After letting the words from this book digest in my mind for a bit, I started to think about the relationship between the father and the son. One thing that I found unusual throughout the book was that they would routinely end their conversations with both saying "Okay". This bothered me because I didn't feel this is how a conversation between family members usually flow: it just has a really awkward-feeling end to it. I'm not going to say it made the situation they were in feel heavier, but I feel like they could have done things that would've lightened the mood a bit. I can't recall a time in the book where they ever said "I love you", and when they stumbled upon the underground bunker full of food and supplies after having been starving for days, I know I would have celebrated a little more than they did. I understand that things of this nature would have conflicted with the overall dark mood of this book, but I feel that level of depressed mood should only increase that excitement and thrill when finding a treasure as good as that bunker. It maybe would have made life feel a little more living.
On that topic, I thought it was interesting that the two made the decision to keep walking that road, to keep living, instead of ending it all right there. I don't know what I would have done in that situation because thats a really big decision one would have to make. The fact the father was so dedicated to continuing on and trying to head south was surprising because I can't imagine in these times how much better where they were trying to go was from where they currently were. Similarly, I like that the author chose not to go into much detail about where they planned on going because it gives the reader a chance to decide for themselves what they think they'd do.
Relatedly, after finishing the book, I thought about the amount McCarthy told us about these apocalyptic events. I personally may have wanted more detail on them or more set up to the book, but I think if he did tell us more, it wouldn't have satisfied every person who reads it. Even though I'm a big fan of sci-fi shows, I'll admit to being let down by some of the unimaginative story lines from time to time. If this particular story had that, I feel it could lose a lot.
1 comment:
I had similar sentiments while reading this book; I often found myself wondering why they seemed to be unfailingly determined to reach the coast. I cannot imagine being in their situation and trusting that there was a pleasant future awaiting me. I suppose that McCarthy may have shaped the story as he did in order to prove that we must always have faith in a better future, despite the troubles we face. I assume that many readers were questioning the father's decision to continue on, but in the end, our faith in his decision was restored. When the father died, I was worried for the boy's safety. However, as the father predicted, the boy found safety with another "good" guy. Thus McCarthy was able to restore my faith in the father's judgement and also somewhat in humanity.
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