Henderson: The Road

In the novel, The Road, the plot is very ambiguous and abstract, with no regards as to why or when the cataclysm has taken place, nor why the father and son were chose to survive for so long; or even to why or how God has entered the man's and son's being.

The father realizes that his son will not be able to live through another cold winter in their current location due to the great and unexplained cataclysm that has taken place. Therefore they begin a journey to sea, in hopes that they will come across some type of vegetation and warmer climate for the sake of the son's survival. In the novel, the father tells his son: “My job is to take care of you. I was appointed to do that by God. I will kill anyone who touches you.” and he does in their first encounter with another human. In the film you can see how different the father's and the son's characters are; the son has a sense of compassion and 'goodness' towards others that they come across and the father is very protective of his son and merciless.

In the end of the novel, the father and son reaches the sea but did not find the salvation that the father had hoped for and eventually the father died due to his illness leaving his son alone on the road, with the gun, and the knowledge that he can still talk to his father everyday. Three days later, a man who has said that he has been following the boy and his father, approaches the boy inviting him to joint his family. The boy asked the man if he is also one of the “good guys” and the man states that he is, along with his wife, their two children, and their dog.

Although the man states that he is a good guy in the end of the novel, the reader is still left to wonder about the boy's safety and the family's intention. On the other hand, at the end of the film, I feel like the viewer is more comfortable with the boy joining the family because the wife is portrayed as a compassionate woman who will treat the boy well, like her own.

Bonnin - The Road

McCormack’s novel “The Road” presents the struggle for survival of a man and his son in a post-apocalyptic world in which hunger and distrust has stripped men of their sense of humanity. Through his work, McCormack predicts that under such dire circumstances men will resort to cannibalism and, according to the film, it seems probable that due to both hunger and fear humans will end up exterminating each other. The film and the novel have an ambiguous ending, seeing as throughout the story the reader/viewer has been taught to distrust every other human aside form the two main characters.

At one point in the novel the man tells his son when asked what will happen to the boy they left behind that: “Goodness will find the little boy. It always has. It will again” (kindle location 3500-3507). This statement seems to allude to his own son’s fate, seeing as his son is oddly kindhearted and he also tells him that luck always finds him. And it is true, he always manages to survive every situation, even if it was because he had his father’s protection. However, what I think was even more important is the fact that he never lost his goodness in his struggle to live. He never killed or hurt anyone, and I believe that that’s what his father referred to when he would tell him that he carried the fire. He represented hope for humanity.

When the boy encounters the man he will join after his father’s death it is hard for the reader to trust him. The fact that he lets him keep the pistol, even after he offers to hand it over, and actually covers his father’s corpse with a blanket to me were indicators that he was well intentioned. The movie does an even better job of ending the story in a positive note, seeing as one is able to see how the woman is very happy to see him and seems genuinely interested in him as a person (and not as food). Also the novel mentions their having children, but the reader doesn’t know if he is lying to lure the boy in, while the film actually shows one the children and the dog. The children and the dog are symbol of hope, of a future rather than of death. If they haven’t even eaten the dog it is safe to assume they will not eat the boy.

Baker - The Road

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, is a phenomenal book based on a post apocalyptic world in which a man and his son are trying to survive in their quest for a southern land that is believed to be untouched by the bitter cold, vast destruction, and utter chaos that dominates their northern world. The book, as usual, is an overall better experience than the movie, perhaps because of the many details and emotions that are emitted from the film. In a novel, the author can spend pages and pages capturing the emotions and thoughts of the characters during certain scenes – in this regard, McCarthy’s novel fails twice. On the contrary, the ending of the film truly encapsulates the intense feelings of death and hope. So as an overall journey, the novel is better, but the film’s ending blows the novel’s ending out of the water.

In the scene when the boy’s father dies, McCarthy fails to capture the pain and anguish that the child displays in the film. The dialogues are nearly identical, yet the book never portrays the emotions that the movie exhibited. In the movie, the man and his son seem much more effected by his departure. The boy is crying, and his father is fighting back tears. Maybe it is unfair to request McCarthy to replicate these emotions in the novel, but nonetheless, he does not. As a result, the novel’s ending suffers while the film’s ending thrives.

Furthermore, the final scene between the boy and the mother of the family that he meets is much more heartfelt in the movie than it is in the book. In the book, the scene is brief, and the woman tells the child that their family has been following him and his father, and she exclaims that she has been praying for him. In the movie, however, the woman immediately behaves as if she is the boy’s mother. The offers him a warm embrace, and she gives him a true feeling of hope. The boy appears to be truly happy in the movie when he sees the two children and the family dog, and in general, there is a greater feeling of hope at the end of the movie than there is at the end of the novel.

Such is the way with books compared to movies... In general, novels provide the details, and films offer the emotion. The Road was a very well-written novel (including the ending), but it lacked emotion – which is why I am glad that I watched the movie.

Hubbard: The Road

Cormac McCarthy's novel "The Road", is a tale like no other. It is was of the best post-apocalyptic stories I ever read. Usually novels of this genre are not that enjoyable and the thought of humanity coming to an end is mind bothering. The novel is about a father and his son after fighting for survival after a cataclysm destroyed most of the civilization and almost all life on earth. They embark on a journey to travel south to find a warmer climate because they are not physically able to face another winter. While on the journey that was literary a fight for humanity and life, they hoped to find more "civilized" humans like themselves. It's not easy to remain hopeful when all is lost and you're at a standstill in a dark cold place where land is devoid.

While reading the novel, I was able to imagine and visualize what was occurring throughout the story. The thought of being hunted by cannibals, having hardly any food or water and being two of the few normal humans left. I read in the novel how they had to witness a horrific scene of an infant cooked. People may think times are hard due to a recession but this situation was beyond hard. Some humans became so desperate, that they formed cannibalistic tribes and hunted other humans so they could feed of them in order to survive. They spared no mercy and had no sympathy for woman and children. Children are actually easier targets because they weren't able defend themselves. Reading all of this really disturbed me but watching the film really had me on the verge of pressing stop. Seeing films for novels tend to allow me to have a better understanding of what is taking place.

