How Does Mccarthy Use Scenes and Places to Tell the Story in 'the Road'

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The content of this essay explore how McCarthy uses scenes and places in the story ‘The Road’ and the effect he creates by using them. ‘The Road’ is a Dystopian/Apocalyptic literature and therefore includes the destruction of what would otherwise be considered socially normal. This is the case with the scene in the story where the characters are deceived by the house, of which consists of the ‘cattle’ of people, and is described in such a way to lure the two in. This scene in particular resembles best how McCarthy uses scenes and places. Throughout the book, there are numerous places that are used to resemble hope for the two characters. An example of this is the Gas station they arrive at. The two have little to aim for, other than the east, therefore anything or place they come across gives them hope, little do they know this is false hope on more than one occasion. The sight of the Gas station initially gives them hope, allowing to think something good will come out of this positive and now abnormal opportunity. However, lack of gas in the pumps brings them back to reality, reminding them of the little hope they actually have. The deserted location is also used to show how meaningful everything other than food is. In the cash register wasn’t completely emptied, proving money has no meaning any longer, showing the destruction of society, priorities and the realism of the world they are living in. This is the complete reverse of how life would have otherwise been, where people would rather have money, and see a future in money. On the other hand in the current state of the world, gas and food take moneys place. When the boy and the man come across a house, this again gives them hope they are seeking given the conditions they have been living over the past five days with ‘no food and little sleep’ and the weather starting to have severe effects on their feet.

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