Number Crunching

  • Connectives – the connectives within the books sentence structure seem to be quite consequential; words like ‘although’ and ‘but’ suggest that following a main point there is another side which in-line with the general structure of the book is almost definitely negative. Aside from consequential negatives there are also leading connectives which make way for additions to events.
  • Adjectives – these tend to be largely bleak and in a sense pessimistic as the negative adjectives greatly outnumber the examples of positive negatives which are only found in the more idealised areas of the novel (i.e. the dreams)
  • Other Patterns – the patterns of terms such as ‘okay’ and ‘said’ in comparison to the non-existence of the phrase ‘replied’ show that the dialogue is largely simplified, this is generally because of the depth of the relationship between the twin protagonists. Furthermore the prevalence of words referring to others like ‘somebody’ and ‘someone’ reiterate just how prominent the father and son are within the story arc and also the extent of isolation and suspicion towards any individuals outside of the duo.
  • Nouns – in terms of number there is a fairly balanced distribution of concrete and abstract: the concrete nouns tend to refer to either the landscape ‘ash’ and ‘road’ are examples or refer to items necessary for survival i.e. ‘cart’ and ‘tarp’ whereas the abstract nouns generally refer to emotions such as ‘despair’ .and ‘terror’. This shows how the environment presented tends to have direct influence on the emotions experienced. Also the concrete nouns relating to survival are the most often repeated which gives insight into survival being the ubiquitous theme. Overall the nature of the concrete nouns and the rarity of pronouns appears peculiar but is reflective of the genre because it further hammers home the prominence of the major theme: survival in extreme circumstance.

 

Key Episode – Questions about mortality (pg. 9)

 

  1. This episode is the first in which I learned just how strong the bond is between the ‘Man’ and the ‘Boy’ actually is, within a simple page of dialogue between the them, the two are able to have a feasible discussion about death and the implications of it which in itself to me appeared ominous ergo giving me a slight sadness because the naivety of the boy compared with the affection of the father makes the notion of them being separated quite depressing. In order to evoke these emotions McCarthy makes the boy ask multiple questions which are met with fairly simples answers, also the fact that the child asks questions about death despite his blatant innocence shows that the experiences are not befitting of a child and the father is paramount to his survival.
  2. Conforming to dystopian genre it is likely that the moment of relative peace and quite will be followed directly by a violent or tumultuous event. Emotionally it will probably change from sadness to a tense, fearful atmosphere.
  3. This episode, as I mentioned before, is the first in which it is made clear that the relationship is an idealised representation of a father-son bond because they understand one another without need for much verbal communication. Through the events within this episode the individual personalities of both characters are established as well as the nature of their relationship.
  4. The main story-telling device employed by the author in this particular episode is language, the episode almost completely consists of language and is similar to other parts of language in the novel: specifically how the boy proceeds to ask numerous questions that are met with fairly simple answers that still manage to satiate his curiosity.
  5. I think that this is a key episode; it merges well into the story progression particularly as the novel manages to flow well without chapters and this event does not stray from the structural integrity of the story. In addition to this ominous nature of the episode greatly contributes to the reader’s understanding of events as well as being a major vehicle for character and relationship establishment.