It’s really hard for me to glean some sort of life lesson from this book. I really enjoy McCarthy’s writing, but not only is the point of the book in relationship to my life lost on me, but I find it incredibly annoying whenever he doesn’t use normal technique for dialogue. As you can obviously see from my earlier posts, McCarthy tends to use run-on sentences to increase the sense of hopelessness and being lost.
I’m not sure, however, why all this is necessary. What do we have to gain from being so lost? Obviously the main characters are completely lost and alone, and the writing style reflects that feeling, but I don’t understand what that says about the human condition. Is McCarthy saying that we are all lost and alone, even if the physical world doesn’t reflect that to date? Is McCarthy saying that the world we live in today may just as well be post-apocalyptic because the way we treat each other wouldn’t change very much?
On the one hand I have absolute respect for his writing style and the way he’s able to create a mood through rhetoric, but on the other hand I don’t feel that his style is completely adaptable to the everyday American. Sometimes it detracts from the fluidity of the novel, as it becomes difficult for me to tell who is talking when. It also becomes difficult to tell times apart from each other since the book contains no chapters or time indicators.
On the other hand, I suppose that is the point. McCarthy succeeds in his use of rhetoric and the structural differences he has devised are incredibly effective. They put you right in the mind of the main characters, making you feel just as alone and lost as you’re sure they are.
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