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For my lit log, I decided to make a map of the man and the boys journey so far. Enjoy!

The scene from “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy that I drew is from page 19. In this scene, the man puts the boy in the cart and pushes the cart through the hills. “He fashioned sweeps from two old brooms he’d found and wired them to the cart to clear the limbs from the road in front of the wheels and he put the boy in the basket and stood on the rear rail like a dogmusher and they set off down the hills, guiding the cart on the curves with their bodies in the manner of bobsledders. It was the first that he’d seen the boy smile in a long time.” (Pg. 19) I think the scene is important because it brings up a lot of the important people and objects in the book, and describes their actions and emotions. This passage mentions the man, the boy, the cart, and the environment and how they travel through it. Not only that, but it shows how innovative the man is and the rare moment when the boy experiences joy from riding in the cart. Because of the unforgiving and perilous post- apocalyptic world the boy and the man live in, they rarely smile or feel happy, so when the boy smiles, it is very significant. In this drawing, I didn’t add color because I wanted to express how dark and lifeless the world is. In the background, I drew dark clouds and a burning tree, which are things that are often described in the story. I also drew the man and the boy, who is in the cart. I wanted to express their bundled and ragged clothing that is meant to keep the cold out, but barely does so. In the cart, I drew the tarp, which is covering all of their supplies like food and blankets. Overall, I just wanted this piece to capture the gloomy atmosphere of the story.

Oisin Hyland December 1, 2022 Giknis

In “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, the author uses multiple different literary techniques to keep the reader interested and captivated. From the symbolism, imagery, and vocabulary used, McCarthy utilizes these techniques to encapsulate the fast-moving and action-packed nature of the story.
One of the earliest signs of these techniques is on page 23 where both the man and the boy find a supermarket on the outskirts of the city, the narrator states, “They went back through the store again looking for another cart but there were none. By the door were two soft drink machines that had been tilted over into the floor and opened with a pry bar. Coins everywhere in the ash. He sat and ran his hand around in the works of the gutted machines and in the second one it closed over a cold metal cylinder. He withdrew his hand slowly and sat looking at a Coca-Cola.” After finding the Coke the Man gives it to the boy saying, “It's a treat. For you.” Eventually, the boy asks, “It's because I won't ever get to drink another one, isn't it?”, the man responds “Ever's a long time.” McCarthy chose to use Coca-Cola as a piece of symbolism due to how renowned a can of Coke is in today's society. The idea of a boy not knowing what the drink is, symbolizes to the readers how far removed the characters are from the world that we live in today. It would be unheard of for a kid in 2022 to not know what a Coke is. 
In addition to McCarthy's use of symbolism, he uses bleak and dim imagery or vocabulary to set the mood of “The Road''. On page 78 he writes, “The water buckled boards sloping away into the yard. Soggy volumes in a bookcase. He took one down and opened it and then put it back. Everything is damp. Rotting. In a drawer, he found a candle. No way to light it. He put it in his pocket. He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The crushing black vacuum of the universe. And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like ground-foxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it.” McCarthy specifically chose to use words like, sloping, soggy, damp, rotting, gray light, darkness, and sorrow to make sure the reader feels where the book takes place, a post-apocalyptic, lawless world. If McCarthy was to not use this selection of words throughout the story, the reader would simply not understand the world he was trying to create. 
Cormac McCarthy’s use of symbolism, imagery, and vocabulary plays a major part in the way that readers see his 2007 Pulitzer prize-winning novel, “The Road”. He does an excellent job of using these literary devices to better display and illustrate his book in a way that not many other authors do. 

The Road by Cormac McCarthy is the story of how humanity operates on a desolate earth. It follows two characters The man and the boy throughout their journey to the south, they encounter other survivors and deal with their own morals and humanity. However, all of these themes are enhanced by McCarthy’s writing techniques such as imagery, sentence structure, and symbolism. These devices allow the reader to immerse themselves in the dull world.

One reoccurring device that is used in The Road Is imagery. When readers first open the book they are bombarded with descriptions of sights, scents and sounds. McCarthy writes “When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he’d reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him. Nights dark beyond darkness and the days more gray each one than what had gone before. Like the onset of some cold glaucoma dimming away the world. His hand rose and fell softly with each precious breath. He pushed away the plastic tarpaulin and raised himself in the stinking robes and blankets and looked toward the east for any light but there was none.” Just on the first page McCarthy allows readers to experience what the characters are living through and adds to the posthumous condition of nature and civilization.

