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.
2 comments:
Celestine: Vitanza your perception of the novel and film is similar to what I believe but it seems like you are more educated on the apocalypse. As an individual who does not understand exactly what the apocalypse means except that the world will end and people will die I would have preferred if McCarthy would have given background on their life before and then began the novel with the events they encountered. The film provided a little knowledge of this and explained why the mother was non-existent. Relating the novel to the Bible was a good thing to do because it allowed me to relate it back to something I am familiar with. Like you write in your blog the son is the most important character because he believes there is still hope for a new life. However, the father contributed to this because he made the son stronger and encouraged him though he was discouraged. When the father dies the son is sad but not as sad as an individual would think he should be. You say that he has prepared himself for death but he is still a little boy who only knew one person and should have been distraught. In the end I think that the son knew death was upon them because they had began to see many dead bodies and people being caged to be eating. The son had to grow up faster and in a different time therefore he had developed a hard exterior and preferred for people not to suffer which is why he handled the death of his father well, he knew he was in a better place. Finally in the end I hope that people he started a new journey with are as good as they portrayed themselves to be.
Your point about the son's role in both the novel and the film is very important. He is the one who has to make the most difficult decision (a life or death decision) at the end of both the novel and the film. Which medium gives us a better idea of how he makes the choice?
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