In The Road, Cormac McCarthy (author of No Country for Old Men) uses the landscape of the earth’s total destruction as his canvas to paint a picture of the end of mankind. The canvas is large and overwhelming, full of Armageddon, death, despair and unimaginable evil. The world has been hit by some unrevealed catastrophe and a dying father and his small child wonder from place to place eluding starvation and desperate scavengers trying to eat them. The small boy’s faith becomes the only speck of golden paint on this entire black canvas.
It is an interesting, albeit depressing story, but it reveals amazingly different things to different readers. Some will finish the book and stockpile canned goods and ammo. Others will see the small glimmer of hope and come away with a renewed faith in humanity’s ability to rejuvenate itself.
An innocent child submerged in total evil is not an uncommon theme in fiction or nonfiction (Spielberg loves to use children characters in his movies in this way, and the books The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski, The Diary of Ann Frank, and Night by Elie Wiesel also come to mind). It is interesting how we see the innocence of children as the key to overcoming mankind’s darkest evil side, bringing us back to humanity’s ideal.
If you can’t handle the idea of people being capable of eating babies, then this story is definitely not for you. On the other hand, if you are interested in discovering whether you are the ammo stockpiling fanatic type or a person of undying hope, it may be worth checking out.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Subscribe To NPT
Posts
Comments
3 comments:
I don't think I could handle that book. Sometimes I can't handle Oprah and her stories about horrible things happening to families and children. If it weren't for the media, we'd only be left to our imagination! :)
I'd like to think I am a person of undying hope. But, if it got bad enough, I would have no problem retreating to Kittson County and living in the backwoods, growing my own vegetables. Yes, vegetables -- I'd have a hard time eating wildlife as well! Well, the shooting and gutting anyways....
i had read the painted bird and ann frank. i think the painted bird was somewhat autobiographical. how anyone could live through all that and become a somewhat normal and productive member of the human race gives me hope.
From an email I received from a friend. Too informative not to pass on:
Hey Dane,
You know... it's funny you brought up this book in your blog. A buddy of mine at work last week was just talking about how good the book was and could not wait for the movie later this year. The movie is being releases on 11/28/08 and stars Viggo Mortensen as the father. You can check the IMDB for more info. Below is the link...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898367/
I'm kinda iffy about seeing it because I hated 'No Country For Old Men'. I had seen so many different and better movies in 2007 that I still don't understand the fascination in this movie. Oh well... you know how it goes... different strokes and all that.
Have a good one.
Lumpy
Post a Comment