The Road Rhetorical Analysis

Stylistic Prose Techniques

1. Precise Diction
• Precise diction refers to the author’s choice of words throughout the work, emphasizing their main plot of the story.
• “Creedless shells of men…” (28).
• McCarthy uses precise diction to emphasize his plot and accentuate imagery throughout the novel. Creedless literally means without a creed, without any belief, without any faith. Shell portray that the men are simply empty, there is nothing inside the “shell”. This means that the men are empty, without any beliefs or hope, emphasizing how cold-hearted and inhumane these men are during the post-apocalyptic era.

2. Simile
• Similes are explicit comparisons of two different things, using “like” or “such as”.
• “The nights were blinding cold and

Anticipation is prevalent throughout The Road, which is set by the narrative pace, creating a tense and suspenseful feeling and tone.

7. Tone
• Emotion and attitude that the author reveals through syntax, narrative pace, and characters. Tone influences a reader’s understanding of a novel.
• “The boy didn’t answer. The man watched him” (128).
• Readers develop a compassionate emotion toward the characters, although the characters are detached and impersonal, due to the tone of The Road. The characters are unidentified, generalizing the experience and making it relatable – meaning similar instances can happen to anyone, not just the characters in the novel. McCarthy combined the brutality of the post-apocalyptic world with tender love between father and son through tone.

8. Imagery
• Diction used to paint a picture in the reader’s mind.
• “Long days. Open country with ash blowing over the road. The boy sat by the fire at night with the pieces of the map across his knees. He had the names of towns and rivers by heart and he measured their progress daily”

He has endured and overcame many fears and struggles, but during this section, we truly acquire an insight of what the little boy is actually like – his thoughts, his opinions, his personality. Contrary to his surroundings, the little boy is vibrant and almost the only lively thing around. I love him! He is awfully appalled by the “bad guys” and shockingly sympathetic toward dead people. For example, when the father raided a house and found food, the little boy suggested that they should thank them because even though they’re dead or gone, without them, the little boy and father would starve. My heart goes out to him because he is enduring things little boys should never go through, even if this novel is just a fictional