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The road cormac mccarthy essay
Literary criticism of the road by cormac mccarthy
Analysis of cormac mccarthys the road
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Cruelty is callous indifference to or pleasure to causing pain and suffering. Cruelty can be measured in different ways from taking a child's toy or bombing another country, but is there any reason why people commit these cruel acts. In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road a catastrophic event has happened causing an apocalypse where many people have died, animals are extinct, and the soil is now infertile. This causes the humans to perform cruel acts in order to survive, but are these acts really cruel? People in The Road execute atrocious acts of cruelty in the aspiration of surviving, but do people’s morals affect their acts of cruelty. The Road takes place some time in the future where people are surviving on food made before the apocalypse or by …show more content…
This classic by John Steinbeck has two men, George and Lennie, but the catch is that Lennie is mentally handicapped. Lennie causes problems throughout the book that George has to fix. At the end of this story Lennie kills a vixen of a women by accident. George now comes to the realization that Lennie is a menace to society .George meets Lennie outside of town and shoots him in the head. This was unavoidable because George knows that Lennie will just cause more problems in the future maybe even killing more people. Lennie could be compared to the dog in The Road because if the dog would have kept following them the man would have had to shoot the dog because the dog would have attracted attention with his …show more content…
Cruel acts that the other characters committed in McCarthy’s book may not be cruel in this new world that these characters suffer through. Cannibalism is an unacceptable act in our culture and is by far one of the most cruel acts that can be committed, but in this book it is a means of survival, so is that so cruel. Cruelty is different in this book because the only way to survive is to be cruel to someone else. There are many cruel topics in this book like theft, rape, killings, and cannibalism. These can be taken as cruel affairs, but in this book it is survival of the fittest and the people willing to do what it takes to survive are the fit. Even the man and the boy commit cruel acts like when the man stole their supplies in the shopping cart and they went after him to get those items back. “Take your clothes off. What? Take them off. Every goddamned stitch. Come on. Don’t do this. I’ll kill you where you stand.”(256). This act was the only cruel act they committed. The act was righted by trying to give back the thief’s clothes by leaving them in the road. The act of the man and child trying to give the clothes back is what separates the man and child from the bad guys, ultimately making them the good
Lennie Small, a mentally impaired man, is first introduced to us traveling with George. George, however, is not related to Lennie. Lennie travels with George because no one else understands him like he does. Lennie says, “Because…because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you…” (Steinbeck 14). Lennie believes if George ever left him that he could live in a cave by himself and not bother anyone again (Steinbeck 12). Lennie realizes he would be alone without George, but he never has known anyone else to depend on but George, and from that, they have a bond, a friendship. This shows Lennie’s need for his relationship with George.
The novella Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck introduced the reader to the character George. George is faced with the difficult decision of whether or not to kill his best friend. His best friend, Lennie has a mental disability that resulted in his brain not fully developing. In the 1930’s no one respected people with a disability. George had to constantly run around trying to get Lennie out of trouble and he never had time to himself. Finally when Lennie was getting hunted down by a lynching party for the second time, George thought maybe it was best if Lennie wasn't around anymore. George was devastated that he would no longer have his companion by his side but he could no longer look after Lennie. His decision was tough but he killed Lennie out of love.
How can man be driven to savagery when man is free of society’s “restrictions”? When faced with survival or death, what draws the line when trying to survive? By comparing these two novels, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding and Maze Runner, by James Dashner, it can be understood that the authors’ intent was to deem the idea that society provides order and support necessary for survival. Maze Runner regards the same idea of being set in a foreign area and trying to pull through the forces against them. In this case, a boy, Thomas is placed in a maze with unfamiliar boys and escape is top priority. Similar to The Lord of the Flies, whereas a group of boys crash land onto an exotic island and, of course, attempting escape. Golding’s
When there is any amount of accepted cruelty being enacted upon a people, change and development occurs immediately so that balance is restored or created. In the novel, the society had conformed to rules and beliefs regarding the value of an individual, “You did what you had to do [and you succeeded]” (Bradbury 145). The people had been forced to act and live in a way that is seen as cruel to us, but normal to them. However, the found order and internal stability of the novel’s setting is admirable to society today in the here and now. Certain examples of changing an entire civilization’s culture regarding the treatment of others in the real-world are able to glorify the statements proclaimed in Fahrenheit 451. In South Africa, there had been a primarily segregative ruling system, entitled Apartheid for the majority of its recent history. However, it was immediately changed and altered once the people of the nation began to experience and realize the identified cruelty that had been placed upon the indigenous South Africans. Immediate change and reorganization of South African society and government occurred. One can presume that change and development, of any society and culture, can be linked to the cruelty, pain, and suffering that is wanted to be stopped or changed. Yet, when there is a different idea of what is wanted, and what is considered to be cruel, a unique reality and set of situations occur, as presented in Ray Bradbury’s
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck is of two men who care for each other very deeply. They have their financial struggles and one partner with mental disabilities. They battle their hardships together, but when Lennie, the mentally disabled, makes a mistake and kills someone, it forces George to have to take away Lennie’s life. Critics believe George Milton committed cold-blooded murder when he killed his close companion, Lennie Small; I disagree and believe George’s heroic journey instead lead him to the mercy killing of Lennie.
The world Cormac McCarthy wrote about is certainly the grimmest and most decayed place a person may live in, because of the absence of law managements and higher authorities which should guide or oppress the population, and the freedom humanity has at its hands. McCarthy wants to point out the reality that humans should be allowed to exercise their free will, but must not exaggerate, and develops circumstances which display the extent to which people are willing to abuse their independence and unleash their dark side. because the majority of the inhabitants of this planet are willing to resort to other means of survival, which are selfish and immoral, if not for the existence of legislation and order.
