Lands of Strife If one were to imagine an old tale, but were to remove its lighthearted elements and focus on grimness and realism, they would not stray far from the style of Cormac McCarthy. Depicting various settings in rural America, he paints brutal scenes of conflict, typically without a cheerful ending. With this in mind, McCarthy’s writings heavily employ heavy violence, the struggle of lawfulness and evil, and unique flowing text with sparse punctuation. Before examining his modus operandi, considerable notability is gathered from the life of Cormac McCarthy. Born in Rhode Island in 1933, but with most of his life spent in rural America, McCarthy is renowned for western fiction and post-apocalyptic novels. The geography of where he …show more content…
Right at the start of the novel, the reader is introduced to Anton Chigurh who makes an escape by killing a deputy with his manacles. The notion of America’s excessive violence is made evident early on, and Sheriff Bell notes “some of the old time sheriffs wouldn't even carry a firearm” (McCarthy 33). This is a relic of a past, however, as a police officer is killed within the first chapter. Llewelyn, who is the closest thing to a main character, is plunged into this world of violence. He notes that “he would probably never be safe again in his life” and he wonders if it would be something he “would ever get used to” (McCarthy 60). There is a constant struggle for Llewelyn to escape the bloodshed, but ultimately it consumes him. Consequently the entirety of the novel’s plot is directed by McCarthy’s bombardment of …show more content…
There is a considerable pull to his works as it “eschews the baroque, elaborate, lengthy sentences characteristic” of other literature (Graham). Thusly McCarthy is compared to other “[modernist] authors…[like] James Joyce…[and] Gertrude Stein.” in this unique sense (Graham). The lack of punctuation allows for scenes to continue on to their desired length while being able to give detail when describing a landscape. In addition, McCarthy stresses himself that the absence of punctuation “works in [the] interest of maximum clarity…[and] requires deliberation” (Jones). In this fashion, the aforementioned stylism establishes an original feeling of text as well as opens up increased depth and consideration to his
The day is unlike any other. The mail has come and lying at the bottom of the stack is the favored Outside magazine. The headline reads, “Exclusive Report: Lost in the Wild.” The cover speaks of a twenty four year old boy who “walked off into America’s Last Frontier hoping to make sense of his life.” The monotony of the ordinary day has now vanished from thought as Jon Krakauer’s captivating article runs through the mind like gasoline to an engine. The article is not soon forgotten, and the book Into the Wild is happened upon three years later. The book relates the full story of Christopher Johnson McCandless and how he left his family and friends after graduating college in order to find himself. Krakauer based the book off of his article on McCandless that was printed in January of 1993. From the time of writing the article to the printing of Into the Wild, Krakauer was obsessed with the tale of the boy who rid himself of society and later turned up dead in the Alaskan frontier. In the foreword of Into the Wild, Krakauer describes McCandless as “an extremely intense young man [who] possessed a streak of stubborn idealism that did not mesh readily with modern existence” and who was in deed searching for a “raw, transcendent experience” (i-ii). Krakauer is correct in assessing this conclusion about McCandless. This conclusion is seen throughout the book in many different assessments. Krakauer uses logical appeal, a comparison to his own life, and assumption to bring about his assessment of McCandless’ life.
McCarthy simply stresses imagery, setting, and conflict all of which show that effortless decisions can lead to great outcomes.
When Jon Krakauer published a story about the death of a young man trekking into the Alaskan frontier in the January 1993 issue of Outside magazine, the audience’s response to Christopher McCandless’s story was overwhelming. Thousand of letters came flooding in as a response to the article. Despite the claims, especially from the native Alaskans, questioning McCandless’s mental stability and judgement, it soon becomes clear that McCandless was not just "another delusional visitor to the Alaskan frontier" (4). As Krakauer retells the life of Christopher McCandless and gives his own take on the controversy around McCandless’s death in Into The Wild, the reader also creates his own opinion on both McCandless and Krakauer’s argument. Krakauer
When John Grady tells his friend, Rawlins, about his first meeting with Alejandra, the author uses Rawlins to point out some important traits in John Grady: his stubbornness, his disregard for the conflicts that his actions might cause, and his need to be “in love,” even if his feelings aren’t reciprocated.... ... middle of paper ... ... Even after John Grady has been jailed, wounded and betrayed, he cannot give up his romanticism. McCarthy’s novel is not about a boy trying to find his place in society, but about a boy trying to find himself and who he really is apart from society.
Cormac McCarthy was wise in choosing the Southwest as the setting for a novel of unprecedented bloodshed. No other land would have done McCarthy’s ideas justice, given that only the Southwest harbored such wanton violence. A ...
