They stay at this house for 4 days. They find some useful things and move on, their journey to the coast nearly complete. At this point in the story, we should be feeling some kind of optimism. We, as westerners, are brought up on stories and narratives that end happily. The resolution of this book should be easy to guess- they make it to the coast, they find a haven of society, there are children and dogs for the boy to play with to his heart's content and a beautiful woman for the man to fall in love with, and then they live happily ever after. On page 230 they reach the beach, their journey is over and, sadly, there is nothing there, not even colour. It is a sad beach on a miserable day with no one on it but them. This doesn't stop the boy's optimism though, he emerges from the freezing water "blue and his teeth were chattering" (p233) and crying. I presume it is with joy at his first swim in the sea.
On page 236-237 there are many words with negative connotation that help illustrate the dull beach, Gray, salt, spittle, iodine, dead, dark scud, dry, dead, thrashed, gray, endless, tidewrack, bones, death, senseless." Add to that the imagery of "the ribs of fishes in their millions stretching along the shore as far as eye could see" (p237). How depressing, especially if you were expecting something to be there. Luckily there are about 60 more pages for a happy ending to come, right?
There is a boat which offers some supplies, but this is probably what finishes off the man, swimming to and from it in the freezing water. The flare gun he finds does come in handy later.
There is time left in the novel for a few more suspenseful anti-climaxes. McCarthy nearly finishes off the man but keeps giving us hope he will survive and that at the end of the novel they will be saved. First, they get lost in the dark and the rain but find their stuff by hearing the rain land on the tarp, the boy gets sick so we think he might die. Then they get robbed and they chase the thief by following the sand dropped as he walked away with their stuff. Maybe it is because the man knows he is near the end of his own life that he treats the thief so badly. He takes all his clothes in an act of unbridled cruelty. He tells him he is doing what he did to them (p276). It is only after some pleading by the son that they go back. The thief has gone but the man leaves his pile of clothes where he was and we never find out if the man survives. I actually found this part shocking; i didn't think the man had it in him to be that cruel. This is another, very clear example of the lengths he will go to to protect his son. Look at the exchange on page 277-
"You're not the one who has to worry about everything.
... He looked up, his wet and grimy face. Yes I am, he said. I am the one." (p277).
The boy knows his father is dying.
Next, he gets hit in the leg by an arrow, which is really his death knell and he knows it. He uses the flare to shoot whoever shot him. He feels no remorse for the woman whose man he just killed. And this seems fair when it is kill or be killed.
Most of the rest of the novel we are put through the painful, slow death of the father. At this point the reader is forced to face the facts. How well prepared is the 10 year old boy to live in this world alone? Has he been taught enough? Will he use the gun for defense or suicide? What will he do without his father?
From the incident with the thief to about page 299 they wander around aimlessly and the enevitable comes closer and closer. His own prophesy comes true and he dreams nice dreams of "softly colored worlds of human love, the songs of birds, the sun." (p292). The man is getting sicker. On page 297-299 the man gives his final pleading advice to his son. At the end of 299 he dreams again of the cave where the story started. This reference signals the journey of the story is complete. On page 300 the man dies and the boy is alone for three days and at this point we know that the father had a name, an identity, that he was someone: "...and held his cold hand and said his name over and over again." (p310).
The ending is interesting. The boy is approached by a man. There is an almost light-hearted exchange between them which shows the man means him no harm.
"How do I know you're one of the good guys?
You dont. You'll have to take a shot.
Are you carrying the fire?
Am I what?
Carrying the fire.
You're kind of weirded out, arent you?
No.
Just a little.
Yeah." (p303)
He then lets the boy say goodbye to his father and the parting is sad and pitiful and beautiful and he promises to talk to him everyday.
The woman meets the boy and embraces him. We feel the boy is safe. The woman is reassuring and talks of God and there is a big reference to God at the end here, and that if there is life and goodness in children, if they fire is being carried, then all will be well in the world no matter how many cannibals there are. After a very tiring experience as readers we are left with a glimmer of hope, that a society will reform once again. We can see that good attracts good and we hope that one day good will reign over the earth.
The very last paragraph is a deep, philosophical passage that ends the novel with an image of fish in a stream, a scene untouched by humankind. McCarthy makes sure we know that the earth and living things have been herre for millenia before humans ever walked the earth and the earth will always be here well after we have ruined the planet and rendered ourselves extinct.