At the end of the film, the father dies after suffering from a wound and leaves the boy to fend for himself. Fortunately, they were being followed by another family that offered to take him in and ensure him that they were good people. I was hoping that it didn't end with them turning on the boy. I think in the end the family took the boy in and overtime they eventually found civilization where they could survive and start over. I think that the book sort of ends on the same note as well.

Celestine: The Road

The Road by Cormac McCarthy portrayed the relationship of a father and son during a rough time in life. The connection between the father and son is seen clearly at the beginning of the novel but as the novel progresses the difference in their personality is seen through how they tolerate their journey. The father constantly refers to him and his son as the “good people”. He believes they are the only good ones left in their area since the people they have encountered has started murdering people and eating them. The son does not understand the impact of their new life and does not agree with how his father takes care of them. At some point in the novel McCarthy says that the son and his father’s relationship would be torn apart if they were not going through this traumatic experience together. Unlike the father the son has a love for humanity and if he has the sources to help someone he would do so. This is first seen when the son notices a little boy and wants to take him with them and the father says no because no one can be trusted. The action of the father truly upsets the son and that causes him not to speak to his father for a while. The characters Ely and the African American man, the thief, also portray the difference in the way the father and son view people. This can be attributed to the maturity difference and life experience but as the novel continues the reader realizes the father is preparing his son for living a life with out him.

As they travel more south in their journey the father constantly reminds the son to “carry the fire”. He says this because he knows that he is getting sick and that eventually the son will have to continue living without him. The father needs to reassure the son that he should not give up and not just accept everyone though they seem approachable. The father is aware that his son appreciates humanity and cannot stay angry with him about his trust and willingness to help everyone because the son is innocent and has some glimmer of hope that life will get better. The reader notices the father getting ill and it concerns the reader because a love for the son has developed and the reader does not want the boy to be harmed in anyway.

While watching the film and being able to witness the scene of the new world and the filth the father and son live in everyday brings sadness because the only thing left to do is die. It seems as if death is unavoidable. The film intensifies emotions and opens up the readers’ eyes to what the father and son had to go through to survive. The scene that was most impacting was when the father forced the thief to take off all his clothes because he wanted him to feel how they felt when he took their things. The thief cried and the only thing that saved him from death was the son. The father is angry that the son wanted the thief to live though he left them with nothing. As the film and novel nears an end the father is getting sicker and death finally takes over him. This is very traumatic because now the reader wonders what will happen to the son. Well unbeknown to the son and the reader a family was following them the entire time and wants to take him in and after asking if they are the good people he goes with them. The reader is worried because how can one be sure this man is actually telling the truth but once the mans family approaches and the reader sees the man has a wife and children and the son is the child the boy saw previously the reader can assume that the son will be safe and continue to carry the fire like his father requested. In concluding the end of the novel and the film is the same accept that the film allows the reader to see the fear in the son and reassurance that he is doing the right thing by going with them.

Vitanza - The Road

The novel as well as the film describes an uninhabitable world in which humankind remains as the last species standing. It is a tragic story about a father and son surviving the lasts days, as in the Bible. It is an interesting perspective from the author, Cormack McCarthy, on how the infamous Apocalypse will be for the human race. For the author to focus on a father and son through this setting made the story even more tragic; hiding, avoiding large groups of people (possible cannibals), constantly searching for food, hoping that everything will be ok, are just a few of the tasks these two face on an every day basis.

The son plays the most important part in the film, as well as the novel. Since the son believes there is still hope for him and his father, his heart and compassion remains unaltered, given the circumstances. Hence, when they encounter the old man, and the thief the son tells his father not to kill them, instead help them out. These actions, thought they infuriate the father, remind him of that lost sense of humanity that he once knew.

The ending of the book is very much alike from that of the film. The fact that the boy goes unto living with a group of strangers did seem suspicious at first. Yes, they had encounter this group of people before, but given the setting in which the story takes place one can only hope the boy makes it through. The goodbye scene between the father and son accentuate the relationship between both. The son looked up to his father like a superhero; being the only person who ever did take care of him, having no mother and then going on with a group of strangers, come to think of it the son handled the situation pretty well. He was obviously aware they were going to die, and he had prepared for the day in which he was to be left alone.

Campbell-The Road

In The Road, the reader is given a graphic description of despair that the man in boy ore living during some undefined apocalyptic event that has rendered the world’s landscape a barren land of ash.  This landscape of waste is equally depicted in the film as well.  As the reader and viewer progress through the book as well as the film the overwhelming since hopelessness and despair that surround the man and boy, is tempered by the man’s sense of duty to his son and his will to survive and hope against all hope. This hope against all hope theme were defined by the man’s constant mention of “The Fire Inside” as well as “The Good Guys”. The man and boy had a goal of reaching the coast and sea. Perhaps this was a metaphor for rebirth or baptism where the water of the sea would wash away the sins of man and bring new hope. In any case, this was the driving force for the man and boy to continue on when weaker souls would have and were ending their own lives for fear of meeting a horrible death and being the served as a meal.  The cannibalism described in the book and movie represented the moral corruption of man in the face of un-paralleled hardship. One particular and disturbing section of the book that was not depicted in the movie was when the man and boy saw a group of people that had been trailing them. The group included three men and a pregnant woman. The man and boy positioned themselves in a manner such that the group would pass them while they observed them. Eventually the group passed and the man and boy waited a bit before continuing on. Eventually the man and boy came upon a camp site which had been left by the group in which the charred remains of an infant were left. Eventually the man and boy arrive at the coast, while it was not as they envisioned, it did offer a brief spark until eventually the man’s failing health caught with them and he died. Perhaps he had lost the will to fight off the impending death feeling that he had giving his son a chance at better life once they reached the coast. While the death of the man was expected, it seemed to dash all chance of hope that is until the boy was approached by the man on the beach. In the end hope was once again restored when the man revealed he had two children and his wife with him in the book and the addition of a dog in the movie. In the book the woman was more vocal than in the movie and she spoke of God and there seemed to be some time that had passed since his father’s death, where as in the movie she provide the sense of hope and warmth by saying she was glad to see him. It is hard to say what happened to the boy after that, the optimist would hope that he made it further south and the he and his new companions found “The Good Guys”  in a place were some sense of humanity was restored and the world begins to heal itself.

