Parable In Praise Of Violence Barnstone Analysis
The first main theme in the “Parable in Praise of Violence” and The Road is excessive violence. In "Parable in Praise of Violence", the first lines are listing off multiple occasions where violence was unnecessary but used anyway. He begins: "Thanks for the violence. Thanks for Walt’s rude muscle/ pushing through the grass, for tiny Gulliver crushed/ between the giant’s breasts. Thanks for Moby’s triangular hump/ and Ahab’s castrated leg. Thanks for the harpoons" (Barnstone 1-4). Barnstone is obviously disgusted about how violence has become a norm in America. Then Barnstone turns the violence on himself: "My life is like a loaded gun, and when I aim it at you/ I hope to take off the top of your head" (16-17). “Parable in Praise of Violence”
perceives guns as a way for humans to express violence, whereas The Road by Cormac McCarthy recognizes people as violence: “McCarthy directly points to widespread human violence as the main reason for the present sociopolitical situation and The Road as the book that describes the effects of what might eventually happen if things remain unchanged” (Collado-Rodríguez 45). Furthermore, the pistol that the Man and the Boy have in The Road is figuratively their one shot at escaping the violence that humans have brought upon themselves.
Throughout The Road, the Man chose to perform some gruesome and violent tasks in the mindset that he and his son would remain alive: “Unremitting violence is the destructive force that results in the tragic end of civilization…but, paradoxically, violence also becomes the necessary tool to survive in the post-apocalyptic context of The Road” (Collado-Rodríguez 46). For example, the Man was forced to kill another man in protect his son (McCarthy 66) and he had to humiliate the thief that took their supplies so as to obtain everything that the thief took (McCarthy 256-257). Overall, “Parable in Praise of Violence” expresses that humans and guns are the main factors in excessive violence, whereas The Road expresses that humans are the main cause of excessive violence. These two works use their views of excessive violence to show the effects that violence has on humans if it does not stop.
perceives guns as a way for humans to express violence, whereas The Road by Cormac McCarthy recognizes people as violence: “McCarthy directly points to widespread human violence as the main reason for the present sociopolitical situation and The Road as the book that describes the effects of what might eventually happen if things remain unchanged” (Collado-Rodríguez 45). Furthermore, the pistol that the Man and the Boy have in The Road is figuratively their one shot at escaping the violence that humans have brought upon themselves.
Throughout The Road, the Man chose to perform some gruesome and violent tasks in the mindset that he and his son would remain alive: “Unremitting violence is the destructive force that results in the tragic end of civilization…but, paradoxically, violence also becomes the necessary tool to survive in the post-apocalyptic context of The Road” (Collado-Rodríguez 46). For example, the Man was forced to kill another man in protect his son (McCarthy 66) and he had to humiliate the thief that took their supplies so as to obtain everything that the thief took (McCarthy 256-257). Overall, “Parable in Praise of Violence” expresses that humans and guns are the main factors in excessive violence, whereas The Road expresses that humans are the main cause of excessive violence. These two works use their views of excessive violence to show the effects that violence has on humans if it does not stop.