Another writing technique that shines through is McCarthy's use of sentence structure. Throughout the story he coveys the complicated state of human relationships thriving through dire situations in this unique writing style. This is seen when the man and boy are resting after their journey and the boy inquires about mortality. “ Can I ask you something? he said. Yes. Of course. Are we going to die? Sometime. Not now. And we're still going south. Yes. So we'll be warm. Yes. Okay. Okay what? Nothing. Just okay. Go to sleep. Okay. I'm going to blow out the lamp. Is that okay? Yes. That's okay. And then later in the darkness: Can I ask you something? Yes. Of course you can. What would you do if I died? If you died I would want to die too.

So you could be with me? Yes. So I could be with you. Okay.” The first noticeable feature of the dialogue is the spacing. When conversations are had between the two characters it’s isolated from the rest of the text. This contrasts the to-the-point nature of how the talk goes to show the importance and meaning of their exchange though the nature of their speech. Another standout feature is the lack of quotation marks this allows the conversation to seamlessly flow back into imagery as to show that the characters are still on edge though talking. This allows readers to feel the tenseness in the dialogue and builds to the apocalyptic environment.

Lastly, McCarthy uses symbolism to portray the inner feelings of the characters. In a world with little substance McCarthy makes readers look closer and make connections like the duo they are following. We see this use of symbolism in the man’s refusal to dwell in dreams. “In dreams his pale bride came to him out of a green and leafy canopy. Her nipples pipeclayed and her rib bones painted white. She wore a dress of gauze and her dark hair was carried up in combs of ivory, combs of shell. Her smile, her downturned eyes. In the morning it was snowing again. Beads of small gray ice strung along the light-wires overhead. He mistrusted all of that. He said the right dreams for a man in peril were dreams of peril and all else was the call of languor and of death. He slept little and he slept poorly. He dreamt of walking in a flowering wood where birds flew before them he and the child and the sky was aching blue but he was learning how to wake himself from just such siren worlds. Lying there in the dark with the uncanny taste of a peach from some phantom orchard fading in his mouth. He thought if he lived long enough the world at last would all be lost. Like the dying world the newly blind inhabit, all of it slowly fading from memory.” This symbolic passage allows readers to understand the man’s feelings of faltering without explicit dialogue. The author chooses dreams to sybomlize the man’s fantasies of color and peace and how it contrasts his reality around him. It also allows the reader to explore the cause of the man’s stoic nature due to rejecting this false sense of happiness. This allows McCarthy to focus on the apocalypse portion of the story without explicitly stating the feelings of characters.

When writing this story McCarthy uses all of these features come together to create an experience that readers can immerse themselves into and reflect on how humanity can shine through even the apocalypse.

My artwork is about how the man and the boy have such a great bond together and I think it’s amazing what they have. Throughout the beginning of the book the man and the boy woke up in the woods together and it was scary for them because it was dark out. Also how they stick by each other and the man knows he has to look after the boy no matter what and that he can’t leave him behind because the boy would end up dead very fast. I chose to make the scene this way because I thought it was a good way to let people know about how important bonds and relationships are with people. How being close with someone and having their back and them having your back can go a very long way and can help you out when you really need it. Like for example the man and the boy cuddle up when it started to rain and they needed to get under the rock to stay warm or when the man gave the boy the soda that he found behind the fallen soda machine so that they boy could enjoy probably his last soda ever and that he was drinking something so he wouldn’t die of thirst. The significance of the artwork is just friendship and love and that The man and the boy are a perfect example of what a true friendship should look like and how you need to have each other’s back and look out for one another. I also think that it’s a good example because the man thinks about how he might have to kill the boy in order to survive later on but i truly think he won’t do it because one he won’t have the guts but two he has build such a strong bond with the boy that he would feel so much guilt and would think about it everyday for the rest of his li