Baker - The Road

The novel The Road depicts the journey of a father and his son as they try to survive in a post-apocalyptic America. The two characters struggle not only with their physical needs, such as hunger and bodily damage, but also their emotional trials as they witness the horrors of desperate means of surviving.

I think the main goal of the father in this story is to prepare his son to live a life after the father has passed away. He continually emphasizes that they are the "good people" and that they "carry the fire". For example, when the pair comes across a group of emaciated individuals trapped in a cellar waiting to be eaten alive, the boy is shown the true repulsion of what human beings are capable of doing in order to survive. I think the film put a bigger emphasis on this scene, more so than the novel, because the way this group of people resorted to cannibalism is so horrifying and shocking. Yes, they were trying to survive, but what the father is trying to show his son is that there are other ways to survive, and killing is not one of them. The boy asks his father if they would ever eat anyone, even if they were starving, and his father responds with, "we're starving now". He is telling his son that they are in the same situation as the other people, but they are choosing to be "good".

I think the boy's essential goodness is so clear throughout both the novel and the film, especially in his scenes involving the man who stole the cart and Ely. The boy is so unwilling to see them get hurt, and he even wants to give the men food so that they will not die.

The ending of the novel and the film were very similar in my opinion. The only difference that the film contained for me was seeing the family who was going to take the boy in, including the two children, one of which was a boy seen earlier in the novel/film. I think when the boy was deciding whether or not to join the family at the end, and he asks the man if he is "carrying the fire," this is showing that the boy will continue down the path that his father hoped he would. What I took away from this story was that the boy did find other "good" people left in the world, and I think that is significant because it provides a sense of hope.

Castellon: The Road (Book and Film)

The book and the movie generally depicted human nature as malevolent and desperate due to the lack of food and resources. In addition, the ending in the book was similar to the ending in the movie. Both, book and film, implied that a man and a woman traveling with their kids had been trailing the boy and his father. In the end, the boy decides to continue traveling with them after his father dies.

The book and the film described and depicted torture, slavery, and cannabalism. Although it is easy to judge such malicious behavior, it is also easy to understand considering an apocalypse just occurred and there was no food in sight. Very few people existed and to complicate matters they did not seem to be very well educated or skilled.

It was natural for humanity to revert to primitive behavior. For instance, the boy and his father came across a charred human infant headless and gutted in the woods. Notwithstanding, the confrontation between the father and the man who was traveling on a truck with other men looking for children or other live human beings to eat. The end result was the man's demise with a bullet in his forehead shot by the father.

Another instance depicted a confrontation between the boy's father and a man who had come across their cart filled with food and blankets on the beach. The man stole these items while the boy and his father were searching for more resources. When the boy and his father caught up to the man, he urged them not kill him and said, "you would have done the same thing." By saying this, he implied that all human beings were no longer civilized in nature.

The ending in the film did not change what I had imagined from the ending in the book because they were similar. As far as what may have happened to the boy, I think that the man and the woman had good reason to allow him to join them. I say this because the man stated, "there was a debate whether to leave or take you with us." In desperate times, I think they realized that the boy could be useful to them in providing additional security because he possessed a gun and assist in scavenging.

O'Keefe - Ladder 49

The question of whether Jack Morrison valued his career over his family is one with an answer rife with caveats. Jack may first appear as a standard and simple character but he is actually far more complex than he outwardly appears; he’s torn between his dedication to his job and his duty and his dedication to his family. This inner conflict, I believe, is the most important aspect of his character within the scope of the film. The film acts, more or less, to tell the story of Jack’s conflict. It begins with his first day on the job, whereupon we first see evidence of his unerring dedication to duty and to helping others and ends with his acceptance of his fate and, ultimately, with his demise.

We can see evidence of Jack’s uncertainty in the flashback in which Jack and Mike Kennedy are in the café. After the harsh reality of Tommy’s injury sets in we see Jack questioning the wisdom of such a dangerous career choice in light of his growing family. Jack even goes so far as to consider taking an aide job with Mike as opposed to fieldwork and broaches the subject with his wife, Linda. The fact that Jack would even take this into consideration after his dedication to his work had been so firmly established in previous scenes show just how deeply conflicted Jack is about the subject.

If one was to try and find a concrete answer to the question of whether Jack’s work or his family is more important to him the most logical place to look for evidence would be the last scenes prior to Jack’s memorial service. In this scene we find Jack, trapped in the burning building in which the entire movie is set (assuming that all of the scenes not pertaining to Jack’s final fire are flashbacks) and having just made it through the brick wall and one step nearer the rest of Ladder 49, faced with the realization that due to the wall of flame before him he will almost certainly die in this building. In this moment Jack accepts his fate and asks Mike to call off the fruitless rescue efforts in order to reduce the risk of further casualties. This would seemingly indicate that Jack had ultimately picked his duty to firefighting over his family. However, I think the most correct answer to this question is that regardless of his reflecting and reminiscing while awaiting the rescue that never would come, his decision was ultimately moot, as given the preceding events, he was ultimately going to perish in that building regardless of how he felt.

Henderson Saturday

In the novel Saturday by Ian McEwan, Henry Perowne, is a neurosurgeon and also the main character of the. He lives a very comfortable lifestyle and has a loving wife Rosalind and two adult children. He and his wife are very much in love.  He focuses much of his time on his work however. The setting is a Saturday in London, England in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks (2003).

