Reading: The Road; pages 231-260, by Cormac McCarthy

    On page 231,  the father has just swum back ashore from the boat and tells the boy that they are going to eat well tonight, but that they need to get back to their camp because it is going to rain. The boy and father start waling back to camp when the father panic-ally asks where the pistol is. The boy freezes and begins to sob after realizing his mistake, and informs the father that he left it on the beach as he holds back his tears and constantly apologizes. Although the father tries to hurry, the darkness overcomes them and the two are thrown into an eerie dilemma absolute darkness. Walking like the blind the father and boy try to retrace their steps by trying to make use of brief flashes of lightning off in the distance. It begins down pouring and the father realizes they are in trouble. A breakthrough occurs, however,  as the father hears the minuscule sound of rain drops hitting their tarp. The father and boy quickly manage to get under the shelter and fall asleep for the night.
    In the morning most of their time was spent unloading the ship and the father made trips to gain supplies and the boy helped pull items ashore with a makeshift tow rope. Later they slept and the father awoke with a terrible cough and he says, " Every day is a lie, but you are dying. That is not a lie." The next morning the father decided to go back to the ship to make sure he had everything. Trying to find a specific object the father enters the captains area of the ship. He sits and ponders on where an item might be until he realizes that he is staring at notches of a hatch and instantly begins to open them. In the container the man finds the item he is looking for, a flare gun. He brings it back to the boy and the boy asks if they can shoot it later and the father replies of course. Later in the night they shoot the flare gun off and watch it go out in the distance, and they boy asks if God could see it.
    The next morning the boy and father set out to walk up and down the beach again to search for supplies. To the father's horror, he discovers foot tracks in the beach. The father tells the boy to hurry as they run back to camp to find everything they had owned to be gone. Instantly the father follows the tracks and it leads him back to the road unto which the boy finds sand marking the way the thief went. The boy and father then proceed in jogging until they spot the thief. The man with their cart stands behind it with a butcher's knife, but the father pulls out the pistol and tells him to put it in the cart. Then the father rids the man of his clothing and shoes and leaves him to die just as he would have done to them. This whole time the boy is crying profusely on the ground and pleading the father to stop. The father, however, continues and they leave the man naked with nothing in the road to die. Eventually the boy convinces the father to go back to help the thief, but he was gone. The father tries to comfort to boy by telling him that he wasn't going to kill him, but the boy replies " But we did kill him."
    I felt that this section of the book was very heart aching. First with the boy forgetting the gun and then with the thief on the road. Even though the boy was irresponsible in leaving the gun on the beach, the father continues to tell him that it was his fault, and I thought that the man was acting very understanding towards his son. The most shocking part to me in this section was the showdown with the thief though. A new stern side of the father is brought out in this section in which he makes the thief give up all of his belongings because that's what he was going to do to the father and son. It's sort of a Hammurabi law code approach ( An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth) that the father decides to take and it makes him appear almost cruel towards this thief. The boy who is always acting selflessly amazes me that even though this man was going to let them starve and die, the boy believes they should help him out. It's hard to imagine so much goodness in a time so dark. 

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Siesta Key: Spring Break Is On The Way

