Playing Hopscotch

After reading The Road, I realized I was struck by McCarthy's style throughout the novel. A curious fact is that not once did he use semicolons or quotation marks. According to him, this doesn't actually mean anything. He just wanted to keep his novel simple, flowing and with no punctuation stumbling this process.

Fair enough, but I'm not really sure if they don't mean anything. The whole novel is an allegory, which means that every single word that he puts (or doesn't put) is there for a reason. Everything is supposed to mean something. This is why it's hard for me to believe that he decided to omit regular rules, like quotation marks from his novel.

There is a novel called Hopscotch (Rayuela) by Julio Cortázar, and it too has a very particular style in writing. For starters, the book isn't even arranged in chronological (or even logical) order. The book begins in chapter 73, and then takes you back to chapter 1. Not strange enough? It also includes an overwhelming amount of spelling mistakes, made on purpose. There is a complete chapter made up of only invented words. In addition to this, most of the text throughout the novel has a minimum of periods, colons, semi-colons, etc. There are huge paragraphs, flowing freely by the use of comas alone.

Of Course, all of it has a special function. Cortazar's mission was to create the perfect "anti-novel". It follows the surreal movement of the period, and throughout the novel there are constant references to surrealism, including discussions about artists from this group like Mondrian and Klee. He also relates his attempt to break all boundaries with jazz, the structure less genre of music.

The composition of this novel is based on breaking the standard, destroying literature itself to liberate it from its chains. Cortazar frequently describes words as "black bitches", since they completely ruin the meaning of what they describe. To eradicate this problem, Cortazar invents his own words, which make a better delivery of the message he wants to express.

The endless paragraphs that flow uninterrupted for pages are another ally in Cortazar’s master plan. However, he does this in a way in which readers barely notice, and before they know it, they have read a whole chapter without encountering a single period. The way the words move freely resemble the chain of thoughts that go through a person's head, never stopping, smoothly connected and with no need for punctuation.

This bizarre structuring is completely relevant to the story. Every single wrong "h" he includes, every random jump of chapter and every "sbornia" he writes have a direct significance in the story. This utter blasphemy towards literature has transformed Hopscotch into one of the greatest works of art ever written.

Who knows if McCarthy didn't intentionally arrange his novel the way he did. It obviously isn't as blatant as Cortazar’s, but I still believe there is a level of relevance in the way he omitted such traditional marks of punctuation in the same way he omitted the sun. The lack of correct punctuation could be interpreted as the lack of correct values among humans, which have forsaken all common rules that used to shape society. It could also be a reflection on what is missing in the world they live in, like nature, or even seasons. Despite McCarthy's claims that the lack of correct punctuation doesn't mean anything, I can see how anyone can interpret it as pertinent. I probably wouldn't have thought so if I hadn't been reading Hopscotch at the same time. Perhaps only I understand what I am trying to say. It’s true that words aren’t perfectly designed to express our thoughts effectively, and it may be possible that the real comprehension of thoughts is reserved for each individual. Your mind may be the only place on Earth left that is exclusively yours. It’s very fortunate that it is so.

The End

All you could wait for was death. Hope had finally dried out and there was nothing that could save them now. The man was too weak to keep going and there was nothing left for him but the end. He had promised to never leave his son alone, but when the moment finally came, he wasn’t able to stay with him. Regardless of always having planned to leave this world together, he couldn’t bring himself to shoot him and end it all. He knew that the boy still had a future ahead of him. He knew he would be able to survive, and this gave him reason to let him live on. He would always be with him, no matter what, but he had to keep on living. It’s the end of the man, but the kid will move on and carry the fire, in hopes of finding the good guys, and possibly find a better world.

Cormac McCarthy’s novel had a great impact on me as a reader. Not only did it make me realize how dependant our survival is of nature, but the lengths at which kindness, sacrifice and love are able to stretch. Throughout the pair’s journey, we constantly see the sacrifice of the man for his son to his last breath. We can see the way the child has preserved values like compassion from being wiped from the face of that heartless world. Transcending through hunger, cold, fear and despair, the bond of love that kept them together helped them complete their voyage through the decadence of life and the last coughing breaths of Mother Nature, slowly fading under the cover of ashes.