One specific incident in the novel is when Henry sees the burning plane falling from the sky and automatically goes into terror attack defense mode. He begins to think about what the passengers must be going through. Like it I discussed in the review “A Day in the Life” by W.R. Greer the UK is an ally of the United States so it would make sense that their country might be the target of another terrorist attack. Henry develops so many feelings about insecurities and not feeling safe.  He is skeptical about his safety because of the vulnerability that the Unites States experienced during the 9/11 terror attacks. He lives in fear of

In another incident Henry gets into a minor car accident while trying to make it to a squash game with a fellow surgeon. On the route to the game there are protesters who are gathering in an anti-war effort. He is able to escape the man he got into an accident with, Baxter. He does this by diagnosing Baxter with Huntington’s disease. Even thought he was punched in the chest before. Greer writes, “It’s this random event that will haunt Perowne, eventually threatening everything he hold dear in his life.” In a way Baxter also infiltrates Henry’s sense of security like the 9/11 did. Because Baxter threatened Henry’s wife and degraded his daughter among other incidents Henry’s safety is again invaded. Henry loses his sense of security and like his country at the time awaits anticipated attacks. His future mindset relates exactly to these things and his lack of protection.

Baker - Saturday

In Ian McEwan’s novel Saturday, the main character Henry Perowne attempts to navigate the complexities of a world that he previously (before 9/11) thought was safe, and in his search for safety, he coincidently examines his own morality and inner confidence. Following the attack that occurred on 9/11, Perowne (although he is a very intelligent, successful British neurosurgeon with a beautiful, healthy, thriving family) spends his entire Saturday questioning his safety and the confidence he has in himself, and Zoe Heller puts it best: “in an instant, his illusion of intellectual mastery over his surroundings is shattered and the euphoric visions of civic cooperation are replaced by dreadful imaginings of panic and death” (Heller).

Perowne’s insecurities begin when he sees a burning, floundering fireball speeding down to earth. Immediately, he figures it to be a meteor of some sort. After ruling the meteor possibility out, he assumes that an accident occurred, and he wonders if he should try to help. Ultimately, he settles on the possibility that the “figure” is really an act of terrorism (much like the attack that happened in America on the twin towers). Quickly, an unsettling fear for his wellbeing grips him for over an hour. As the fear for his safety finally dies down when he learns that the “terrorist plane” is in fact a harmless cargo plane, a new emotion of anger emerges – not at the possibility of terrorist acts but at the idea that he so quickly abandoned his self-assured logic and reason that he has relied on (and thrived on) for his entire life. Consumed by distaste for his own fickle minded hysterics, Perowne begins to question his confidence.

Perowne correlates religious faith to “what his psychiatric colleagues call a problem, or an idea, of reference. An excess of the subjective, the ordering of the world in line with your needs, an inability to contemplate your own unimportance'' (McEwan). Clearly, Perowne is not a religious man, which can lead to a lack of moral fiber – an issue that flares up when he gets into a car crash with Baxter. Baxter is a thug who attempts to intimidate Perowne into taking ownership as the cause of the accident. As Baxter is intimidating him, Perowne uses his intellect to defeat his foe by calling him out on his Huntington’s disease. The tactic works, but Perowne feels extreme guilt after the altercation, as explained by Zoe Heller: “by confronting him with this diagnosis, he creates a distraction that allows him to escape without injury. As he drives away, his relief is undercut by misgivings. He doubts the morality of using his medical authority as a stun gun, even in an act of self-defense” (Heller). Perhaps his lack of religion has led to a lack of moral values; hence, his intuitive humiliation and belittlement of Baxter.

Vitanza - Saturday

The novel Saturday is a very interesting story, about a successful neurosurgeon and his view of life after 9/11. The way the novel portrays the story of this doctor, Henry Perowne, keeps the reader entertained and thirsty to figure out the outcome of that Saturday.

The love Henry has for his family is a force that drives him to worry about the lack of safety in present times. Rosalind plays the biggest part in Henry’s life. Rosalind is that person Henry goes to when he feels threatened or insecure. After the car crash, with Baxter, Henry becomes vulnerable and the only person that can get him to feel better is Rosalind, so he calls her. “On this important day for her (Rosalind) he doesn’t want intend to distract her with the story of his near thrashing. And he doesn’t need sympathy. What he wants is more fundamental, the sound of her voice …” (100).

Through this fragment we can figure out Rosalind’s role. Every time Henry manages to describe her; how they met, the relationship with her father and other experiences, he does so with the greatest pleasure and detail possibly imagined.

Henry cannot seem to make up his mind on whether the war to overthrow Saddam is a wise move or not. Once he meets Miri Taleb, a former patient, he describes Henry the horrible experiences of the time he was arrested, Henry then convinces himself that the war might not be such a bad idea.

This idea of war and possible terrorist attacks is what drives humanity mad. There is no such sense of safety anymore, and by nature we all seek safety. Britain and all of the United State’s allies are alert in case of a possible terrorist attack; hence the march, and the thorough investigation of the Heathrow plane crash in the novel. As Nan A. Talese explains in Saturday – A Day in The Life: “It’s the fear of terror that has overtaken the western world since 9/11, that thousands of happy lives, if not more, could be snuffed out in moments during the war.”

Personally, I enjoyed Theo’s theory about life he discusses with his father, Henry. Theo explains to his father, “But I think small, closer in – you know, a girl I’ve just met, snowboarding next month, then it (the World) looks great.” He does make an interesting point, and I don’t mean to completely forget about global events, but neither flood your mind with it.

