replies with an okay in a kind of resigned or objective manner, as if he has no choice anyway. They sat on the edge of the tub and pulled their shoes on and them he handed the boy the pan and soap and he took the stove and the little bottle of gas and the pistol and wrapped in their blankets and they went back across the yard to the bunker. Even when they're washing, an activity that most people do daily, the presence of the pistol shows the ongoing danger throughout the novel. They are not safe, nor do they feel safe anywhere at any time. Tolling in the silence the minutes of the earth. When someone dies the church bells are described as having tolled eg the bells tolled after his funeral, the minutes of the earth being described as tolling could suggest that the earth is dying, or everything on the earth is dead and the earth is tolling for them, remembering what it has lost. This is overall a very grim quote, that creates a scene of emptiness, and suggest that the book is filled with sorrow, loss and people who are alone. She was gone and the coldness of it was her final gift

Having read this quote, people will immediately question who she is, why she left and how she left? It creates the sense of an act so cruel it's done without emotion and done to hurt others. It talks of the "coldness" being "her final gift" which suggest she did what she did in a cold manner, so that the people she left would feel hate towards her and find it easier to move on from her and wouldn't try to follow her?