They stay at this house for 4 days. They find some useful things and move on, their journey to the coast nearly complete. At this point in the story, we should be feeling some kind of optimism. We, as westerners, are brought up on stories and narratives that end happily. The resolution of this book should be easy to guess- they make it to the coast, they find a haven of society, there are children and dogs for the boy to play with to his heart's content and a beautiful woman for the man to fall in love with, and then they live happily ever after. On page 230 they reach the beach, their journey is over and, sadly, there is nothing there, not even colour. It is a sad beach on a miserable day with no one on it but them. This doesn't stop the boy's optimism though, he emerges from the freezing water "blue and his teeth were chattering" (p233) and crying. I presume it is with joy at his first swim in the sea.
On page 236-237 there are many words with negative connotation that help illustrate the dull beach, Gray, salt, spittle, iodine, dead, dark scud, dry, dead, thrashed, gray, endless, tidewrack, bones, death, senseless." Add to that the imagery of "the ribs of fishes in their millions stretching along the shore as far as eye could see" (p237). How depressing, especially if you were expecting something to be there. Luckily there are about 60 more pages for a happy ending to come, right?
There is a boat which offers some supplies, but this is probably what finishes off the man, swimming to and from it in the freezing water. The flare gun he finds does come in handy later.
There is time left in the novel for a few more suspenseful anti-climaxes. McCarthy nearly finishes off the man but keeps giving us hope he will survive and that at the end of the novel they will be saved. First, they get lost in the dark and the rain but find their stuff by hearing the rain land on the tarp, the boy gets sick so we think he might die. Then they get robbed and they chase the thief by following the sand dropped as he walked away with their stuff. Maybe it is because the man knows he is near the end of his own life that he treats the thief so badly. He takes all his clothes in an act of unbridled cruelty. He tells him he is doing what he did to them (p276). It is only after some pleading by the son that they go back. The thief has gone but the man leaves his pile of clothes where he was and we never find out if the man survives. I actually found this part shocking; i didn't think the man had it in him to be that cruel. This is another, very clear example of the lengths he will go to to protect his son. Look at the exchange on page 277-
"You're not the one who has to worry about everything.
... He looked up, his wet and grimy face. Yes I am, he said. I am the one." (p277).
The boy knows his father is dying.
Next, he gets hit in the leg by an arrow, which is really his death knell and he knows it. He uses the flare to shoot whoever shot him. He feels no remorse for the woman whose man he just killed. And this seems fair when it is kill or be killed.
Most of the rest of the novel we are put through the painful, slow death of the father. At this point the reader is forced to face the facts. How well prepared is the 10 year old boy to live in this world alone? Has he been taught enough? Will he use the gun for defense or suicide? What will he do without his father?
From the incident with the thief to about page 299 they wander around aimlessly and the enevitable comes closer and closer. His own prophesy comes true and he dreams nice dreams of "softly colored worlds of human love, the songs of birds, the sun." (p292). The man is getting sicker. On page 297-299 the man gives his final pleading advice to his son. At the end of 299 he dreams again of the cave where the story started. This reference signals the journey of the story is complete. On page 300 the man dies and the boy is alone for three days and at this point we know that the father had a name, an identity, that he was someone: "...and held his cold hand and said his name over and over again." (p310).
The ending is interesting. The boy is approached by a man. There is an almost light-hearted exchange between them which shows the man means him no harm.
"How do I know you're one of the good guys?
You dont. You'll have to take a shot.
Are you carrying the fire?
Am I what?
Carrying the fire.
You're kind of weirded out, arent you?
No.
Just a little.
Yeah." (p303)
He then lets the boy say goodbye to his father and the parting is sad and pitiful and beautiful and he promises to talk to him everyday.
The woman meets the boy and embraces him. We feel the boy is safe. The woman is reassuring and talks of God and there is a big reference to God at the end here, and that if there is life and goodness in children, if they fire is being carried, then all will be well in the world no matter how many cannibals there are. After a very tiring experience as readers we are left with a glimmer of hope, that a society will reform once again. We can see that good attracts good and we hope that one day good will reign over the earth.
The very last paragraph is a deep, philosophical passage that ends the novel with an image of fish in a stream, a scene untouched by humankind. McCarthy makes sure we know that the earth and living things have been herre for millenia before humans ever walked the earth and the earth will always be here well after we have ruined the planet and rendered ourselves extinct.