Hubbard: Saturday

In Ian McEwan's novel "Saturday", I noticed several themes and events that takes place in Fitzrovia, London, where the story takes place. Th main character Henry Perowne, is a neurosurgeon that goes through a series of events all on the Saturday of February 15, 2003. By just analyzing Perowne who is a successful doctor and a great husband and father, you would think that his life is perfect and all together. However, it's evident that just because you're successful, can afford to live a comfortable lifestyle, and have a wonderful family, that doesn't mean that things are always going to be good and you'll always be happy. Things can change in a matter of a day and for the rest of your life you could have a different outlook on life. Perowne discovers this one Saturday that came with a series of violent events.

That Saturday morning, he notices an aeroplane shooting across the sky in flames. Keep in mind that the September 11th attacks was only two years ago and countries were on a verge of declaring war. Reporters didn't know whether it was terrorism or just an accident. Perowne was probably wondering if the country he calls home is even safe anymore. Why must there be such violence and turmoil in this world? This causes his day to start off not so good and puzzle him a little. Later he has a collision with another car while in route to a squash match and damages the car a little. The other driver Baxter and two associates of his gets out of the car furious and demands money from Perowne but he refuses. Perowne took a punch to the chest and then realizes the onset of Huntington's disease in Baxter. He uses that to distract him so he could flee the scene safely. After running a few errands and handling some family matters, he returns home.

His family members trickled in shortly after each other. The event that really makes his day worse was when Baxter invaded his home right after his wife Rosalind had returned. Baxter and an accomplice came in baring knives and begun to threaten Perowne's family. They assaulted his father-in-law and to make things even horrible, they forced his daughter Daisy to take off all of her clothes. Fortunately, Daisy recites a poem and gets Baxter to break down and is then over powered. This is way too much to deal with in one day. It took a big toll on Perowne to be assaulted over a minor collision and then return home to watch his family assaulted and threatened and then his daughter degraded. There was a time when homes were the place where you felt secure and comfortable. Now home wasn't the same anymore for Perowne and his family. On page three of Nan Talese review of the novel, she wrote about how we can't avoid the worries of the future. The novel proves that things are not always certain in life and one day can make a big difference out of your life.

BONNIN - Saturday

In Ian McEwan’s novel, “Saturday,” Henry the protagonist is presented as living the perfect life, secluded in his mansion with a perfect family and a promising career. However, one quickly understands that the events of September 11 have left a lasting impression on Henry. His world is no longer as safe as he once liked to believe it was and the promise of Britain waging war on Iraq, set as the backdrop to his story, constantly creeps into his life during the course of Saturday.

Zoe Heller explains that “Perowne is caught between the vividness of interiority (the clarity of his private, sensuous pleasures) and the confusing demands of what lies outside.” His life has become interwoven with the political world scene and the media’s coverage of the war on terrorism. More importantly, Heller describes Perowne’s “truest sanctuary” as not being in his material wealth, but in “his moments of intimate communion with other people.” Henry’s relationship with his wife, his children, his patients and even his father-in-law make up his world. It is for this reason that his first encounter with Baxter does not constitute a threat to his sense of security. Henry feared for what those three men might do to him when he approached them after wrecking their car, but he approached them anyway in an aggressive manner and later refused to pay them the sum Baxter asked for. Henry felt safe confronting them, and he didn't feel his life as being in real danger even though he received a hard blow on his chest. He even felt guilty of using his medical knowledge to get out of the confrontation. However, it was a totally different story when Baxter showed up at Henry’s house. In this case Baxter was not endangering him, but something more important, his family. By threatening to slit his wife’s throat, humiliating his daughter and hurting his father-in-law, Baxter had waged war against him,, and his world was no longer safe. In this case Baxter is comparable to Al Qaeda and Henry to the western world. To the western world commercial flying would never be the same as it one was: “Everyone agrees, airliners look different in the sky these days, predatory or doomed.” And to Henry that’s the way his world now seemed to him in the face of strangers. This is also made apparent when he thinks of Giulio, the father of his future grandchild, and how he is sure he will ruin his daughter's perfect life.

However, one could also argue that even before this second incident with Baxter he was already expecting something terrible to happen that would cause his world to collapse. At 4am he had watched a plane on fire land at Heathrow. He watched the news throughout the day expecting to hear that some jihadist was responsible. When Baxter showed up at his home he thought “of course, logical that Baxter is here” as if he knew all along that something bad was supposed to happen to him and his family, in the same way Europe was expecting and preparing for a terrorist attack. Henry knew he was not safe. He was unsafe at multiple levels. His world, his family, would not remain the way it was. His children were growing up and that terrorized him.

Baker - Saturday

The main character in the novel Saturday, Henry Perowne, is a successful neurosurgeon who leads a comfortable life in a post-9/11 world along with his loving wife and two children. In the review by Zoe Heller, Henry is described as a man who has "a contentment that verges perilously on complacency". However, as the novel follows the course of Henry's Saturday, there is a realization that Henry's rational state of mind is infiltrated with unease.

At the very start of the novel, Henry witnesses a burning plane coming down from the sky. He quickly jumps to the possibility that this falling plane might be a terrorist attack, and he is filled with apprehension. As it turns out, the plane was carrying cargo and has nothing to do with terrorism. Henry becomes upset that, for the hour he believed that London was in danger, he was "in a state of wild unreason" (McEwan 40). He feels shameful and foolish for the way he reacted emotionally and is embarrassed by "his readiness to be persuaded that the world has changed beyond recall... how foolishly apocalyptic those apprehensions seem by daylight" (76). He describes the pull to follow the news on television, to hear about what is going on in the world, as "a community of anxiety" (180). This fretfulness has grown stronger since the attacks on 9/11, and Henry recognizes that it has seeped into his own life as well.