My map of the road is meant to serve as a metaphor for the boy and man’s journey. One of the metaphors I specifically wanted to include in my map is fire. This idea of fire in The Road is meant to be a symbol of life and hope. The father while talking to the boy also mentioned this idea of carrying the fire. “We’re going to be okay, aren’t we Papa? Yes. We are. And nothing bad is going to happen to us. That’s right. Because we’re carrying the fire. Yes. Because we’re carrying the fire.”(83) Although the fire does represent hope, it also represents the destruction of life as everything is burning around them. But even then you still have to carry that burden and that’s what the father is holding onto because once that fire goes out so does he. There is also this coca cola that they find at the beginning of the book which I see as a clear symbol of happiness. In a dark world, there’s still somehow this bright red can of joy that was thought to be no more. The coca-cola serves as a light to the man and the boy so they can continue “carrying the fire”. Also connected to the boy and the man is the gun. The gun serves as a way out of this dark world in a time when there is no light. In a world so cruel how can one fight to stay alive? Why not just pull the trigger just like the mom did to stop the pain and suffering? But now with one bullet left still the gun looms as a possibility for self-defense or a silent death. Now as for the shopping cart I feel as though it had to be included in the map. When we think about shopping carts we normally just think of them as something pretty insignificant. But for the boy and the man it is an integral part of their journey. All of their cherished items and belongings are in that shopping cart and serve as their life. Wherever they go they carry that shopping cart because of what it holds. Finally, on the map, there is the road. In my map, the road is the centerpiece of the boy and man’s journey. The road is supposed to represent the possibility of hope as they are trying to reach the coast. However, the road also has its dangers because everyone can use the road. Under the road, you can see the good guys and bad guys. Now for the good guys, I choose an image of the Chucky doll because is anybody the good guys? In my opinion, I feel as though no one can be good in a world without light. Then lastly there are the bad guys which represent the cannibals and obstacles they meet on the road. And that is my map of the road.

One Lit log down, one more to go.

For my first literary logging concerning Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, I decided to draw the creature the man dreamed of on pages 2-3 of the book. I tried to stay as accurate to the description as possible, but many things were left open to interpretation and also there was a lot of room for creative freedom. Some of the most important aspects that I made sure to include were that the creature has translucent skin, and you can see its organs. Another important feature I included were the blind white eyes “like spider eggs.” I then colored the organs gray, because everything is gray and cold and sad. I didn’t color the bones because they were described as “alabaster.” I based the anatomy of the creature off of a stag, because that was the vibe I was getting from the description, the only exception being the head, as horns were never described and I feel like if it had horns, it would be said.

I think that the descriptive words used for the creature are very intentional, I think they indicate a weak or fragile creature, something exposed and blind, that lurches and lopes, and gives low moans. This dream and creature, in a way, despite being fragile, represent a part of the man’s sanity. The man claims that men of peril dream of peril, and this is the most perilous and disturbing dream he has had. This dream is not luring him to death. The child is leading the man to fragility, weakness, and blindness, represented by the creature, but he is also leading the man to life. The man feels that he cannot live without the child, but also is aware that he is stronger without him, he sometimes wishes “he had a heart of stone.” This dream perfectly represents that. While my art does not have the whole scene, I’m very happy with how it turned out, and it very much helped me interpret the dream. Also, funny animal.

Symbolism:

There is a lot of symbolism that occurs in, “The Road.” In the first passage in the book there is an initial attraction to the author’s writing style. It seems to be so descriptive yet so broad. What I mean by broad is that the author never tells us the characters names or their looks. He describes the atmosphere that paints a vivid picture in the reader’s head. Using the terms “the man” and “the boy” instead of names makes it hard for the reader to identify the characters. The symbols in the book “the road,” are pertinent to encapsulate the dark/cold setting of the novel.

One recurring description that is used throughout the book is the word gray. He uses the word gray quite repetitively throughout the passage. Like when the author describes the “shape of the city” as gray.”(7) This obviously gives the readers a vivid picture of the environment. The author does this intentionally to bring more depth and emotion to the characters point of view. It feels like we are in the characters’ position and seeing everything they’re seeing. The gray is a metaphor for the lack thereof. There is a lack of happiness, light and joy. Think about it, gray is not white but not yet black. Sometimes things are not black and white sometimes they are gray. The gray symbolizes the struggle of not knowing. The mixer of both is represented in the book because you are the boy who is somehow compassionate and hopeful while the dad is determined yet doubtful. Love is what they have at the end of the day. Though gray is not the most joyish of colors, gray represents struggle.

 Death shows up a lot throughout this book but it shows up vividly when he has a dream about his wife. She states “I’ve taken a new lover. He can give me what you cannot.”(57) This section is powerful but it shows the power of death. I cannot help but notice that she is talking about death as if it's a person. She feels like death was her only option due to the conditions. Death represents safety and reassurance, something that the man never gave her. It is odd that she says death is her lover, meaning that she fell in love with dying. Most people view death in different ways, some view it as peaceful, maybe terrifying, some maybe even view it as an escape. An escape from this life hoping that what on the other side is greater. In every other story death is the bad guy but it seems as though in this story death is a sense of relief. The way they talk about death in this novel seems so casual and they rather take their own lives then have someone else ruin their peace. I believe this is what she meant. She saw no hope looking at the outcomes of the world, she saw best to put all her hope in death.