Great Lyricism: A Good Song

Reading: The Road pages 201-230; By: Cormac McCarthy

    Continuing this book on 201, the boy recently saw a charred baby in a cauldron and is now shaken up by it. The father and boy continuing heading south, but the boy no longer does some of the things he used to do such as ride in the cart. After a little while they come across a stream of water and decided its alright to drink as long as they filter the ash out of the water. Although they did have a plethora of food once they left the safe hold in the ground, the boy and father are now running very low on necessities. Of in the distance barely visible the boy discovers the outline of a house.
    The father decides that they should go and check the house out for food and so the boy follows; however, the boy is uneasy about the decision. When they reach the house the boy is skeptical and is afraid that there will be people there. The father convinces the boy that no one is there and so they go in the house. Slowly they check all the downstairs rooms and realize that they are the only ones there. In the kitchen the father finds some unopened cans of green beans, potatoes, and carrots. He was unsure about whether or not they were poisonous, but due to their dire need of food they decided to cook them and eat it anyways. It turns out they were perfectly fine.They stayed in the house for four more days and then continued out on the road.
    Their journey continues for a few more days, looking in grocery stores for anything useful, scavenging old gas pumps for gasoline, and looking in desolate houses for food. After all these things happen they continue on the road and notice the air is different. The father and boy come around the corner of the road and off in the distance see the coastline. The sea though was gray not as the boy was hoping for he was a little disappointed, and the father apologized that it was not blue. After sitting on the sand for a little while the boy asks the father if he can swim. Puzzled the father replies that it is fine and so even though it is freezing the boy goes in to the water. After coming back out of the water the boy is crying but will not tell the father why, and so the father doesn't question him but instead continues warming him up and built a fire so they could sleep.
   In the morning they continued down the beach until the came to a ship stranded off the coast in the water. The father said that he was going to look on the boat for food and supplies, and the boy wished to go with him but the father told him to wait there. The boy was becoming upset that the father was not listening to him as much anymore.The father went out anyways and swam towards the boat. On the boat the father looked for supplies and found some new clothes that he put on. The father also managed to find some Spanish books, canned food, clothes, and a burner from an oven. With all these things the man jumped back over board to meet the boy back on shore.
    This section of the book was not as exciting to me as the other ones. I felt that it went very slow and even caught myself dozing off towards the end of the section. The one thing that tipped me off though was that the father found a coin and books that were in Spanish. This makes me wonder if they are in maybe Mexico or parts of Texas on the coast. In this chapter it is also quite depressing because the boy is growing father apart with his father because he feels as though his dad is not listening to him as much as he used to. I'm hoping that the book picks up with some more action and the relationship starts to grow stronger again.

Reading: The Road pages 161-200; By: Cormac McCarthy

    On page 161 the boy and father are walking down the road when they spot a figure in the road ahead of them. They continued walking until they overtook the traveler and saw that it was a very old man. The old man saw them and replied by saying that he had nothing for them to rob. The father and boy continue telling the man that they do not want to take any of his things, but the old man is delusional. The boy insists in helping the old man by giving him something to eat and eventually the father gives in. The old man agreed to sit down and eat but he was skeptical of the two and the whole world for that manner.
    The father tried questioning the old man while they ate, but the old man gave untrue answers and was perplexed at simple questions. When the father asked when the last time he had eaten the old man simply replied by saying, "I don't know." The old man told the two that his name was Ely; however, he eventually tells them that it is not his actual name, and will not tell the father or boy what his name really is for safety precautions. Then the old man's dialect takes a curve and he suddenly starts becoming philosophical by explaining that there is no God and that he knew something like the boy and father coming would happen eventually. The old man gives his two cents on life and how he thinks everything will be better once everyone is gone. In the morning the boy and father negotiate how much food they should leave him and once they leave boy said he feels bad because he knows that the old man is going to die.
    The boy and father set out for the road again, and after some time they sit to eat a meal. The father tries turning the valve for gas on the stove and realizes the valve was left on by the boy. The father doesn't tell the boy it was his fault but the boy understands he left it open and tells the father it's the his (The Boy's) fault. Much time passes in these pages which mainly depict scenery. Eventually the boy and father come up to a town where four people meet them at the entrance asking them what they have on them. The father then pulls the pistol out and the people let them by, and the boy and father continue on their journey. A few days later the father and son feel as though someone is following them so they camp out to see if their suspicions are right. They camp through the night and the father spots 4 figures walking, 3 men and 1 pregnant women. They watch them pass and the next morning set out again only to see a smoke from a fire down a ways in the woods. The boy and father agree to check out the fire, and to the boys shock he discovers a charred beheaded human infant. The sight pierces him as he becomes speechless, and as the days continue the boy appears to have lost a lot of his innocence.
     This section of the book was very peculiar. I felt that the old man provided a different view point of the world which was kind of interesting. A quote from the man that I liked was, "People are always getting ready for tomorrow. I didn't believe in that. Tomorrow wasn't getting ready for them. It didn't even know they were there." This pessimistic view on life made me think about time, and also how everyone is guided by the concept that there is always tomorrow. I'd say even though the old man was very delusional he himself was also very intellectual and practical. Another thing I noticed in the section is the growing change of the boy. As the boy continues on his journey down the road he is constantly changing due to the images he sees. The boy starts out very innocent and occurrences such as almost being killed by a scavenger, seeing the rotting people in the basement, and seeing the charred baby in the stew pot has greatly impacted the way he sees life.