Another cause of insecurity for Henry is his daughter, Daisy, and her intangible relationship with a man named Giulo. From the moment Henry is reunited with Daisy after six months without seeing each other, Henry notices something is different about her and pushes back his distaste at the thought that she might be in love with a man. When Daisy is forced to reveal her pregnancy to her family, Henry is disinclined to believe that she willingly chose to be pregnant, and he immediately dislikes Giulo. I think Daisy's pregnancy threw Henry off not only because she is his little girl and he is unwilling to think of her being intimate with a man, but because of the surprise of the reveal. Henry was already off balance and self-doubting because of Baxter, and I think he felt insecure because he had no say in anything that happened. He had no say in when and with whom Daisy fell in love with, he did not get to meet Giulo before Daisy got pregnant to "evaluate" him, and he has to accept the fact that Daisy is an adult. She needs the emotional support of her father, and Henry has to be on her side.

Celestine: Week 7, Saturday

In Saturday by Ian McEwan the main character Henry Perowne is a neurosurgeon who is very engulfed in his work and very prideful about his skills of performing brain surgery. Henry Perowne is a loving husband and father who enjoy spending time with his family though it can be difficult because of his job and the time commitment. He has two adult children a daughter, Daisy, who he has not seen in six months and a son, Theo, who lives with him and his wife, Rosalind. Henry is looking forward to spending Saturday with his family because Henry will unite them all along with his father in law John Grammaticus for supper cooked by him. Before this dinner can occur Henry is disturbed by two incidents that indicates he is neither as safe nor as secure as he like to be after 9/11. The first event that shows Henry’s lack of security is his stance on taking Saddam Hussein out of power in Iraq. Henry originally believes that the war is unnecessary because he does not think anything will be solved from it and he is a confrontational man. His opinion is swayed when as Zoe Heller writes in “ Saturday”: One Day in the Life, “ He cannot help seeing things from the viewpoints of others: his children, his mother and his Iraqi patient, whose stories of torture in one of Saddam’s prisons have persuaded him that the invasion of Iraq is a probably a good idea (3, 2005).” Henry begins to think that the war is necessary because Saddam mistreats his citizens and uses his power for evil. In an argument when Daisy first arrives home they argue about his stance because Daisy does not like that her father thinks the war is needed and that people will not be able to tell its success for another five years. This infuriates Daisy because she feels like her father is avoiding his real opinion based on the facts presented. The argument between Daisy and her father represent a lack of security for Henry because he does not have a solid opinion and it can be changed depending on whom he is speaking too.

Also in Saturday and incident that shows Henry’s lack of safety is when Baxter and Nigel enter his home with Rosalind. Henry had not seen Baxter and his sidekick since he fled the accident earlier that day. For them to enter his home-unannounced shows that the world is not as safe as people would like to think. Like Nan A. Talese says in A Day in the Life, “Ian McEwan, through Perowne, examines the randomness that makes up a life, and the random events that can undo one (2,2005).” She allows the reader to understand that events can occur without the prior knowledge or preparation of the victim. This relates to 9/11 because the American citizens who were harmed and killed when the twin towers collapsed were not aware that this event was in occurrence because of they were they would not have been at work and national security would have been tighter. Had Henry predicted Baxter figuring out where he and his family lived they could have been protected and on guard for his arrival; their Saturday family reunion would have turned out the way he had hoped it would.

Corkern- Saturday

Security. It’s something we all long for. We want secure jobs, secure families, secure health. Henry Perowne is no different. While he has a secure job as a well respected, enormously talented neurosurgeon, and a secure family- a wife of many years and two children that love him very much, he knows all too well that life is not secure. Henry tries to take comfort in his success, and pride himself on his skills as a surgeon, but the brevity of life, something he’s no doubt all too familiar with given the nature of his career, seems to be an underlying plague he has. Though it’s not exactly mentioned, it seems that his mortality is something he knows he has little to no control over, though he does what he can to exert control over his life and well being. Since September 11, 2001, his views on safety and security have forever been altered.Throughout the novel, Saturday, written by Ian McEwan, the main character, Henry Perowne learns through a series of events that he does not have control over life or death, but still seeks to ascertain some.

In the opening pages of the novel, Henry is gazing out his window, taking in the scene, feeling rather euphoric and “on top of the world” one might say, he sees what at first appears to be a shooting star. Upon further examination, he realizes it is a plane that is on fire. His first instinct is to want to do something, call for help, but he realizes that the fate of those on board will be sealed before any help can/will arrive. At that time, he begins to think about the dangers of flying, and how vulnerable we are while ascending into the sky with nothing separating us from almost certain death than “...a wall of thin steel and cheerful creaking plastic” (McEwan, 14). In this moment, he is briefly aware of his own mortality, though he is in no danger whatsoever. As Zoe Heller so eloquently writes of this account in her review, “In an instant, his illusion over intellectual mastery over his surroundings is shattered and the euphoric visions of civic cooperation are replaced by dreadful imaginings of panic and death.”

Later, and a more obvious example of Perowne’s lack of security is the moment when Baxter, a street thug whom he was in a minor car accident and had an altercation with earlier that day, enters his house with his wife at knife point. “When Rosalind warned of the knife, he [Henry] froze mid-step, in an unstable position.” This reaction is key, because he in this moment fears for his safety and the safety of his loved ones. While things end with Baxter being taken away by ambulance and the members of Perowne’s family get away virtually unscathed, Henry has still no doubt seen his life as he knew it change forever. Its one thing to be shaken by terror happening to others, quite another to have it happen in your own home. To help regain some of the control he lost, and to quell his empathetic nature, Henry decides to go and operate on Baxter after receiving a call from the hospital about him. I do believe this is as much a selfish as it is philanthropic act. It seems to be a great illustration of forgiveness, but Henry certainly has ulterior motives for performing the surgery. He wants control of his life, and this is a way of getting some of it back, and in a way, becoming a victor over Baxter, who victimized him and his family.

