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The road cormac mccarthy theme essay
Key scenes of the road by cormac mccarthy
Themes on the road cormac mccarthy
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“A work is never completed except by some accident such as weariness, satisfaction, the need to deliver, or death: for, in relation to who or what is making it, it can only be one stage in a series of inner transformations. (Paul Valery XVI)” The continuous and iterative cycle of creation is a natural part of humanity as Paul Valery states. This cycle of creation is embraced in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, where he explores what makes humans more than simply animals. His novel set in a post-apocalyptic future brings us to a point in the progression of humanity in which growth has seemingly come to an end. This perceived ending of man is embraced through McCarthy’s use of Paul Valery’s thesis of the Assumed Infinity, theorized in his essay, Recollection.
By focusing on macro-level regenerative violence, McCarthy embraces Paul Valery’s thesis. This theory of the Assumed Infinity can be conceptualized through the concept of the trend versus momentary fluctuations, and the importance of each] in its own right. Specific moments in life are where there are bursts of adrenaline, feelings of emotion, etc, and are short and are encapsulated in a moment. Trends ignore all of the miniscule bumps along the road, no matter their importance, and rather focus on the form and the end goal of the pattern. Paul Valery states that in compliance with this theory and in thriving for unattainable perfection, he “fashioned for myself a poetry void of hope, a poetry that had no other purpose and almost no other law than to establish for me a way of living with myself, for a part of my days. I set no term to it, and I imposed conditions enough to provide matter for labor without end.” In Valery’s mind, the path towards perfection began with no hope and focused on the bare minimum of laws. Essentially, a destruction of all the unnecessary parts of the world, and focusing only on the bare necessities. This poetry which Valery describes is the beginning of his work, which he describes as “matter for labor without end.” The concept of working with no end is an embrace of the concept of
...f the natural” (Abbey 6) then proceeds to personify everything around him from ravens that “croak harsh clanking sounds of smug satisfaction” (Abbey 16), to a Juniper tree that might be mad, or simply suffering “an internal effort at liberation” (Abbey 27). While Abbey explores the contradiction of man and nature merged, yet separate, McCandless frequently re-shapes his paradigm to incorporate discovery. Non-adherence to predetermined configurations allows both men to have the relationships they seek with wilderness and industrial society. We see on close inspection that what at first appears to be a contradiction is actually a purposeful non-conformity that allows each man to tailor his experience.
In nature, someone can hear the sounds of a creek flowing and birds chirping and insects buzzing; in civilization, someone can hear engines roaring, people chattering, and buildings being built. In nature, one feels happiness and contentment; in civilization, one feels guilt and misery and sorrow. These simplicities of nature are what appeals to William Cullen Bryant in the poem ‘Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood’. The poem tells the reader that nature is a happier place than civilization and that nature gives one the answers to their existence and problems of life that civilization created. Civilization is ugly and corrupt while nature is beauty and tranquility.
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. John Grady begins the story with no answers, and at the end he still doesn’t have a clue. There is no resolution for him; there are only more questions, conflicts, and misunderstandings. I think that McCarthy’s point is that to live romantically is to live without cause, without real hope, and ultimately without love. Despite the author’s obvious compassion for John Grady and his idealism, he shows us through romantically descriptive writing that a romantic lifestyle cannot work in this world. The book ends with John Grady riding out into the sunset, having learned nothing, with no place to go. Until the character learns how to compromise with society and give up his romanticism, his life will have no purpose.
Through The Natural’s allusions to the Bible and Sigmund Freud, Bernard Malamud reveals that humanity is innately imperfect through man’s temptation, inevitability of failure and the decline of success, and ego.
Kurt Vonnegut's apocalyptic novel, Cat's Cradle, might well be called an intricate network of paradox and irony. It is with such irony and paradox that Vonnegut himself describes his work as "poisoning minds with humanity...to encourage them to make a better world" (The Vonnegut Statement 107). In Cat's Cradle, Vonnegut does not tie his co-mingled plots into easy to digest bites as the short chapter structure of his story implies. Rather, he implores his reader to resolve the paradoxes and ironies of Cat's Cradle by simply allowing them to exist. By drawing our attention to the paradoxical nature of life, Vonnegut releases the reader from the necessity of creating meaning into a realm of infinite possibility. It appears that Vonnegut sees the impulse toward making a better world as fundamental to the human spirit; that when the obstacle of meaning is removed the reader, he supposes, will naturally improve the world.