According to McCarthy, his inspiration to writing this novel came from a vision he had of a city, imagining it in one hundred years burning in fire, and this novel seem to be the image of what he imagined would come after. The fact that there would be continuation after the apocalypses shows that even to him, not everything will be lost.

This novel was a mixture of the crude and savage with the warm and tender. Cormac’s novel proves that even in the most arduous situations, there is always a little light of hope, lying in the noble heart of a young boy, born from the ashes and carrying the fire that will save humans from their imminent death. What this child represents is the assurance that even when everything points towards the final end, there will always be hope, and hope is all that man needs to survive.

Desperate

Time passes on and there is still no sign of improving circumstances for the man and his kid. All they have found on the abandoned ships are practically useless. They found a flare gun, a very ironic object to find. On regular conditions, a flare gun would have been a priceless object. They would have been able to signal someone to come to their rescue and finally end the nightmare. However, in this situation, who can you call for, the good guys, God?  They are completely alone, forsaken by anyone able to help them. There is nothing they can do and no one they can call to. All they can do is work it out unaided.

Desperation is beginning to crawl into the man as things begin to get ugly. Not only is his cough getting worse, but his son gets sick, potentially threatening his life. The feeling of complete impotence drives the man to despair, “sobbing in rage” (250) for his weak child. Fortunately he gets better, but then they encounter an even greater problem. Someone had stolen their food cart. This cart held all their food, their clothing and their shelter, and just like that it was gone. This definitely aroused the most savage and primitive instincts in the man. In his brain, all that existed was the thought “retrieve the cart at all costs”. They found the thief, and this planted one of the toughest moments between the man and his son. The man was engulfed by a sudden surge of savageness. Brutal feelings of anger and revenge completely took over his mind, and despite the kid’s desperate pleas, he pitilessly left the thief naked in the freezing cold. This he did out of utter anger and thirst for vengeance. They had retrieved their cart and the thief posed no further threat. He just needed to make the thief suffer the way he’d done to them.

The kid on the other hand is completely horrified at his father’s actions. He implored mercy for the thief, and despite the thief’s wrongdoings, he didn’t want him to die. After finally convincing his father, they walk back to give him his clothes back, but to no avail. Regardless of the man’s apologies, there is no hiding the tone of disappointment when he judgingly tells him, “But we did kill him" (260). 

There Must Be Something

After walking on the road for what seems like eternity, the man and his son have finally reached the sea. It turns out to be a big disappointment for everybody. I don't know what the man expected to find there, but it's definitely less than what I had hoped for. I had been expecting the sea to be somewhat of a salvation for the miserable couple. I imagined that this place would be warm and lively. I even began to imagine that there would be people living along the coast, perhaps exempted from the horror that had devoured the continent.
It's too sad that this wasn't meant to be. The ocean was also victim of whatever catastrophe plagued the world. We can share the kid's frustration when he realizes that it had lost its blue hue. I had been hoping that the ocean, a typical symbol of power and mystery, would have survived the apocalypse. It seems that not even the greatest and most powerful feature of nature known in our planet was able to shake off the ashes and now it lies “bleak…Cold. Desolate. Birdless” (215).
Now that there is nowhere else to go, what are they going to do? Should they keep moving or is their journey over? This reminded me of a dream the little boy once had about a toy penguin. It moved and flapped its flippers even though nobody had wound it up. Like the penguin, the man and his child are living on for no reason. Now that they have reached the sea, there is really nothing that drives them forward, but they insist on staying alive, waddling on with no winding.
Despite the adversities they have to affront, I think that there is still hope for the man and his son. The fact that they survived this terrible catastrophe and that they are still alive is proof that they aren't doomed. Most signs of life are gone from the planet, but they have been able to conserve theirs. Is it wrong to believe that there are other good guys out there, surviving the way they did? Who knows if at the other side of the ocean "there's a father and his little boy and they're sitting on the beach"(216). It's even possible that at the depths of the ocean there could still be life. Maybe "great squid propelling themselves," or “another man ...with another child on the dead grey sand...lost to the same indifferent sun"(219).
If all of this were to be true, then there’s a possibility of rebuilding civilization. Of course it won't be like it used to be, but at least it would be a place in which the kid will be able to grow, and life on Earth can be restored.
For now, all that is left to do is to remain living, and perhaps, eventually they will find other good guys with whom they can share their fire with. As long as they are both breathing, there is still hope.

