Author: rbeeman20

We live in a very identity focused world. We form our identity by our experiences, our beliefs, and our dreams. Our identity will be influenced my the area in which we grew up, our opinions on pressing issues, and where we see ourselves in the future and what things we do to get us where we want to be. We see a lack of identity in the post apocalyptic world “The Road” takes place in. One of the most obvious examples of this is that McCarthy never tells us the names of the father and son in which the story follows. They are simply known as the man and the boy. This seems to in a sense take away part of their identity in the process. A name is a big part of our identity. It is how we are addressed and distinguished. If there we no names we would all fade together to a certain extent. McCarthy uses this to make the identity of the characters more fluid. In turn, allowing us an easier time placing ourselves or anyone in their situation. Our names are obviously not our only source of identity though of course. McCarthy demonstrates this by throwing in other qualities to form the identities of these characters. The boy being timid and relying on his father for protection. And the man stopping at nothing to protect his son and make a better life for the both of them.

Reading Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” in the time of the coronavirus is definitely an interesting choice. Before beginning the book I read many people’e warnings about reading this book during this odd time, nevertheless, I decided to read it anyway. The connection between a post apocalyptic world and our world today is closer than I would like to think. I found a lot of similarities in the way the man reminisces about his past. I believe a lot of us are reminiscing about normal life before the pandemic. We also see a connection with a sort of fear and unknowing of the future and the solitude. There are differences of course in the need to find shelter and the underlying cannibalism. Getting away from the disturbing connections to the real world, I am very pleased with the quality of the writing in this book. I’m surprised with the quality however as I very much enjoyed Cormac McCarthy’s “No Country for Old Men”. I like and am intrigued by his lack of quotations and punctuation. The bond between the man and the boy is very strong and apparent. The man sees protecting the boy as his job and the love he feels toward him makes it an easy job. This is clear especially when the man kills the passerby who grabs the boy without question. The boy sees the man at safety and comfort. This is easily seen at times where the boy experiences fear and clings to the man for protection. Although the age of the boy is not yet known, he is a bit apprehensive and feels a bit of guilt letting the man always put him first, which shows maturity possibly beyond his years from the boy.

After reading No Country for Old Men and while reading The Grapes of Wrath, there are some similarities I see between the character of Pa in Grapes of Wrath and Ed Tom Bell in No Country for Old Men. While Pa is the leader and the instigator of the journey the Joad family takes to California, he is also somewhat hopeless and losing touch with he true essence of who he is as a person. He begins to drown in his surroundings as his family suffers loss after loss and their dream of a life in California seems farther and farther away. Ed Tom Bell is similar in this way as he watches crime and police work shift to something much more cynical. He feels inadequate to handle the intensity of the uprising of crime in Texas and begins to recede into himself. They are also similar in the way that their growing age is causing them setbacks. They’re finding that they are no longer able to keep up with the lives they lived as younger men. In a way they are both stuck in the past, reminiscing about better times. For Pa this was working on the farm surrounded by family where they had enough money to have food on their table and a roof over their head. For Ed Tom Bell this was an era of crime where he felt he was in control, but as the level of crime rose, he lost control and realized there was nothing he could do to stop it.

One common theme throughout the soliloquies is Bell’s conflicting ideas about the content of his job changing. He mentions how in an earlier time crimes were much simpler and how over the course of his career the crimes he deals with are getting so extreme that he doesn’t know how to deal with them. Bell’s old age is also apparent when looking at these texts because of his dislike of change and blatant racism. Bell is unprepared to handle chasing Chigurh as he brings a new level of the criminal mind to their small town. He seems to be nervous to confront Chigurh and somewhat apprehensive about going after him. In my opinion Bell brings a sense of humanity to the police force as he is constantly questioning the practices of law enforcement. An example of this is his disapproval and questioning of executions. He’s judgmental of people’s reactions to witnessing an execution and analyses the officer’s personal opinion on executions. During the third section of the soliloquies he finds Moss’ car connecting all three aspects of the story so far. The author uses these soliloquies to make connections between the different characters. So far in the book there has not been a lot of interaction between the main characters so without the soliloquies the text would be much harder to follow.