McCarthy Unabridged: The Road, Page 161

The dialogue piece below is what I came up with and I believe that if Cormac McCarthy was to have an unedited version of The Road that this would be apart of it...

CREATIVE PIECE

They both settle in for the night.

Lay down with me Papa.

You know I’m not always going to be around.

Don’t say that.

It’s the truth.

Okay.

Life isn’t always what it seems to be. Not everyone is who them seem to be.

Okay.

I understand you want to see the good in everyone but you can’t.

But aren’t we good too?

Yes.

So why can’t we believe others are good too.

Because it doesn’t work that way.

Why not?

That’s just life. Things don’t always work the way you want it to.

Are we still good?

Yes, do you not think so?

Sometimes.

Why?

I don’t know.

Okay, I just want you to understand that not everyone is like us.

I know.

You don’t.

I do, but I don’t think people like us should suffer.

Someone’s intentions are not something you can see. You can’t know if someone is good or bad by looks. Say you see someone in danger... do you help them or keep walking?

Help them.

Wrong.

How?

Do you know them?

No.

Okay so how do you know if this person has good intentions.

You just know.

It doesn’t work like that.

Why doesn’t it.

Because that’s not how life works. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

So you would just keep walking?

Yes.

That’s terrible.

That’s life.

Neither of them say another word to each other. They slowly begin to fall asleep.

RATIONALE

Here is my rationale on what I wanted to express through my creative writing piece was that the boy was still clueless and innocent as to what was good and bad in the book. I decided that I was going to add a dialogue piece that would come before the father and son’s encounter with the old man. The old man in this book is someone the father and son had a dispute about. The son’s innocence was shown through this section because of his intentions on wanting to keep someone. He wanted to take someone in without even knowing who they were or what they were capable.

The section of the book I worked on comes right before that scene with the boy offering the old man a can of food. It was also right after the father announces that “it’s getting dark.” This part of the book was perfect because it was night and at night sometimes people have short talks about what’s going on and life. The moment suited well with this conversation I had the father and son undertake. Their conversation basically was the father trying to get the boy to understand that not everyone can be trusted. That he won’t always be around to help him differentiate good from bad.

Something that really sparked my attention while I was reading the book “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy was how the boy struggles to understand that not everyone can be trusted. That things are not always what they appear, especially people. The boy’s true character in the section of the book I chose to focus on perceives him as someone who still has their innocence. The boy believes that there is good in everyone without even second guessing whether or not this person could be a threat.

So in my section for my creative piece I chose to write a creative piece and I feel as though the dialogue discusses the dilemma of the boy not being to identify and differentiate good from bad. The conversation also brings to the boys attention that the father won’t always be around and that he will have to face risks alone one day. All in all I believe that the content flows with the rest of the part of the book.It addresses and brings to the reader's attention the character’s true growth overtime without pushing it too much or over exaggerating it.