Question 5. McCarthy's style

I think that the subject of the story is dark and depressing, so McCarthy’s dark and sparse style adds to the entire feel of the book. McCarthy does not go into a lot of descriptions, he tells you what’s there and leaves it up to you to imagine the land. I like how McCarthy leaves all the little details up to his audience to image but he gives you the main picture. I believe that it was this that allowed me to actually be pulled into the story. Because while McCarthy was the guide that lead me through the land, I was the painter and I could create anything from what he gave me to work with. I really enjoyed his writing because he did not try to contain me in his world; rather he allowed his work to be interpreted differently. His style of writing is not overly descriptive and yet it still allows us to create a world from the silhouette which he gives us. On page 100 in the story, the man enters a house next to a barn, “The grass between the house and the barn looked untroden…the porch screening rotted and falling away. A child’s bicycle… A red formica table. He crossed the room and opened the refrigerator door. Something sat on one of the racks in a coat of grey fur.” This description of the house uses very little adjectives; everything is described as it is. It leaves me room to imagine what the table looks like. Is the red paint faded? Is there a layer of dust coating it? His writing also suggests that he is confident that he has created a world in which we can include in our imaginations. He has taught us and described to us all that he could about his world, and now it is up to us to expand it. I think that his audience for this book is anyone with an imagination. Because in order to get everything you can out of the book, you needed to be able to imagine the entire world of Cormac McCarthy.
-Sinead Brennan