Many find reverence and respect for something through death. For some, respect is found for something once feared. In a passage from The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy, a man cares for a wolf that has died. The prominent religious motif and the paradox contrasting beauty and terror create a sense of awe that is felt by the narrator as he cares for the wolf.
The use of theme in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey brings upon the ideas of misogyny, sexual repression and freedom, and salvation from an omnipotent oppressor, through the story of Chief Bromden, who lives in an insanity ward. Even from the beginning pages of the novel, the reader is introduced to such characters as Nurse Ratched, or the “Big Nurse,” who is said to be the dictator of the ward and acts upon the ward with the utmost control. Another branch of the theme of oppressors and salvation that relates to Nurse Ratched, as well as Randle McMurphy, is the idea that they are both representatives of figures based in Catholicism. Sexual repression and freedom is seen with the ultimate punishment in the ward, a lobotomy, being stated as equivalent to castration. Both of the operations are seen as emasculating, removing the men’s personal freedom, individuality, and sexual expression, and reducing them to a child-like state. All of these different pieces of the theme relates to a powerful institution that, because of the advances of the time, such as technology and civil rights for women, is causing men to be common workers without distinctive thoughts that must fit the everyday working mold of the 1950s.
The argument and main point of this book is very convincing, there is endless violence and death throughout each chapter, relly hitting it out of the park when it comes to how gruesome it was in the west in that time period. Violence represent the anarchy in the West in the 1840s with the bare minimum mention of the law in any way throughout the novel. McCarthy's often use of violence specifically takes a jab at the human condition and the want for bloodlust. It is the one constant thing in the book. The author uses rhetoric very often, he wants to persuade the reader that the west was a land of torment, constant death, and
The concept of what is "individuality" and what is not has plagued and delighted man since the dawn of time. “All the Pretty Horses” by Cormac McCarthy adds 302 more pages to the pile of all the works that have been on the quest to define individualism. In this novel, McCarthy takes us through four faces of the key character’s life, John Grady, to portray the idea of illusory individualism. He contends that John Grady is simply a product of a society in contrast to his (Grady) notion of free will. Simply put: Grady has no alternatives but an obligation to conform to society. McCarthy uses him to create the platform in which to comment on oppression of individuality, expectation of conformity to the values of the society and the fact that the concept of individualism is a myth.
"McCarthy, Cormac 1933–." Concise Major 21st Century Writers. Ed. Tracey L. Matthews. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 2006. 2370-2375. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 4 Mar. 2012.
In Cormac McCarthy’s book The Road, the two main characters struggle to keep moving forward. Their motivation to push onward is found in the bottom levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs; which are physiological, safety, and emotional. Each of the levels are equally important in order for the man to reach self-actualization. In order to reach the top level, however, the man must fulfill the bottom levels first.
McCarthy is trying to show that during desperate times there is a sudden loss in humanity due to the uneasiness and the drastic measures one will take in order to survive. A person will do anything it takes to survive in desperate and desolate worlds. McCarthy is proving this with his diction and choice of imagery. A man and a boy set out to survive in a tragic and dangerous world, where the main food source is depleting and all resources are deteriorating. A novel about what is left of a man’s family and how they struggle to survive. Humanity is tested and shows just how extreme ones actions can be. The want for life is tested, one could question whether or not survival will be possible for the man and the
People always like to refer to themselves as “independent”. Independence may seem like a great ideal in modern society, but in a post-apocalyptic world, a sense of dependence is unavoidable. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs help us to understand what people depend on. In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, survival of the boy and the man is due to their dependence on their human nature and ability to support one another.
“Authors use setting to create meaning, just as painters use backgrounds and objects to render ideas.” - Literary Anthology. The setting of "A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty, takes place on a cold December morning during the 1940 's. In "A Worn Path", the setting allows readers to grasp a better understanding of various components which make up the story. The components are the character qualities, symbols and the mood and atmosphere. The path the main character, Phoenix, follows to the city and what she endures through her journey shows what kind of person Phoenix is and the true qualities of her character. The symbols found in the setting allow a deeper incite to the meaning of the story and why they are present.
Praises resound around the world everyday in admiration of man's magnificent creation, technology. Scientific progress has been hailed the number one priority of man, while the development of society itself has been cast aside like an old beta vcr. When surrounded by a constant herd of machinery, finding purpose in life is often overshadowed by a desire to continually generate new scientific inventions. In the post-war classics Waiting for Godot and Slaughterhouse Five, the authors rally for meaning within the chaos of technology and stress the importance of "a possibility of choice"(Sartre 339). In addition to improved technology, Vonnegut and Beckett emphasize that members of society need to attach significance to their lives through the use of free will.