Monday, February 7, 2011
SPOILER: do not read
So I am upset. Who told Cormac McCarthy that he could write a story on such a touchy subject (the end of the world) and end it with hope for humanity? THE END of the world should not be portrayed as a beacon of re-invention for the human race; It should be an end to all. I was almost disgusted, and although the story does not say life will continue on, the son meets a nice family who have a little boy and little girl (284). Through most of the story, the father pushed himself physically and mentally in a corrupt world to preserve his son and hope for humanity but why did the story actually have to conclude on such a happy note? The father dies (sad face) but the son finds nice people with children to live with (happy face). There should be a "The Road Continues" where the boy happens upon a box of pistol bullets, loads his gun up, and kills all the niceness from the world. Okay, maybe that is a little out there but I just don't understand McCarthy's motive for writing a story of darkness and ending it in a lightness. I think that a book on a grim and controversial subject should end both grim and controversial. (AT LEAST HE GOT ONE COMPONENT RIGHT)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I'm kind of surprised be your reaction. I disagree, but I find it very interesting. Personally, I felt it was a gutsier choice to end on a happy note when so much of modern literature that tries to be negative and bleak sticks dogmatically to that ethos under the guise of "realism". I guess this goes back to what is probably the fundamental question of the course: is an apocalypse the end of all human life or just the end of our current world/society? And is McCarthy's apocalypse more of a religious cleansing akin to the Biblical Flood, and meant to just wipe out the bad elements of our world? To effectively press the reset button?
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, he had to let the readers know that the book was over. Done. Case Closed. It had to end happy in order to end the book. It was either that, or kill the son too. There's really no other way to end books like those. It's like with the way JK Rowling ended Harry Potter with "All was well." Sure, everyone hated that, but she had to let the readers know that it was over. Done for.
ReplyDelete