One secret that is kept from the readers in The Road is what actually happened to cause the boy and father to have to travel the road. You find out in the first couple pages of the book that the world they are living in is nothing like the world we view. They talk about being naked, sleeping outside, and having no color. This gives the reader the impression that something must have happened to the world these characters are living in to cause it to be without color. The author even talks of when a "shear of light and then a low series of conclusions" came which is the cause for the power supply to end. This indicated to the reader that some act, nature disaster, or destruction occurred.
This secret is a little like Carried Away in Open Secrets where we do not know exactly how the Jack Agnew died. The author tells us of a man who was killed in a factory by a machine and is beheaded. However, the man who actually touched the head of the dead man said he did not even look to see if it was truly Jack Agnew. Therefore, just like we know there was some type of destruction that happened to the land we do not know if that is what caused them to be starving, struggling, and moving toward the south.
This secret is not critical to understand the narrative; however, details about it would help answer questions the readers may have. If the reader knew when the tragedy happened they would be able to see how long the man and son have been living in this which could justify some of their actions. Also if we knew about how the tragedy formed we would be able to understand the struggle by realizing what it would be like if that happened to us.
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3 comments:
I agree that what actually happened to cause the boy and father to have to travel the road is a secret. All we know is that there was a disaster of some kind, but not exactly what occured. In the book on page 53, the wife asks "What's happening?" They no longer have power and do not know why. If we knew what action occured, the readers would be able to understand why the power went out in the first place.
I agree that details to the story would certainly answer questions that the reader may have, however, I feel that because of the way McCarty constructed his novel, leaving out apostrophes, quotations, chapters and details, it does explain the story in a strange way. Details are not necessary for the story to occur. A story only needs a plot, a problem, and a hero, so to speak. McCarthy only focuses on these necessary things, like the characters are only focusing on the main things that they need to survive (food and shoes, as shown on page 17). I feel that knowing the details may ruin the essence of the novel, that it wouldn't draw in the reader as much and make the reader feel like they are experiencing the events that the boy and father are experiencing. They aren't focusing on the details in their own lives, therefore, we are not exposed to them either. Maybe the father doesn't even know why the power went out. Maybe he, along with other unknown survivors only know a little bit more than we do. Is it a secret or is it just a detail? I think that's a question we have to ask ourselves about this novel; what is really a secret and what is a detail that is left out, and why McCarthy chose to expose certain things and not others. Is it necessary to know that they ate corn from a can? Maybe its his way of adding color to the story, something that shows a little bit of light and happiness to such a bleak novel. We associate corn with the color yellow, and any color against a gray object stands out. He chose he details wisely, and I think its important to find out why those details, and why not others.
I agree with the fact that what caused the disaster is a big secret. However I do believe that we are somewhat being led in the direction of maybe a post atomic war era. some of the things that point in this direction are the long shear of light, and the low concussions described on page 52. Another thing that leads me towards this conclusion is all the ash that rains down from the sky throughout the novel,it is everywhere and it is so dense it blocks out the sun. This is the kind of thing that would happen if there was a nuclear war. As for how they survived that is also a big secret.
I also aree with April in that the keeping of these secrets from the reader is part of McCarthy's prose and that he is making us feel the kind of confusion and senselesness that the characters are feeling. Their world is a wold without the nice little things in life.
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