Basketball

First Intramural Basketball Game Today At 5:15! Bout To Go Ham In This Attire:

Reading: The Road pages 131-160; By: Cormac McCarthy

     Starting on page 132, all things seem hopeless. The man and boy have gone days possibly weeks without a solid income of food and thoughts of death are starting to appear in their heads. The boy especially is beginning to lose hope in his father and agrees with his dad, but thinks in his mind that they are going to die. They continue their mental battle until they come across a charred house and like before they must enter it to look for some food. The father found nothing in the house and so he then went out back to check a tool shed. In the tool shed the father finds a gas can that somehow has managed to still contain a little gas. Needing a container to put it in, the father begins to cross the yard.
    On the way through the grass to the house the father stopped walking. He wondered why he had stopped walking in realized the ground had felt different. He then grabs a shovel from the shed and pierces the ground where he was standing. A sudden thump, and the father began shoveling away dirt. As if finding buried treasure, the father continues shoveling off all the dirt until all that remains is a locked wooden door. When the boy sees the sight he his very frightened because he recalls what happened at the other house earlier when they found the horrid people in the basement. Understanding the boys emotions the father tells the boy that they can just sit on the porch and wait a while. After convincing the son, the father goes back to the door and breaks the lock. With a custom built lamp of a beer bottle and cloth, the father opens the hatch to the room underneath the ground. Suspense builds as the unknown approaches, and to the father's surprise he discovered a miracle.
    In the room in the yard the father uncovers an untouched area full of an array of multiple foods, utensils, and survival needs. Amazed by their find the father is breath taken and begins looking around and finds canned peaches and other canned goods, lighters, an oven, blankets, and many other useful goods. The father begins cooking a meal for the two of them which consists of peaches and the boy insists that they thank the people who made this room. the boy and father continue staying in the area for around four more days so they can rest and eat. On the fourth day the boy and father load up all the goods they can from the room and place it in a shopping cart they picked up at a shopping center earlier. Replenished and with a full supply of food, the father and boy begin to walk down the road once agian.
   For the first time in this book I have felt a feeling of relief. I believe that Cormac McCarthy not only put this scene of the boy and father finding a plethora of goods for the survival of the characters but as a relief feeling for the reader as well. This occurrence finally portrays a feeling of hope for the boy and dad who had previously hit rock bottom, and it lets the reader know that goods thing happen to those who look for it. I am very happy with this book so far, and with the characters replenished and optimistic again, I am ready for a new start.

Impressive:

Reading: The Road pages 101-130; By: Cormac McCarthy

      Starting on page 101, the boy and father, like most of the book so far, are continuing to walk down the road but instantly the man spots something out of the ordinary. The road they are traveling on is covered with a gray snowy ash which is common, but on the ash there appears to be narrow tread marks. The father senses danger and quickly reacts by telling the boy they need to leave. The boy and father ran to the highest ground they could find and watched the road until about two hours later two men came down the road and did not find the boy and the man. The scene provides a quick feeling of suspense to the reader.
      Both the boy and the father are still suffering from an extreme lack of food which is messing with their judgment. As they continue walking they come across a monumental house in which the windows are oddly intact. The father insists on inspecting the house for food, but the boy does not want to go in at all. They went in the house and scavenged for food but found nothing. Not until the father found a locked pantry door. The boy senses danger but the man lets his hunger for food overtake his senses and proceeds in busting the lock open and going downstairs. The basement is dark and gloomy and when the man lights the dark room a horrid sight is revealed. Huddled together in the corner is a group of naked men and women dirty and beaten who at the sight of the light come towards the man asking him and the boy to save them. Realizing their danger the man and boy run out of the basement to see four bearded men and two ladies coming back to the house. The boy and man bolt out the front door and run down the drive way into the woods knowing that the people will see that others had been in their house and come looking for them. The man is troubled by his mistake and he and the boy run for dear life from the cannibalistic people who own the house.
     Escaping from the grasps of the evils from that house, the man and boy continue until they find a barn. The boy sleeps in the woods while the man goes out to look for food. Expecting to find nothing the man stumbles upon a dried apple. He continues walking and begins finding more and more apples. His finding of apples creates a sense of optimism in a world that appears to be so devastatingly distroyed.
     Although these pages were mainly filled with depression and suspense, I felt that it was overall entertaining in a dark way. In a book that is filled with a lot of walking, every little bit of suspense is magnified to become an epic part of the book as a whole. In these situations is when the reader learns more about the character through their actions and reactions, such as the little boy after the man was shot earlier in the book and he lost his sense of goodness in the world. This book creates a new way of thinking for me by simplistically incorporating a new style of writing that makes the reader appreciate their life and understand the need for hope when all things seem lost. 

