Summary Of Cormac Mccarthy's Home: The Road

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Home : The Road : Study Guide : Quotes and Analysis The Road Quotes by Cormac McCarthy The Road Summary About The Road Character List Glossary of Terms Major Themes Quotes and Analysis Summary and Analysis of Section 1 Summary and Analysis of Section 2 Summary and Analysis of Section 3 Summary and Analysis of Section 4 Summary and Analysis of Section 5 Summary and Analysis of Section 6 Summary and Analysis of Section 7 Summary and Analysis of Section 8 Summary and Analysis of Section 9 Summary and Analysis of Section 10 McCarthy, Genre, and Violence Related Links on The Road Suggested Essay Questions Test Yourself! - Quiz 1 Test Yourself! - Quiz 2 Test Yourself! - Quiz 3 Test Yourself! - Quiz 4 Author of ClassicNote and Sources Buy…show more content…
there is no other dream nor other waking world and there is no other tale to tell. On this road there are no godspoke men. They are gone and I am left and they have taken with them the world. Query: How does the never to be differ from what never was?" 27 The first sentence of this quotation alludes to the theme of narrative power. Only one tale can be told, and this tale legitimizes or brings to reality only one waking world ("no other dream nor other waking world"). The second section of the quotation offers a hint as to what kind of catastrophe might have struck the world. On the road that the boy and the man travel together, no "godspoke men" exist. The term "godspoke men" may allude to prophets, which arguably align with Ely's statement (see the seventh quotation below) later in the book. The prophets are gone, having "taken with them the world," which suggests that some kind of religious war has destroyed human civilization, or that whatever happened has completely destroyed the moral world, the moral principles that commonly are seen as religious…show more content…
The passage also underscores the underlying difference in morality between the man and the boy. To the man, his killing is justified because it was committed in the act of saving his son, a responsibility he says (and may well believe) was assigned to him by God. The boy, however, is concerned about the nature of the act, regardless of the circumstances. He wonders whether, having murdered someone, they can still be considered the good guys. This seed of doubt is evident in the boy's mind, since he must ask the question at all, but the father unequivocally still considers them good, or at least wants to reassure his son that he feels that way, protecting his son at all
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