Road Rat Questions

·         On page 62 there is an element of foreshadow in that the boy plays with his toy truck and making ‘roads in the ash with a stick’  This foreshadows the coming events as the men who find the man and boy are travelling in a truck.  When the boy is playing with his truck it seems uncharacteristic of the novel to include a child enjoying himself to some extent, however when the man and boy are out in danger because of the truck full of men we see that this seemingly innocent behaviour was foreshadowing a darker event.  McCarthy may have done this to show that God was acting through the boy to warn the man of the dangers ahead.  This godly connection between God and the boy is shown at various points throughout the novel, so seeing as though this behaviour of the boy is uncharacteristic I think this is a possibility of why this foreshadowing is used.  One example of the boy being shown as a sign of religion is at the very start of the novel when the man states: ‘If he is not the word of God God never spoke.

·         The description of the men on pages 62-63 creates an intimidating and caveman-like image.  There is ‘One in a biohazard suit.  Stained and filthy.’  The men are ‘Slouching along with clubs in their hands, lengths of pipe. Coughing.’  Wearing a biohazard suit makes the man more intimidating as we don’t know his identity and there is always a fear of the unknown.  This character could also be shown to be mocking society as a biohazard suit is seen to protect you from dangerous substances, but nothing could protect anyone or thing from the apocalypse that occurred in the world in which the novel is set.  The men are described as ‘slouching with clubs’ with creates a Neanderthal image to show the diminishing society and almost a reverse in evolution to a time when humans were more animalistic and fighting for their survival against nature.

·         McCarthy uses a simile to describe the truck as ‘lumbering and creaking like a ship’ to give the impression that it is not running smoothly, but is more stuttering and jerking along, like a ship would on an ocean.  It could also foreshadow the man and boy getting to the shore and finding the boat, which was a disappointment.

·         On page 65 McCarthy describes the Road Rat in such detail because this is the first time there has been any interaction between the man and boy and another character.  Although we see the lightning struck man earlier, there is no interaction with him and also, he was not a threat to either the man or boy.  The Road Rat however is a threat and so the man, and us as readers take the Road Rat’s appearance in, almost sizing him up to find out the likelihood of the man prevailing against the Road Rat.

The road rat at this point also gives us a detailed insight to how humanity is diminishing and the world in the novel is so different to the one we know.  This is shown through the description of the Road Rat’s eyes; ‘Like and animal inside a skull looking out the eyeholes’ which shows that he is malnourished so that he is just skin and bones. This description also gives the reader a sense of vulnerability towards the Road Rat, even though he is supposed to be a threat to the man and boy as he is clearly weakened and struggling to survive, just like everyone else.  He Road Rat also makes us realise the differences between the novel world and ours because of the Road Rat’s tattoo which is a bird, ‘done by someone with an illformed notion of their appearance’ which is shocking to us as readers as to us, birds are so common worldwide that it is almost impossible to imagine someone who was unsure of how they look.

·         The character of the road rat is explicit in his speech with the man and gives the reader a sense that he doesn’t care much about anything.  This is shown when the Road Rat readily tells the man how much ‘Diesel fuel’ they have in the truck. If this was the man who was asked this he would not willingly give a straight answer.  This shows that the Road Rat isn’t concerned about other people and what they know about him or even the group he is going around with.  This may suggest that he has nothing to live for and so nothing to protect.  This explicit manner of the Road Rat also shows his lack of education.  The use of colloquial language such as ‘Ain’t no need’ shows the reader that education counts for next to nothing in this new world were survival is everything.  This portrayal of the Road Rat as having a limited vocabulary also seems to give the man some intellectual ammunition against Road Rat as he knows that he is outnumbered and buys time by keeping a conversation with the Road Rat.

The man is implicit and never tells the Road Rat much about himself or his son.  When the man tells the Road Rat why he won’t hear the gun shot, even though this isn’t an outright threat, it is implied through the shear detail which the man puts into his description creating a gruesome image.  In respond to the detailed explanation the man gives the Road Rat replies ‘Are you a doctor?’ to which the man simply responds ‘I’m not anything.’  This response creates a sense of mystery towards the man and gives the reader the impression that the man believes occupations are gone now so there is no need to discuss anyone’s past life, as they are gone.  The man also avoids giving the Road Rat any real answers that would allow him to know anything about the boy’s, or his past, present or future, as if protecting himself in case the Road Rat tries to find them again.

·         We learn many things about the man through his exchange with the Road Rat.  We learn of his extensive medical knowledge through his use of words such as ‘frontal lobe’ and ‘colliculus’  suggesting that he was highly educated and possibly from a medical background in the post-apocalyptic world.  When the Road Rat ‘dove and grabbed the boy’ the man is extremely quick to react as he ‘had already dropped to the ground...and fired from a two-handed position’ which shows the reader how the man is willing to take huge risks to save his son.  This fast response also shows that the man was confident in using the gun and his ability to aim as if the Road Rat had moved the man may have ended up killing his son.  His fast, instinctive reaction and accuracy of the shot suggests to the reader that the man has used this weapon before which makes the reader question the man’s morals and whether he really is a ‘good guy’.

·         ‘A single round left in the revolver.  You will not face the truth. You will not’ echoes the wife’s tone in the final conversation she had with the man before she killed herself.  This can be interpreted as the man hearing his wife’s voice in his head telling him this truth that he would rather not face.  She could either be mocking him here, making the man believe that it would have been in everyone’s favour to join the wife and kill himself and the boy when she did or it could be portrayed as her willing the man to carry on and not think about this truth.  Alternatively, this could be the man finding himself thinking like the wife in a negative way because he feels as though he has failed his son.  If anything happens to them now they will not both be able to die and also, the fact that there is one round left shows that the man has killed numerous times, letting his son down for this reason too.

·         Following the shooting the other men don’t chase after the man and the boy because they are only concerned for the survival of themselves, we can see this when the man and boy revisit the scene to find ‘the bones and the skin... A pool of guts’, there were also ‘No pieces of clothing’.  This shows that even though in life the Road Rat may have been the other men’s friend or at least their companion they have no shame when he is dead to eat him and take his clothes for themselves.  This appalling image shows that the other men have no respect for the Road Rat’s body, like we do when someone has died.  It shows how morals in the novel differ from those in our world and how the people in the novel act less and less civilized as the novel progresses and also shows that their desperation grows more and more extreme as they are not just eating people they don’t know, but eating those who were their friends.

·         It is not until page 77 that the man cleans the ‘gore’ and ‘dead man’s brains’ from the boys face even though he has kept him warm with blankets and fed him subsequent to the shooting.  This is because cleaning the boy is not his first priority as it is not life-threatening to the boy, however hunger and cold are, so they are the man’s priorities.  He waits until they have set up a safe camp and are well fed before cleaning the boy as only then are they safe from other dangers even if the boy is uncomfortable with this situation and would probably rather forget that he had just witnessed his father kill someone and was almost killed himself.