Henderson: Ladder 49

In the film Ladder 49 Jack Morris, a firefighter, develops strong relationships with his co-workers along with his wife and family. In my opinion, Jack’s relationships with his fellow firemen became the most important to him because it seemed as if destiny and purpose in life came from saving the lives of others. Jack’s relationships with his family was strong, and it is clear in the film that he loves them, but other important experiences Jack went through was related more towards those who he worked with. Jack, to me, falls into the category of people who form extreme bonds with their co-workers because of the extremely dangerous job they embark on together; it takes really knowing and trusting a person to be able to work together in life or death situations where the strong companionship likely stems from. Also, Jack’s relationship with his firefighting team is bound to be more important to him because the occupation and everything that goes along with it helps him to fulfill his destiny and purpose.

In a scene from the beginning of the film Jack is seen attempting to save a man’s life when the inventory in the warehouse explodes causing him to ultimately break his leg and the other men in on his team help to rescue him. I think that Jack gets a real since of belonging and love from the men on his unit because they depend on each other for their own survival as well as those trapped in unthinkable situations. The love and concern for his family is evident, but the passion of his work as a fireman comes across as more important because of its nature, if nothing else. Later in the film, Jack takes on a new position as a search and rescue fireman when his friend dies on duty. This decision did not go over well with his wife because of the added amount of danger it included. Even though his wife encourages him to take the position deep down she wants her husband in the administrative office job that he was offered. Even though this is the case and his wife and family want him to be as safe as possible, he still moves forward with the new and more dangerous position.

In another scene from the end of the movie when Jack dies I think it ultimately shows he has so much love for his occupation and what he is doing for others that he risked his life and lost it. This confirms what is important to Jack because he willingly knows the risk of his job and has children that could lose him anytime he is at work. Knowing all of this he continues to go to work and dies doing what he loves.

Henderson: Wit (film)

Seeing the play of Wit was a more gratifying experience than reading the text of the play. Anytime I can see characters come to life in a movie or play, it shows how vivid ones imagination can really be. There are certain things about the play can only be conveyed through emotion. Some details require seeing the characters interact with one another as opposed to just reading it. Just seeing the scenery of a play can give more detail and be more appealing than just reading a play. Seeing Vivian's mannerisms make viewers a bit more sensitive to her attitude and situation.

Am I in pain? I don’t believe this. Yes, I’m in goddamn pain. (Furious) I have a fever of 101 spik ing to 104. And I have bone metastases in my pelvis and both femurs. (Screaming) There is cancer eating away at my goddamn bones, and I did not know there could be such pain on this earth.

Words on a page can be very expressive, but I enjoyed the film more because I was able to understand the expression of characters beyond what stage directions could tell. Seeing a performer act with emotion heightens the entire experience. The film to me was more exciting than reading the book and it was also more emotional. Seeing someone suffer like Vivian did is way harsher than just reading about it. This is seen when Vivian is administered a pelvic exam that is uncomfortable to watch because it is so insensitively done. In the book I did not get the impression of just how bad it actually was. Vivan is treated like a project by physicians and which is more evident in film than in the text. Even thought the written text is very descriptive and gives a good picture of what is happening, it cannot show the full scenery, emotion, or detail that film can. A play written down is also meant to be portrayed through acting this is why the lack of emotion is evident to me. However, when I read novels that give great detail and insight into the emotions and feelings of a character a film can almost ruin the visual that the novels gives.

When I would read plays like Our Town or Shakespearean plays in my younger years it was harder for me to understand all of the stage direction, but now when reading this play it is easier. I prefer for a play to be in film than written especially in this case because of the emotion that was involved. However, just having my imagination of what the characters may have looked like or acted like is always a more unique experience than seeing it acted out.

Henderson: Wit (text)

When reading Wit, an interesting point about how Vivian is dealing with this disease with no one there to care for her. Though doctors are concerned there is a level of separation between treating their patient and caring about their patient. Richard Hornby, the author of the review, states, “The weakness of the play is that Bearing is shown in isolation. We see no family, no friends, no lovers, and certainly no colleagues.” I think this shows the vulnerability of Vivian. Maybe if she had an advocate she would not have had such a shameful pelvic exam. The fact that it was one of her former students also did not help. The lack of a loved one or person from her life that cared about her as a support system shows the power of the play. Typically people have faith or a person to lean on in times of trouble such as Vivian's ovarian cancer.

Her life of being cold and strict and having such a love for literature blocked her from reaching people. Even though she was a professor and was always in the presence of others she never established a strong love relationship with anyone. Hornby writes, “Bearing's students, who all appear to be undergraduates, view her with respect mixed with dread.” This is evident because it seems her only friend is the nurse that takes care of her.

Vivian speaks highly of herself before she dies about how many treatments she has survived and how she has set a new record. Vivian says, “The article will not be about me, it will be about my ovaries. It will, be about my peritoneal cavity. Which, despite their best intentions, is now crawling with cancer. What we have come to think of as me is, in fact, just the specimen jar.”It is interesting that she makes it know that the article won't be about her but rather her disease. She then feels useless knowing her doctors will write about the treatments they gave her, but not about her. Readers are only left to think her doctors only saw her as a science project and she died with no there.

Henderson: Falling Man

The Falling Man by Don Delilo is a novel about the life of a 9/11 terrorist attack survivor named Keith Neudecker. Keith left the scene of the attack in a shocked state, which leads him directly to his path of redemption. In relation to the novel redemption appears in several ways. They are not necessarily the most conventional or typical forms of redemption, but rather small ways Keith wins back his sense of self, identity, and purpose.

On Keith's path to redemption, he goes back to his estranged wife's home shortly after the attacks where there is less chaos and despair than the scene of the attack. He starts a journey that brings him back to the things that he has separated himself from. I think he realizes he doesn't want to be the same man he was before his life was shaken by the terrorist attacks. He knows going to Lianne's will be a safe haven because that is all he has ever knew it to be. At the beginning of the novel Keith seems to not even be in touch with reality as he leaves the towers, then later we find out what actually happened and how Keith actually felt about the attacks. He seemed to be in denial until he explains that his friend died right next to him during the attacks and Keith couldn't save him. These feelings of sadness and helplessness finally surface at this point in the novel. His affairs and the mistreatment of his wife may seem very selfish, but at the end of the day it seems he goes back to Lianne and his son Justin because he knows it is where he belongs.