Overall, John Steinbeck uses the character of George to represent the harshness of 1930s society and how rare companionship was, even though his companionship with Lennie ended
Man’s immorality is expressed in the steady decline of human decency in the civilization that the boys create on their island. In the few weeks after their plane crash which strands them on a paradise-like island, Ralph organizes the boys into an ordered civilization. However, the boys soon realize that nobody is around to reprove them if they hurt, bully, or even kill each other and the animals on the island, and start following the sadistic Jack. He encourages them to become savage by showing them the joy of hurting and killing lesser animals. The actions of the boys show that Man’s morals were not imbedded in his being, but bred into him by the pressures of civilization. Without civilization to keep people in check, they start to run wild, because nobody is restraining them. This property is shown especially by Roger in Lord of the Flies. In the beginning ...
In McCarthy’s novel The Road, one of the main issues deals with cannibalism and the moral/ethic issues of survival. Though McCarthy depicts cannibalism negatively in this post-apocalyptic world, it is apparent that cannibalism is necessary for humans to survive when there is no real food to eat. Whether they know what’s actually good vs what is actually bad, they still have a reason to try and stay alive even though things are absolutely terrible around them. Staying alive, to carry the fire for the good of humanity. In a world where everything is just coming to an end, people resort to eating each other in order to stay alive. Where there are bad and good people, but what does it actually mean to be bad? Eating human beings or not helping those people in need of help?
John Steinbeck wrote a story about two men that only had each to depend on. Many of George and Lennie's struggles come from things they cannot control such as Lennie's mental issues. George and Lennie are very poor and they work on farms together, but they have to move a lot because Lennie always does something stupid. The greatest tragedy in Mice and Men was when Lennie was left alone with Curley's wife. She was the reason why Lennie ended up being killed. She knew of to manipulate others to get her way and that is what she relies on most of the time.
""The Art of Cruelty"" The New York Times Book Review, 31 July 2011. Web. 27 Nov. 2011.
It is a novel based in a post-apocalyptic world that revolves around the lives of a father and his son who are just trying to survive. With everything around them destroyed and stripped of life, the two continue their lives hoping for better days to come. They live in a constant state of fear with everyday being spent constantly moving and scavenging for food, all while trying to remain unnoticed. Living in a world where survival is the only goal, the idea of morality has become non-existent. Cannibalism is a major fear because everyone around them is a potential predator. But in this “Barren, silent, godless” (The Road 4) world, where “the days more gray each one then what had gone before” (The Road 1), the man and his son are able to hold their own. Their sense of morality remains intact and they refuse to resort to the lifestyle that the majority of people around them have chosen. They feel as though certain actions are intrinsically wrong and therefore never justifiable. The man refers to himself and his son as the “good guys” and Erik J. Wielenberg explains that they follow a specific moral code. This code includes the rules: Don’t eat people, Don’t steal, Don’t lie, Keep your promises, Help others, and Never give up. (Wielenberg 4). According to these principles, cannibalism is never justifiable. Although the threat of starvation has caused the society to resort to cannibalism, the man and his son promise one another that regardless of the situation, they will refuse to do it. “We wouldn’t ever eat anybody, would we? ..No matter what?” The father assures his son by repeating, “No. No, matter what” (The Road
Imagine a world where everything is black and covered in layers of ash, where dead bodies are scattered throughout the streets and food is scarce. When earth, once green and alive, turns dark and deadly. A story about a man, his son and their will to survive. Within the novel Cormac McCarthy shows how people turn to animalistic and hasty characteristics during a post-apocalyptic time. Their need to survive tops all other circumstances, no matter the consequences. The hardships they face will forever be imprinted in their mind. In the novel, The Road, author Cormac McCarthy utilizes morbid diction and visual imagery to portray a desperate tone when discussing the loss of humanity, proving that desperate times can lead a person to act in careless ways.
At the beginning, the author describes his movement using a metaphor, as Lennie “[drags] his feet… the way a bear drags his paws” (p.2), to show that he is much alike a bear physically. In addition, Steinbeck uses a simile to emphasize Lennie’s animal-like behaviour, as he “[drinks] wit long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse” (p.3). By comparing his physical and behavioural characteristics, this can foreshadow that the author implies that Lennie is seen as more animal than human because of his metal disabilities. George further makes it evident when he infers that “somebody [would] shoot [him] for a coyote if [he] was by [himself]” (p.12). This shows that people are scared of him and his unpredictable, animal-like behaviour because of the lack of understanding about mental health during the early 1900s. Furthermore, this can be the foundation for the theme where the lack of communication and understanding with the mentally disabled can lead to dire and tragic
The structure and language used is essential in depicting the effect that the need for survival has had upon both The Man and The Boy in The Road. The novel begins in media res, meaning in the middle of things. Because the plot isn’t typically panned out, the reader is left feeling similar to the characters: weary, wondering where the end is, and what is going to happen. McCarthy ensures the language is minimalistic throughout, illustrating the bleak nature of the post-apocalyptic setting and showing the detachment that the characters have from any sort of civilisation. Vivid imagery is important in The Road, to construct a portrait in the reader's mind that is filled with hopelessness, convincing us to accept that daily survival is the only practical option. He employs effective use of indirect discourse marker, so we feel as if we are in the man’s thought. The reader is provided with such intense descriptions of the bleak landscape to offer a feeling of truly seeing the need for survival both The Man and The Boy have. The reader feels no sense of closu...