Moving Forward

Throughout the book, the man and his son have been walking down the road, searching for food and hiding from the cannibals. However, they are not just wandering erratically through the ashes. They are heading south in hopes of reaching the coast. But what will they find there? How different is the coast to the place they’re in now? From what I have read so far, everything is covered in ash, barren, desolate and dead. Could the ocean have survived whatever destroyed the land? Is it conceivable to think that there could be anything on the coast that could save them? Unfortunately, they have no other choice but to go and hope for the best.

The path towards the coast, however, is not easy or reasonable in any way. The man claims it will only take two weeks or three, but there are many obstacles that they must overcome in order to get there. First of all, the man seems to be sick. If he gets too weak, they won't be able to move anymore. His son fears the worst, and his nightmares prove that he knows his father might die. One night he wakes up crying and as the man consoles him, he says, "I was crying. But you didn't wake up...in the dream"(183). If the man dies, will the son survive? Most likely, he won’t and the man understands the simplicity of this situation. He must remain living to protect his son. He must sacrifice entirely to the survival of his child, because to him, he is the only hope left of civilization, and the only reason he has decided to stay alive.
Another problem they have had to deal with throughout the novel is the threat of the cannibals. It seems that they are getting more savage and beastly as they run out of food. They have become so frantic that they have reached the extreme of eating a newborn child. The human infant, roasted on the coals of a dead fire, represents the death of humanity and the total loss of principles. Any hope that civilization would rise out of the ashes lay charred and defiled by savageness. This makes it even more essential for the man to keep himself and his son alive. They are clearly one of the last "good guys", and it is up to them to keep humanity from sinking hopelessly into the dark depths of brutality.

 For this reason, they must get to the coast somehow. The coast symbolizes hope and survival. The man and his son walk towards it as their only possibility of salvation. There's nothing that ensures that they’ll find something, but the fact of having a goal is what keeps them moving on. Without this goal of reaching the coast, they might just as well have stayed in the bunker forever until the supplies ran out or the “bad guys” found them. They have their little light shining through the fog, giving them one last reason to stay alive.

This symbol can be related to the green light mentioned in The Great Gatsby. It would stimulate Jay Gatsby to try harder, leading him forward, despite there being no guarantee that he would indeed achieve it. The ability to fight blindly for a dream, regardless of all odds is what relates Gatsby to the man and his son.  Hopefully, they won't have Gatsby's bad luck, and theirs will lead them towards salvation, and the possibility of salvaging what’s left of civilization. 

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Vivid Words

The Road continues its story with the man and the son having to move  from the miracle bunker in order to avoid being found by the cannibals. They keep walking on the road, and eventually they find unexpected company. Described with McCarthy's words, they found "an old man, small and bent," who carried, "an old army rucksack with a blanket roll tied across the top of it and he tapped along with a peeled stick for a cane."(p.161). The description of this man lead me to realize how vivid the image had appeared in my mind.

Throughout the novel, McCarthy has a special touch in description. Of course, this is necessary in a novel were the reader needs a detailed description of the world that surrounds the characters in order to fully understand their situation. It's hard for readers to imagine a barren world of ash and debris, as they comfortably sit on a plump couch reading at the warmth of a glowing sunset with a tranquil world of trees and playing children displayed right out their window.

McCarthy's grim descriptions of his world are able to rip the unwary reader from his snug environment, and thrust him into this terrible wasteland of hunger and sorrow. His words are able to send chills through the reader’s skin when merciless rain drives the desperate couple to search for shelter in, "houses or barns or under the bank of a roadside ditch with the blankets pulled over their heads and the noon sky black as the cellars of hell."(p.177). He can also spread the feeling of despair or horror, for example, when the kid realizes with a sudden void in his stomach that he left the gas valve open.
Thanks to McCarthy's vocabulary, it's possible to comprehend the true profundity of the circumstances in the novel, and by fully connecting to the story, the reader can experience it as an active spectator, rather than a mere observer.