The author connects the beginning and the end of the novel with the attack and their effects. The person the Keith sees falling in the beginning of the novel is something he denies until the end. The author shows that Keith has redeemed his mind and sense of self by accepting that the 'shirt' he saw falling was a real person falling to their death. The redemption that Keith experiences is not a glorious but one that brings back his sense of reality and life.

Castellon: Saturday

Saturday contains the following main characters:

Henry Perowne- Resides in London, neurosurgeon, married to Rosalind and father of Daisy and Theo.
Rosalind Perowne-Lawyer, married to Henry and mother to Daisy and Theo. Her mother, Marianne Grammaticus, died in a car accident when Rosalind was 16 years old.
John Grammaticus- Lives in France with a 40 year old librarian, Teresa. Former poet with drinking problem, father to Rosalind, father-in-law to Henry, and Grandfather to Daisy and Theo. He is in London because a TV company wants to make a program about him. It is also an opportunity for him and Daisy to patch things up after he accused her of plagiarizing someone else's work a few years ago.
Theo Perowne- An 18 year old guitarist who plays the Blues. Inspired by his grandfather.
Daisy-A 23 year old post graduate from Oxford who is an aspiring poet. Also inspired by her grandfather. In addition, pregnant after meeting Guilio in college.
Lilian Perowne-Mother of Henry, won silver medal for swimming competition, suffers from dementia, and calls Henry Aunty. Lives in a home for the elderly.
Baxter-A thug who is suffering from Hungtington's disease, bullies Henry, threatens to harm his family, and is usually seen with his cohorts (Nigel and Nark).
Jay Straus-Originally from America, Anaesthetist at the hospital and Henry's squash partner/opponent.

Henry is not as safe as he would like to feel after 9/11 due to the incidents that occur in Saturday. He wakes up several hours before dawn and witnesses a plane flying from left to right with visible flames. He fears that it is another attack by Al-Qaeda. Later, the news media confirms that it was a cargo plane with an engine on fire carrying child pornography. The pilots are both Russian Christians and they claim to have no knowledge of the child pornography.

Later in the morning, Henry makes his way to the squash club for a game with Jay Straus. As he turns to University street, he passes a line of parked cars. One of those cars is a BMW driven by Baxter along with passengers, Nigel and Nark. The BMW suddenly pulls out and Henry's Mercedes strikes the BMW's wing mirror which flies off into the ground. Baxter and his cohorts get out of the car and tell Henry that he is at fault and that he owes him seven fifty.

Henry denies any fault and lays the blame on Baxter for not signaling. Baxter gets enraged and strikes Henry in the sternum. In addition, he orders Nigel and Nark to beat him up. Henry notices Baxter's sudden temperament and constant fidgeting and suspects he suffers from Hungtington's disease (neurological). He tells Baxter that he may be able to help him through a new study that is being tested.

Baxter calls off his men and they retreat to the car. Eventually, Baxter doesn't believe Henry and calls back his thugs but it is too late, Nigel and Nark have abandoned him. Henry escapes without further incident and does not alert the police.

Later in the afternoon, Baxter returns with Nigel with a knife pointed to Rosalind. Rosalind had been at work that Saturday and was headed home. Henry, Daisy, Theo, and John were already there. As Baxter held the knife to Rosalind, he orders Daisy to get undressed and read him one of her poems. Baxter loses his train of thought and becomes enlightened with her poem. Afterwards, he orders Henry to show him the data of testing for his condition. Henry takes him upstairs, Nigel exits the house, and Theo runs upstairs to help his dad. They tussle with Baxter and fling him down the stairs.

Baxter is badly hurt but ironically, Henry decides to assist him and calls an ambulance. Baxter is taken to the hospital but there is no one with enough experience to perform surgery on him. Jay decides to call Henry and strangely enough Henry decides to perform surgery. Baxter is well but will be arrested and charged for his criminal offenses. Henry is now at peace.

Campbell - Saturday

 

In Ian McEwan’s “Saturday” the reader is allowed a glimpse in to Mr. Perowne’s well-adjusted and comfortable life.  Early on in the book we mainly get a feel for Mr. Perowne’s regimented life as a neurosurgeon and how he take pride in his ability to effortlessly perform delicate procedures for hours on end without it wearing on him.  Additionally there is a hint of arrogance about his confidence in his skills.  This was to an observation of Talese’s review of “Saturday”.  Typically a Saturday is a reprieve from Perowne’s daily grind, while not a day of mindless waste, he fills the time with activities that work his body such as running and his weekly morning Squash match with Strauss, and a member of Perowne’s firm. Like his week, Perowne’s Saturdays seem to be routine and this routine offers him a veiled sense of comfort and security.  Another interesting observation is Perowne’s obsession with analyzing events that seem to be out of his control in an attempt to somehow interject himself, thus allowing him a modicum of control. The most obvious example, early in the book, was of course the fiery plane streaking across the early morning sky. Another example details an interaction between a young couple in the square viewed from his bedroom window.  Here Perowne stands and watches the interaction for several minutes seeing that the girl is visibly upset and scorning the repeated attempts of consoling from her apparent boyfriend.  Perowne’s perceptive eye for detail picks up the fact that as he states “ Repeatedly, her left hand wanders behind her back, to dig under her T-shirt and scratch hard. She does this compulsively, even as she’s crying and half-heartedly shoving her boyfriend away.”  Perowne immediately determines that the girl is a heroin addict. While watching this, his mind wonders a bit; however, as he sees the couple walking away, he surmises that the girl is new to use of heroin and would benefit from an opioid antagonist such as naloxone to counter the effects, and entertains the idea of running after her to provide her with a prescription.  This again shows how Perowne tries to maintain some resemblance of control over his world, which offers him his sense of security.