Allusions In Cormac Mccarthy's The Road

1465 Words6 Pages
Just like many other authors, Cormac McCarthy uses a lot of intertextuality, or allusions in his work. These allusions are connected with many literary classics like Moby Dick and Paradise Lost etc. Many of these allusions are also connected with the Christian tradition in a direct or an indirect way. Some of the most obvious examples of these allusions can be found in both The Road, which attracted a lot of criticism, among other reasons, because of the amount of biblical allusions; and Blood Meridian which is by now a highly esteemed literary classic, but nevertheless very controversial due to its violent content. But what is the reason why McCarthy decided to implement so many allusions into his work? Doesn’t that degrade the originality of his text? Some of the premises of these novels, like the fact that both novels have protagonists that are, either in a metaphorical, or a non-metaphorical way, a father and a son figures; and the environment which is very similar to the environment of some parables, show close resemblance with the Bible. The goal of this paper will be to look more into these breadcrumbs that McCarthy left us, especially when it comes to the biblical motives in order to get a better understanding of these allusions which could ultimately bring to a better understanding of these two novels. Even though some elements in McCarthy’s work are obviously inspired, could it be the combination of influences that are used in different context that makes his work