Who's Anybody?

As I read through the dark pages of this heartbreaking book, I can't help but make questions about the characters' current situation. First of all, what has happened to the world that McCarthy is describing? There are only faint remains of a past civilization hidden under ashes and ruins. The only strong leftovers from it are the roads. Just as McCarthy describes it:

"...they used to belong to states. What used to be called states?

But there's not any more states?
No
What happened to them?
I don’t know exactly. That's a good question.
But the roads are still there."(p.43)
The roads here lie as a testament of the past. We can't know for sure what it was but this piece of evidence assures its previous existence. However, we can't find a reason yet for the sudden disappearance of it. What has left this poor land in ruins? How long ago was it and why are there survivors?
Apparently, there are other people roaming the land like the man and his kid. It seems, though, that they pose danger to them, since the man is always alert and avoiding any encounters at all cost. Apparently in this world, "every man for himself" seems to be the dominant rule. We can see in one of the passages as the son asks his father:

"What's wrong with the man?

He's been struck by lightning. Cant we help him? Papa?
No. We can't help him...There's nothing to be done for him."(p.50)
Here we have seen how harsh the man has become. Surviving is already hard, as he is in charge of their own survival, so helping the man, regardless of how dire his condition seems, is not an option in his mind.

There are still many more questions that haven't been answered yet. The kid's mother remains a dark enigma, which has been appearing frequently during the man's dreams and memories. The matter of death and the insinuation that the mother abandoned the man and her child by committing suicide has already been mentioned, but real events are still well hidden under a dark mist of mystery. Hopefully, the fog will slowly lift and we will see the reason behind the desert of ash and grey and the man's motivation to remain living.

The Last Coke of the Desert

The Road by Cormac McCarthy has begun with a chilling story of a man with his son, fighting to survive in a barren land destroyed by a yet unknown catastrophe. The cold is becoming unbearable and it seems that the only chance of survival rests in moving South.
McCarthy is able to transmit the obscurity of this situation with very direct and blunt prose, and lets his readers process the gravity of the situation through short but deeply significant incidents. A great example of his technique is the encounter with the unexpected Coca Cola can.
While walking through a run-down supermarket, the man and his son stumble upon a soft drink machine and manage to retrieve a small can of Coke. The man gives it to his son, and despite the son's efforts to share it with him, the man firmly declines. McCarthy ends this touching scene with the child's words,
"It's because I won't ever get to drink another one, isn't it?"(p.24)
It is revealed that the son is completely aware of how precarious their situation is and this can only emphasize the difficulties he has suffered along his father. McCarthy uses this technique to stress the horror and loss of innocence that the kid is going through. The blissful state of ignorance and carelessness which people were meant to enjoy during that beautiful period of life is snatched away from him and replaced with a savage fight for survival, roaming a barren land in hopes of finding food or warm clothing. It is a completely devastating scene.

Skeleton

Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje is a novel that describes the last year of sanity of Buddy Bolden, the famous jazz player. Ondaajte has built this novel in a particular stucture in order to fully percieve the events ocurred through the perspective of many characters.
Ondaajte frequently switches the narrator, moving from an omiscient narrator to first person, and from Buddy Bolden's perspective to other characters like Webb the cop. The structure of this novel can be seen in this diagram, centering all points of view around the main event, the day Buddy Bolden went crazy.

An Enigmatic Buddy Part II

From the previous blog post, we obtained an impression of Buddy Bolden as an unethical drinker, but caring father. In general, he appeared to be a nice and harmless fellow. However, further on in the novel, we begin to discover a new side of him that was definitely unexpected. A perfect example lies in his sudden outbursts of rage that lead him to hurt other people around him. One of these situations happened with Robin, and he certainly regretted it. As Ondaatje writes:
“In the late afternoon I walk back along the shore to the small house and it is against me dark and shaded. Robin and her friends. I am full of the white privacy. Collisions around me. Eyes clogged with people. Yesterday Robin in the midst of an argument flicked some cream on my face. Without thinking I jumped up grabbing the first thing, a jug full of milk, and threw it all over her. She stood by the kitchen door half laughing half crying at what I had done. She stood there frozen in a hunch she took on as she saw the milk coming at her. Milk all over her soft lost beautiful brown face. I stood watching her, the lip of the jug dribbling the rest onto the floor.” (Ondaatje, p. 68)

This passage shows a side of Bolden that seems very wild and a little bestial. It is implied that being around Robin’s friends makes him uncomfortable, which would let readers infer that there is a side of him that is very reserved and a little antisocial. His reaction during a heated moment of argument was to lunge at a harmless and helpless woman with a jug of milk. Readers can assume that this thoughtless reaction is not strange in him, due to the fact that Ondaatje has provided other examples of his reactive behavior throughout the narrative. Hence, we can deduce that Buddy has an uncontrollable temper that can be unleashed in sudden spurts of violence that won’t spare relatives or loved ones. However, Buddy also presents a calmer side that includes regret and consideration for other’s feelings. This is further proved in the continuation of the passage, where he excuses himself, and even pursues Robin’s forgiveness. As we can see, Buddy's personality is composed of many levels that are not only conflicting, but could also be the reason behind his terminal insanity.