A Fortunate Change of Events

As the man and his son walk through the desolate land, it seems that they are running out of time. He was beginning to think that they weren't going to make it, and with good arguments. They hadn't eaten in days, they had no clothes and barely enough supplies to make a fire and there were cannibals hunting for their flesh. The man was desperately,” beginning to think that death was finally upon them and that they should find some place to hide where they would not be found."(p.129). When he was finally going to give up, there was a sudden turn of events hidden behind a buried door. Despite the kid’s fear, the man gets into an underground bunker were he literally finds “everything."(p.139). The man and the kid can't believe their eyes at the miracle they were seeing. "Crate upon crate of canned goods. Tomatoes, peaches, beans, apricots. Canned hams. Corned beef."(p.138). The author keeps describing the amount of goods that seem unreal even to the readers. 
As they begin to sort out through all this amazing stuff, it's surprising to see that the kid feels guilty. This place was set by someone who thought they might need it some day, but they had obviously died before they got to use it. He's not sure whether it’s okay to take it, and he thanks them with the moving words:
"Dear people, thank you for all this food and stuff. We know that you saved it for yourself and if you were here we wouldn't eat it no matter how hungry we were and we're sorry that you didn't get to eat it and we hope that you're safe in heaven with God."(p.146)
It's amazing to see how the kid feels about his moral values. Despite the fact that he had been close to death, he wouldn't have eaten if it had been someone else's. It seems like he doesn't want to turn into a bad guy, and his moral strength is stronger than his impulse. This feeling is almost absurd, considering the harsh conditions he has had to endure along with his father. However, this is what marks the difference between them and the cannibals. The child must understand at some level that they are the ones who keep civilization alive, protecting it from the savage ways of the bad guys, and preserving the morals of kindness, respect and perseverance. This fortunate encounter was a way to prove that they are still the guardians of civilization. They are still the ones who carry the fire.

Sacrifice

This novel gets tougher and more nightmarish as the pages turn. The incident at the house was until now the most horrible scene that the book has presented.
Starving and desperate for food, the man leads the way to a seemingly abandoned house in hopes of finding anything edible. Despite the kid's pleas, the man forces a locked door open, and soon he regrets doing so as he encounters a horde of people sitting naked in the dark basement, probably next in line to be eaten by the "bad guys". The cannibals see them, and as the man and his son run for dear life, a new and terrible situation is set on the table. "Take it” said the man giving the revolver to his son. "If they find you, you are going to have to do it. Do you understand? You know how to do it."(p. 113). The horror of asking his own son to kill himself is just too terrible to imagine. How savage and inhumane has the world become in order to render self-destruction as a better alternative than being caught by the cannibals.
I can't help but wonder how the man and his son have managed to preserve the desire to keep living in such an inhospitable world. Is there any hope for them at all? Is there any reason for them to keep enduring such a tortuous existence? The mother obviously decided she wasn’t willing to withstand it. Why has the man decided that it's worth maintaining him and his son alive? So far, their condition is so depressing, bleak and unfavorable that I can't help but look at their future pessimistically. The prospect of a better future is still covered by the falling snow and ashes.

A Grave Encounter

Until now, the story had mentioned no specific characters other than the man and his son. The mother apparently committed suicide, leaving him forever with their child.

Now, a new presence has appeared in the story, and it's the men in the diesel truck. These are the men the man has been hiding from all this time. They are obviously dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. Unfortunately, one of them runs into their hiding place, and after he tries to kill the son, the man is forced to sacrifice one of his bullets on him. The kid, filled with the man's brains, is terribly shocked at this, and he begins to wonder. Worried, he asks his father, “Are we still the good guys?"(p.77).
This question had stunning effects on me. How is a father supposed to explain to a child the complexity of the situation? The idea of murder is a very delicate theme to discuss with a child. However, there is a definite justification to the circumstances. The man he killed was probably a murderer himself and was definitely going to kill them both. Judging by the fact that the man was so desperate to avoid them must mean that they were a threat to their survival. He had asked the man what they were eating, and when he responded, "whatever we can find"(p.65) he never specified what it was. It wouldn't be surprising that the reason this men are so dangerous is that they have become cannibals. Hunger can drive men to the limits, and in order to survive, they might have turned to this twisted solution for survival. The author implies this when the man goes back to the place were "he found the bones and the skin piled together with rocks over them. He pushed at the bones with the toe of his shoe. They looked to have been boiled."(p.71).
It seems that the man had a good reason to kill the man, and the murder was necessary. Despite the thought that only God has the right to decide who lives or dies, there seems to be little room for argument in this grotesque situation.
The truth is that in this savage and ruined world, there is no right or wrong. There is just survival.