McCarthy Unabridged: The Road, page 49

Posted by Jacklyn Middleswarth in Being Human - Giknis - C on

​The below passage is an imaginary addition of what Cormac McCarthy might have added to The Road before the final edition of the book was published:

She paced the dark kitchen while the man sat staring.

Will you just stop trying already? You dont always have to try and help people.

But I do.

Stop it. No. You need to survive for yourself, and let me worry about us as she held her stomach. There is no me and you anymore. There is the smart and ignorant.

Please.

Please? The want to live is an individual barrier. Surviving isnt good enough. This is my life choosing and your life is revolving around choosing to burden me. Your life should be defined by yourself, not me. I am done once he is out. There is no point. There will never be a light to give you hope and I have lost hope too long ago.

She leaned on the gloomcroaked wood. He looked at her with sodden eyes. But you are my purpose.

No. That’s not true.

Without you there is nothing. There are not that many people left.

So?

So nothing. They dont mean anything but you mean something.

What happens when I am gone? There will only be those who are unknown, lonesome roaming with no particular destination.

She leaned her head down to lean against her hand. He stood up to reach out and comfort her but she pushed his grey familiarness away.


​The below passage is a rationale to explain the choices of the imaginary addition of what Cormac McCarthy might have added to The Road before the final edition of the book was published:

After the line “Who is anybody?” on page 49, I decided to place a flashback with the man and woman because it encompasses the change in the man. In many early flashbacks with the man and woman, the characterization of the man is to plead, and the woman’s tone is harsh and unattached. Later in the book the man becomes more like the mother, not exactly unattached to the boy, but more protective which comes off as being hard on him. Since the placement is early in the book, it had to encompass the man’s want for the woman, and the woman’s loss of hope and will. With the man’s want for the woman to stay and survive together, it got me thinking about what the woman means to the man. The boy obviously means a lot to the man, but the woman was the man’s main purpose to live, and to care about who he was. Once she was gone,  he didn’t really identify as anyone, and the identity of anyone else didn’t matter. So one of the essential question is who do you persist for and what happens when it’s gone. This explains the actions in from the flashback to when the man and boy pass the lightning struck man. What this leads into is the theme of the passage: the purpose of living. The man and woman don’t see eye to eye on surviving. I chose to continue this argument of living because the man believes there is some good left out there, but if he truly believes that nobody has an identity, then good and bad people don’t exist, which would mean origin doesn’t matter to the man. Although it is evident in the book the man constantly reflects on the past, and his past matters a lot to him. So the plot of this passage is to show the love the man has for the woman. The woman is apart of the man’s identity, and they are fighting in this scene because they need to figure out why to live and for what reason. The boy stemmed from the woman which is another reason for the man to continue on. The last part of the scene that is crucial is the motif of grey and light. I decided to choose the woman as a light for the man, but everything to due with the woman is dark. Reason being is the woman has lost hope, and everything around her is dark. Without the woman in the man’s life, the greyness becomes greyer. Grey is unclear, so when the woman is gone identity is not a big part because the man is nothing with his light.


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