Annotated Bibliography: The Road By Cormac Mccarthy

In the chapter “Geography Matters”, Thomas C. Foster explains the effect of geography on a story. Geography contributes greatly to themes, symbols, and plot, and most authors prefer to use setting as a general area with a detailed landscape rather than a specific city or landmark. In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, he does not reveal the actual region of America that the man and boy are traveling in, but describes the mountains and eventual beaches of their path. McCarthy might not have revealed their location because it might ruin the reader’s interpretation of the setting. For example, the pair come across a generic “gap” between mountains and this is a turning point because it confirms the man’s planned path to the south. In addition, going south symbolizes hope, a new beginning,

Throughout the existence of literature, there have been numerous pieces that portrays life in a dystopian American. In the narrative, "By the Water of Babylon", Stephen Vincent Benet tells the story of a young priest 's journey to gather metal in a post-apocalyptic New York City. In contrast, the Pulizter Prize winning novel, The Road, Cormac McCarthy displays the hardships faced by a middle-aged man and his adolescent son as they travel south through an ash covered wasteland that were once the Appalachian Mountains. Even though these pieces of fiction are seperated by decades of various turmoil, the authors accomplish numerous comparisons and contrasts that exemplify a post-apocalyptic America.

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

Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut, is a postmodern, anti war novel, involving the main character, Billy Pilgrim, and his transportation through the different moments of his life. The timeline of this particular book ranges all the way from when Billy was a small boy and all the way to his death. Because of the book taking place in many different times of Billy’s life and in many places of it, Kurt Vonnegut both hides and reveals truth in it. Many examples of this can be found throughout the events of Billy’s adventures, most notably before and during the fire bombings of Dresden.

Throughout Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath several of the chapters are spaced by intercalary chapters. Which are chapters that contain general information on comments based off of the previous chapters presented. Intercalary chapters can be seen as a distraction or a “waste of space” to some readers. But, others believe that it is a great way to clarify what has happened in the preceding chapter. I for one believe that the use of intercalary chapters have assisted in aiding me with a better understanding of the overall meaning of Grapes of Wrath. The overall message is that people need to stay together and work together in order to survive tough times.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy is a post-apocalyptic story of a boy and his father searching across a cold, wet, and ashen landscape. This story’s tale of loss of innocence is cutting and terrifying, similar to the Islamic terrorist group, ISIS; a group of Sunni Muslims formed under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. They are well known for being a religious extremist group famous for attacks globally and recordings of executions. McCarthy’s illustration of the boy’s loss of innocence mirrors the innocence stolen from youth who are forced to witness ISIS’s executions of innocent humans.

Joe Kurmaskie in his story, "Rough Road Ahead: Do Not Exceed Posted Speed Limit" describes the adventures of a cyclist as he makes his way to Yosemite National Park. The cyclist takes some old men’s advice and takes a “shortcut,” however it proves to be far from short. The author uses setting to cause the audience to relate to and identify with the character, additionally through Kurmaskie's use of description of the desert setting, he exemplifies the effect of fear, exhaustion, and strength on the cyclist.

Monument 14 is a book written by Emmy Laybourne in which a post apocalyptic story takes place. The story follows Dean, a teenager, who is stuck inside of a grocery store with other students, including his younger brother Alex. They are forced to stay inside of the store because there is freak super cells developing over them that are causing huge hail storms and other severe conditions. While there they have to overcome many obstacles and difficulties that reveal their true colors. Although this novel is nonfiction, it impacts society by showing how catastrophes can affect people and it also shows how dependent we have become on other people and other objects in our daily life.

Everything Cormac McCarthy writes about in Blood Meridian is merely a fictional story presented through historic facts. The story stars with death everywhere, it emphasizes the harsh landscape of the West during the 1850s. Lawlessness allowed anyone to kill at will, corruption in the government led to killers being paid for eliminating Indians/Mexicans. Violence was the lifestyle of that dehumanized and corrupt society. McCarthy uses violence to exemplify the brutality of men and their inhumane behavior, while embellishing the story with beautiful aesthetic details. The concern is, however, that a reader’s inability to comprehend these details may restrict them to just a violent and distasteful graphic experience of the novel. Whether or not the use of violence is unnecessary and desensitizing for the reader, or it’s a aestheticization for a fundamental part of storytelling remains to be explored.

Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road, follows a boy, and a man struggling to survive in a dystopian world. After the apocalypse, many people panicked and did what they thought was the best thing to do for them to survive. This ultimately lead to a world filled with suicides, murders, crimes and even cannibalism. When this event took place, it ended up wiping out almost everything; there was no plants, no animals, and barley any food left for the remaining people left on the plant. Ultimately everyone lost hope. However, the man and boy still had hope, they both had each other and that was enough for them. Even though the man knew that his time was getting closer, he continued to fight and live for the boy who carried the last hope for humanity.

In the short story, “A Worn Path,” Eudora Welty follows the journey of an old, frail woman named Phoenix Jackson on a long walk into Natchez, Mississippi where she has to get medicine for her grandson. The trip becomes especially difficult because of her age, and in mid-trip she forgets the reason for the struggle. At the end of the journey she remembered, retrieved the medicine, and decided to buy her grandson a Christmas present with the ten cents she had acquired during the day. Although, there is a deeper meaning that conveys simple life behind the journey, as well as the story, a simply beautiful story with many techniques and devices that employs an intricate and densely complex form. Even though it is not clear to anyone quite what it is, the story

After reading and watching the Lottery, I realized that their government used them to kill people for them so that they could get the crops. You could say that they were an outlet for the government. The government brainwashed the citizens giving them the impression that what they were doing was okay and it was no big deal. They told the people that it was a tradition and if they did not do it then there would be no crops for survival.

be seen as an arrangement that gives potential for interpreting a text in a newer way, instead of simply seeing the limitations of the form in adapting a source text. While most prefer to look at the future with an affirmative hope, there are some who choose to give one the

In Victoria Hoyle's scrutinization of the novel The Road she notices that it has two purposes. McCarthy's first purpose depicts a post-apocalyptic world, where God is nearly dead and humanity is holding on by a thread. The Road is set after a nuclear war that has demolished most of civilization. The admonition used in The Road is referred to as a "clarion warning" to preserve our beautiful world, for if we do not change our current path of ignorance and insolence it could lead to inevitable doom. She states her first claim by showing the examples of barbarity and crudeness that are orchestrated throughout The Road. Victoria then harnesses the father's dire need to have faith in something "independent of man, timeless and beyond death".

In most dystopias the author makes it seem like it’s a wonderful place to live but The Road is not like that at all. The father and son are well aware the world they live in is a awful place to be. The son knows he going to die sooner rather than later because of the ashes everywhere you go. The man gets up and walks to the edge of the little hill they slept on and starts coughing really bad and he looks up and starts talking to what someone would seem like himself but to him there was someone there and he started saying“Are you there? Will I see you at last? Have you a neck by which to throttle you? Have you a heart damn you internally!”(p.11-12). The man seemed to think he needed to carry a gun. As they walk down the road you look around and it’s a burned down city, with corpses hanging from doorways and laying on the ground. All the farther and son have for travels is a cart full of necessary items like blankets and little food, and their own legs to