The End of The Road

As we conclude the book The Road, let us talk about a fitting theme.

Death.

Everyone tries their best to not encounter Death. Everyone tries to avoid Death.

Everyone eventually fails. Everyone dies, and this is precisely why people in general are so afraid of dying, or rather, afraid because they don't know what happens next.

We are naturally scared of the fact that our life could just end. There must be something else to it, right? Maybe. Possibly. We wouldn't know until we died ourselves.

If you think about it, many people start believing in religions to not fear death. To believe that there is something after this life, that there exists another life, another chance, another hope...

Then the question comes up: what would it feel like to die? Will it suck? Will I basically be non-existant for the rest of eternity, for infinity? That's so sad and creepy!

Now, think about this: before anyone came to life, we were basically inexistant for an eternity too (since time goes all the way back and all the way forward). For billions, trillions, zillions, and multiquadrillions of years, you did not exist.

Did it suck to be inexistant for so long? Well, not really.

This is getting too deep and slightly emo so let me insert a random quote.

"Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first."

Holy fun, that looks delicious and moist.

Now back to the real stuff.

When asked the question whether The Road had a deeper significance, Cormac McCarthy said that it's just a story of a father and a son and nothing more. Maybe life is quite similar. Life is a story. A story in which YOU are the main character. Life is a road. A road in which ou continue on, not knowing what you'll find next. Whether you stop or not, the road stretches far towards the horizon. You might never find out what's farther along the road or what's at the end of the road, or for that matter, whether the road has an end.

While you're on the road, make the story worthwile.
Have fun. Enjoy life! Go out there and [ C E N S O R E D ]!

I spy a Jae. Oh wait, they're all Jaes!

Just make sure not to stray from the road though. You're pretty much screwed if you do.

Also, the next post will probably be less deep/emo.

It Used to Be

The last paragraph of The Road could be described as out of place.

Here it is:
"Once there were brook trout in the streams in the mountains. You could see them standing in the amber current where the white edges of their fins wimpled softly in the flow. They smelled of moss in your hand. Polished and muscular and torsional. On their backs were vermiculate patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming. Maps and mazes. Of a thing which could not be put back. Not be made right again. In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery."

Hmm. It's clearly there for a purpose. It definitely doesn't match up with the style of the rest of the book, and uses significantly vivid adjectives that are not used in any other part of the book (with the exception of dreams). I'll get back to the dream thing.

Well, the trout could be nature, what used to be, what is not anymore. From here we can also infer that the apocalypse was an environmental collapse.

Before men arrived to this world, earth had its own beauty, its own mystery, its own life.
Then we came, and used everything and destroyed everything until things became things "which could not be put back." Now, all these glorious things are but a dream, only to be remembered, only as things that once used to be there but have now been transformed into ashes.


The Road ends with yet another dream, only that this dream isn't a dream. It's real.
Or at least it used to be.

Road Rant

I would just like to know how the father and the sun survived so long without the sun or a steady supply of food. I mean, they started travelling to the south months, maybe years after the actual apocalypse. Did they live on canned food? Oh, that must be it. Canned food makes everything better.

I personally would not have the will or motivation to just survive for that long, especially when there are no company other than your son. Speaking of the son, isn't it weird to think that this kid will learn in terms of surviving rather than the calculus and stuff we learn in school? I wonder if that's a bad thing or a good thing. Probably the latter.

Anyways, I would not survive. I would rather seek immediate comfort, even if that way out were to be death. Actually, now to think of it, maybe not. I wouldn't know until I were in a post-apocalyptic situation, which will probably not happen. Right?
WRONG.

Many parts of the book seem to imply that there had been an ecological collapse (whether it was caused by the apocalypse or the apocalypse was caused by the collapse, we do not know). Sadly, this collapse is actually happening in the world right now.
Look out your window. If you don't have a window, you're missing out on the fun.
Do you see all the grass, the trees, the mountains, the volcano, and the whatever-is-outside-your-window? It might not be there in the next couple of years.


Maybe McCarthy wanted to show us through his simple language and story that the kind of situation shown in The Road could be not just a fictional world, but a real future.

Would you like that? [ YES NO ]

If you selected 'NO', we have something in common and we should be friends.
If you said 'YES', well... I suggest you visit a therapist. Or a psychologist. Or a priest.

So, um...
Protect the earth. Save paper. No more tests.