An Enigmatic Buddy Part I

Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje is a particular novel about Buddy Bolden, one of the pioneers of jazz music. This novel orbits around his character, constantly providing clues to discovering who Buddy Bolden was really.
Many characteristics of Bolden are described in the following passage:
"It was a financial tragedy that sleep sobered Bolden up completely, that his mind on waking was clear as an empty road and he began to casually drink again although never hard now for he played in the evenings. He slept from 4 to 8. His day had begun at 7 when he walked the kids a mile to school buying them breakfast along the way at the fruit stands. A half hour's walk and another 30 minutes for them to sit on the embankment and eat a huge meal of fruit. He taught them all he was thinking of or had heard, all he knew at the moment, treating them as adults, joking and teasing them with tall tales which they learned to sift down to the real. He gave himself completely to them during the walk, no barriers as they walked down the washed empty streets one on either side, their thin cool hands each holding a finger of his. Eventually they knew the politics of the street better than their teachers and he in turn learned the new street songs from them. By 8 they were at school and he took a bus back to Canal, then walked towards first, greeting everybody on his way to the shop."(p.13)

A reader can infer that Buddy is an alcoholic, and it is implied that his body is so used to the alcohol, that it can absorb it in four hours. However, one can assume that he doesn't drink at night because he needs to be relatively sober to be playing his music.
It seems very important for him to walk the kids (presumably his children) a whole mile to school. He talks to them about everything he is thinking, which portrays a very meaningful relationship between him and his kids. He shows a very paternal and caring attitude with them, buying them breakfast and taking them to school, which is something that would be typically done by a mother. The fact that they have to buy breakfast implies that no one will cook it for them. This would mean that their mother is not fulfilling her job as a maternal figure, and therefore leaves this part to Buddy. Bolden also displays a very friendly and trusting personality with his children. The way he acts with them makes him look more like a friend than a father, swapping his duty of teaching values to teaching jokes and street politics. In turn, he also learns from his children, which could make readers infer that he has a childish side too.
Buddy takes the bus back to Canal, which suggests that walking to school isn't absolutely necessary. This could mean that they can't afford three bus ride tickets plus going back, or Buddy wants to spend more time with his children.
He greets everybody on his way back to the shop, which could mean that he is very friendly and is known by everybody in Canal.
This is the first image that Ondaatje offers of this mysterious character. Later on, other descriptions of Buddy’s character will let us see a different side of him.

Just a Little Farther

The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald is one of the most important American novels, denominated as a great classic of American literature. One of the highlights of this novel is its use of symbolism, key in conveying the author's message to his readers.

This novel is narrated in order to describe the speeding world of the "The Roaring Twenties" that occurred in America during that period.

One of the most outstanding symbols in the story is the green light at the end of East Egg's dock. It is barely visible from Gatsby's mansion, and it stands next to the Buchanan's house, right were Daisy lives.

This small green light that flashes dimly in the night could represent Gatsby's desperate dream of winning Daisy back. Back when he was a soldier in World War I, Daisy had promised she would marry him. However, the prospect of having a secure future of wealth and comfort with Tom Buchanan led her to break her promise and marry him instead. Gatsby's strong desire to regain her love led him to dedicate his whole life to do so. He got involved the bootlegging of alcohol business and became very rich. He bought a mansion in West Egg, in which not only did he hold opulent parties of wealth and luxury, but he could also see this little green light sparkling in the distance. He would stand in his lawn at night and embrace it as a little beacon of hope, wishing that someday he would win his beloved Daisy back.

Sadly, the amount of effort he spent in the accomplishment of his goal would never be enough. The green light would remain distant and out of reach be out of reach as Daisy sunk in the shallowness of the wealthy and superficial society in which America had driven into. Nick realizes this as he pondered:
"He had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him."(p. 193).
 Not only does the green light represent Gatsby's unattainable dream of winning Daisy back, but it also represents the unattainable American dream that so many people experienced during that age. The yearn to live the sweet life of parties and extravagance led many people to dedicate their lives to it, regardless of what it demanded, or what they left behind along the way. As the American society sailed towards this faint light shining in the distance, the values of its people were regrettably lost.
This conclusion is well defined at the ending of the novel, with Nick's final thought that read:

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."(p.193).