I figured this would help give a visual aid to The Road

Sometimes readings are hard to visualize so I figured I would post this to help people who are reading my blog to have a better picture about this book I have been writing about.

Reading: The Road pgs 71-102

     After their encounter with the bad guys in the truck, the man and the boy return to their sight of conflict to reclaim their cart. Unfortunately, they find the cart knocked over and missing almost all of the things it contained. Due to this occurrence, their food source has now become greatly limited and their survival rates have gone down. Although most would be afraid in this situation, the father continues his optimistic approach and tells the boy that everything will be alright and that they will not die. The boy is now becoming more quiet as he faces the reality of the world.
      As the boy and father continue their journey they come across a little town setting in which the father sees smoke off in the distance. Due to their absence of food, they go in town to search for something to eat. They search everything available, but no food is to be found; the only lively thing noted was a faint bark of a dog that the boy hears. In the morning they returned to the town and in their search the boy appears to see a little boy around the same age of him and precedes in trying to chase after him. The boy finds nothing and is quickly found by the father who is a little stirred up by his actions. The father's son on the other hand, is more interested in the other boy's safety than his own which shows the father's son constant feeling of selflessness.
     A few days after they leave the town the boy and father are walking down the road when the father sees people coming behind them. The figures off in the distance have red scarves on and are described as holding long piping with metal chains attached to them. Following them is a large carriage pulled by multiple slaves and a multitude of women who appear to be concubines of the leaders. The man explains to the boy that those are the bad guys, and they are the good guys. As night draws near a harsh snow is falling and the lack of food is causing the boy to doubt there survival. The father makes camp in the unbearably cold forest, only to be awakened by the cacophony of falling trees. Instantly the boy and father must scurry to avoid being crushed by the trees. In the morning the father and boy found the cart and used the blankets to create insulation for themselves, and were forced to separate from the cart and depart on their journey without it. The reality is finally settling in and the boy is becoming doubtful, and the thoughts are only made worse due to the absence of a food supply.
      This section of the book for some reason really caught my attention. Although not a lot of eventful occurrences happened, I learned a lot of insight about the characters. The boy is constantly feeling the need to help others which is truly not logical in the conditions they are in. To be honest the book is almost depressing because in normal literature a character has a good rise and then is struck by something bad but is able to overcome the obstacle in the end. In this book, however, problem after problem is occurring and although they overcome these situations, they tend to come out of them with less and less. This idea is only more solidified with the boys innocent mind becoming more pessimistic as he begins to doubt life itself. I'm hoping this book will start to have some relief soon because its beginning to have so many hardships that it's going to start affecting my thoughts and ideals.
 