Cormac McCarthy's setting in Blood Meridian is a landscape of endless and diverse beauty. McCarthy highlights the surprising beauty of combinations of scrubby plants, jagged rock, and the fused auburn and crimson colors of the fiery wasteland that frame this nightmarish novel. Various descriptions, from the desolate to the scenic, feature McCarthy's highly wrought, lyrical prose. Such descriptions of the divine landscape seem to serve a dual function. While being an isolated highlight to this gruesome novel, McCarthy's beautiful setting also serves as an intricate device in defining the novel's themes and creating the reality in which it is set.
McCarthy wrote the novel in ways that force readers to remove themselves from their comfort zones. He wrote The Road with a lack of punctuation that can make things somewhat confusing for readers. Some critics find that without quotation marks it makes the book hard to follow. But when I read the book I found that after the first fifty pages I understood when the characters were speaking. Finding that I had to pay a little more attention didn’t bother ...
McCarthy’s use of biblical allusions help to create a setting in which all the characters have more complex parts to play than what it seems like at first glance. The allusions also create the tone, which is somber, and almost dream like. The protagonist had his “palms up” while sleeping, which could mean that he fell asleep as he was praying, or in other words pleading. Yet when he woke up “it was still dark”, this creates a hopeless ton because even after all of the begging, the world he woke up to was a dark one. When the wolf dies, the protagonist imagines her “running in the mountains” with different
The reader is put in the middle of a war of nerves and will between two men, one of which we have grown up to learn to hate. This only makes us even more emotional about the topic at hand. For a history book, it was surprisingly understandable and hard to put down. It enlightened me to the complex problems that existed in the most memorable three months this century.
Born in Home, Pennsylvania in 1927, Abbey worked as a forest ranger and fire look-out for the National Forest Service after graduating from the University of New Mexico. An author of numerous essays and novels, he died in 1989 leaving behind a legacy of popular environmental literature. His credibility as a forest ranger, fire look- out, and graduate of the University of New Mexico lend credibility to his knowledge of America’s wilderness and deserts. Readers develop the sense that Abbey has invested both time and emotion in the vast deserts of America.
Into the Wild by John Krakauer is a rare book in which its author freely admits his bias within the first few pages. “I won't claim to be an impartial biographer,” states Krakauer in the author’s note, and indeed he is not. Although it is not revealed in the author's note whether Krakauer's bias will be positive or negative, it can be easily inferred. Krakauer's explanation of his obsession with McCandless's story makes it evident that Into the Wild was written to persuade the reader to view him as the author does; as remarkably intelligent, driven, and spirited. This differs greatly from the opinion many people hold that McCandless was a simply a foolhardy kid in way over his head. Some even go as far as saying that his recklessness was due to an apparent death-wish. Krakauer uses a combination of ethos, logos and pathos throughout his rendition of McCandless’s story to dispute these negative outlooks while also giving readers new to this enigmatic adventure a proper introduction.
Many people were puzzled on why the young man decided to go on such an expedition without being properly prepared. His death has led to a controversy between whether he should be idolized for having the courage to follow his dream or repulsed for his grand stupidity. Although Krakauer never met McCandless, he provides his readers with personal examples that explain why the young man went on this journey. Expecting his readers to comprehend McCandless, Krakauer’s primary purpose is to help his readers understand the importance of embracing one's personal dreams. In order to achieve his purpose, he uses a variation of literary and rhetorical techniques. Some of these techniques include epigrams and ethos. These devices are essential to Krakauer’s purpose because they illustrate and explain the reasons why McCandless went into the inhospitable landscape of Alaska.
To begin with, Poe valued punctuation in its ability to make a point. Proper use of punctuation allowed the reader to feel the full effect the sentence was supposed to have. All this is demonstrated in the first sentence of “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “True!—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?” Here, the dashes take the place of a comma to create the tension of the story on the first line. It draws the reader in, so that the reader has to determine whether or not the narrator is sane. Also, he uses semicolons to lengthen and support a sentence, usually by joining multiple phrases together. With a period instead of a semicolon, the relationship between the first clause and second isn’t emphasized as much as it could be. A semicolon stresses the narrator’s insistence in his sanity. Last of all, his use of exclamation marks shows the narrator’s state of mind, thoughts, and emotions. Without the exclamation mark in the first line, the impact of the narrator’s statement wouldn’t be as great. Yet, in observing punctuation, one can hardly fail to notice the relationship it pla...
...he Vigilante" first dehumanized the black man and then beat him which was very cruel. ("he got up, and then somebody else socked him and he went over and hit his head on the cement floor."P.137). The manner in which the characters commit the violent actions helps show the evil of man.
McCarthy’s novel clarifies the affects isolation made for the traveler’s in the story. In particular to the son, isolation affected him in a more discrete way than the father. Everything he sees and experiences goes into great affect in what makes