Reading In Cormac Mccarthy's The Road

For as long as I can remember, I have found reading to be tedious for the most part. I felt reading was something appealing only to teachers as a vehicle to improve our literacy and comprehension skills. As I grew up reading the assigned chapter books, I found they stood as hurdles for me to jump before I could return to my regular schedule of video games and mindless television. These books never established any significant conflict or brought forth tension; so I became overtaken with indifference. I had no interest in reading as it held no special significance to me at all.
One day everything I had ever thought about books and reading changed. That day appeared as any other day of my senior year. The first class of the day was advanced English. I walked through the door and sat down, conversed with my fellow classmates, and stayed oblivious to the lesson of the day. My senioritis had me fully in its grasp; as I halfheartedly paid attention to the lesson. I had no way of knowing a book would change my views of reading forever. This exceptional book was Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.
The first surprise was when I read the prologue I discovered, to my delight, that The Road was post-apocalyptic. I was already partial to the post disaster stories Hollywood supplies. I enjoyed realistic scenarios of natural disasters or
man-made catastrophes such as the aftermath of an atomic bomb. My most favorite disaster stories dealt with adventures of a zombie pandemic or alien invasion, so this book about a post-apocalyptic world fell squarely in my niche. I was almost excited as I started to read the first chapter.
The main characters of the book are “the boy” and “the man” as they are eccentrically referred to. The plot of the book is the adventures of the boy and the man as they journey cross- country to the coast in search of a better life. In the story, winter is fast approaching, so they must keep moving or they will certainly die. As they journey, life is a constant struggle to survive. The challenges they face are to keep themselves from freezing, avoid ruthless survivors and scavenge every bit of food they can. They face these challenges, all the while trying to keep their humanity. They refer to keeping their humanity as “carrying the fire”.
To my bewilderment, the cause of the collapse of society is never given in The Road only the aftermath is available to the reader. It is only inferred to in the way the sky is always dark grey and foliage stains of soot in its decay. The story is set years in the future of the traumatic event. The man will often share memories with the boy of the old world. The boy was born after the collapse of society, so any tale told of old times can only appear to him as foreign as he knows nothing of civilization, only the new normal of constant struggle. The contrast of these warm, cheerful recollections serve as sharp juxtaposition to the bleak cold life they now share.
This story was able to make a profound impact on me, as I learned that a book had the ability to create in me an overwhelming tension. I found myself caring for “the boy” and “the man.” I found that I cared about every hardship along their journey. I felt as if I had endured it with them, as I was sucked into the intoxicating atmosphere.
Conflict is absolutely essential in storytelling, and The Road meets this requirement in abundance. Be it the encounter of murderous road agents or that of internal conflict of whether there can be any righteousness left in such a morally distraught wasteland. McCarthy was able to make me face such dilemmas of what I would do in these situations. Could I survive on my own instincts? How far would I be willing to go to protect those close to me? Could I maintain “carrying the fire” in a world so far removed from the one I live in. The best narratives are those that will make you think introspectively. My time with The Road may not have been the most pleasant, but in the process I gained a perspective that I had not previously had.
After finishing The Road, my interest in reading peaked with Cormac McCarthy cementing himself as my favorite author.
I have followed this book by reading two more of his works, Outer Dark and Blood Meridian. I plan to continue my adventures as I read all of his highly, critically acclaimed books. McCarthy’s writing transcended anything I had witnessed before as his archaic, dark and often cryptic word use reached out to me. Most people would not take to a book that often would send you in search of a dictionary, but I found that I favored this challenge. I found that I enjoyed learning new words and the use of them in
sentences.
Reading calls upon your full undivided attention. Unlike some other story telling mediums, you must devote yourself to hours, weeks or even months, depending on your speed or abrasiveness to read for long periods of time. It is hard to spend that kind of time in a story you loath. You may find that your journey in search of a good book leaves you out in the cold, starved for a satisfying reading experience, and unsure of whether the solace of what you seek actually exists. My advice would be not to give up, reading is subjective and you must find your own McCarthy.
To summarize my experience, finding a book to truly resonate and draw me in was a long and drawn out process. I call on anyone who does not like to read books to give it every chance. There are many writing styles and types of books out there. Continue to look for the one that draws you in and is in your niche. The fruits of your labor will certainly be worth it as they were definitely worth it for me.