Reading: The Road pages 36-70

    On page 35, the boy and father are continuously walking on the road that leads them to the south. A rare occurrence emerges, however, when they come across a waterfall. Although it is freezing cold both the boy and the man take advantage of the opportunity and take a bath in the waterfall. The scene provides a quick feeling of happiness in what appears to be a hopeless world. The feeling of happiness is quickly squashed when the boy learns that they cannot stay near the river because it is too dangerous, and so the father and son must return to the road. This scene also provides some further insight into the amount of destruction that has occurred by revealing that states have become non existent in the new America.
      Later on their travel, the boy and father come across an abandoned truck on a bridge they must cross. Approaching it with caution, they learn that it is harmless and so they decided to rest in it for the night. Once awake, they come out into the light and the father discovers that the trailer behind the truck contains the bodies of people who died many years ago. After leaving the area and continuing down the path, the author Cormac McCarthy provides a rather confusing memory of the father in which he is arguing with "she", referring to his wife, about why she should not commit suicide. The excerpt ends in death when she slits her wrist with obsidian.
          After the flashback, action finally begins picking up in the story on page 61. While camping out on the road the father hears a sound off in the distance. A diesel truck comes into sight and the father and boy realize that danger is on the way. Instantly the father gathers their belongings and he and the boy run off to the side of the road and take shelter in a small ditch. Unlucky towards the two, the truck breaks down right where they are located and it causes some unwanted interaction. The father and the boy encounter one of the men and the father has a gun pointed at the man and makes sure the man knows that the father is not afraid to shoot. His threat is put to the test when the man grabs the boy and puts a knife to his throat and instantaneously a bullet is lodged in his brain and the man dies. As a result of the noise, the boy and father are forced to flee and the boy is in shock of the dramatic situation that he was just in.
       I would have to say that this book is definitely one of the most gloomy, omniscient books I have ever read. Everything is shrouded in darkness and Cormac McCarthy's description of this world adds to the feeling of emptiness felt by the characters. Although his writing is coated with adjectives, all have negative connotations which completely change all the nouns to give a dreadful feeling towards the reader. Even though The Road is very dark, it doesn't fail to capture my attention. It starts out sort of slow at the beginning, but as I continue reading the action is finally starting to pick up. I am very fond of the father in this novel because he is optimistic, and his cleverness in life threatening situations makes me wonder if I would have survived if put in that situation. Overall, this book is continuing to surpass my expectations and has proved to be a insightful read that uses a different approach of story telling to keep the reader interested.

 

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Reading: The Road pages 1-35

    The book I began reading is called The Road, and the author of this book is Cormac McCarthy. Right off the bat on page 1 the book begins in the story of a father and son traveling across post apocalyptic America to the South so they can survive the harsh winter. In this time, everything is covered in a gloomy gray ash which falls from the sky and coats everything. The man and the boy rely on their surroundings for survival because almost everything is destroyed, and the only way to gain supplies and food is by scavenging it off of anything one can find. The reasoning of how the world became the way it is in this time is not given in the beginning of the book which gives the reader a sense of mystery and eeriness.
   As the story progresses, the understanding of the action occurring becomes more clear. The road in essence is their route to survival. In this books case it could be compared to a metaphorical "Yellow Brick Road" as in The Wizard of Oz; however, although the father and boy know the direction to take, they do not know what lies ahead of them in their path. Along with the concept of the road, the relationship between the father and boy becomes evident as the story continues. The boy acts as the fathers beacon of hope, for without him the father would have no hope to survive. The father's selflessness towards his boy is evident when he finds an old Coca Cola can in a vending machine and gives it to his son because he wants his boy to enjoy the moment since he will probably never again taste a soda.
        Throughout pages 1-34, the main struggle that the father and son must face is the weather. The skies are murky with a combination of gray ash and snow. The temperatures are extremely cold and the only supplies that the father and son have to prevent them from the extremities is a a few blankets, a tarp, and some feeble make-shift snowshoes. Most people would breakdown in these conditions, but the maturity and determination of both the boy and the father is portrayed during these times for neither the father nor boy complain once about their struggle.
      This book has already greatly caught my attention, and to be honest if I didn't have to stop to write this post I'd still be reading it. The book is creatively put together in a series of separated paragraph sections which tends to skip a period of time when a new section begins. However, this setup can be somewhat challenging sometimes to piece together because there is also an occasional flashback that the reader must intemperate. Along with the setup, the vocabulary that Cormac McCarthy uses does cause me some struggles in some areas, but the book overall isn't too hard to comprehend. I feel as though the book causes a sense a guilt on me for all the things I take advantage of because of how easily they are available. Reading about how this father and son have to scavenge for everything they have really makes me think twice about all the things I have and how easily I could lose it all. Overall, this book appears to be a great read and I can't wait to see where this story ends up going.