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Vocabulary And Imagery In The Road By Cormac Mccarthy

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Michelle Moffo English 1110.03 Peter C. Dully Jr. 26 February 2018 Most people who read The Road by Cormac McCarthy would describe the novel as a very bleak and grim tale. McCarthy uses a wide array of vocabulary and imagery to create a world that the reader themselves would want to escape from, describing the world as “Barren, silent, godless” (McCarthy 4). While the novel may appear to be very depressing on the surface, the hope and goodness that exist within the two main characters, referred to as the man and the boy, keep the reader clinging to every word. It is evident that McCarthy uses the boy as an example of how religion, hope, and morality can bring people through the darkest of times. Religion is addressed early in the …show more content…

Ely was an elderly man who also appeared to have sight impairment. The boy wanted to feed Ely, but the man did not want to help again. He thought only of himself and the boy. The boy had placed his hand on the shoulder of the old man and convinced his father to take pity on him and give him some food. This interaction with Ely made me think of the story of Elijah in the Bible. Elijah was a prophet who predicted the drought of Israel. “As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word” (1 Kings 17:1). Similarly, Ely stated that he always knew the apocalypse was coming. “I always believed in it” (McCarthy 168). The aspect of Elijah further interested me because I feel that the boy more closely resembled Elijah and therefore, saw himself in the old man. Elijah frequently fell on hard times and would go from being brave and courageous and other times was afraid and uncertain. There were times of victory and times of failure, but Elijah always relied on the power of God. Can these same attributes not be said for the boy as

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