I really enjoyed reading the first part of The Road, though it was such a challenging book for me. Meanwhile, I’ve found some characters and the situations are matching with the other book’s character, and my own personal experience.
To begin with, there’s a part where the man and the boy find the supermarket, goes in, and finds a Coca Cola. It’s sure that the man also wants it, -or, he probably wants it more than the boy- he gives it to his son to drink it. Even a can of a coke reminds him of the pleasurable memories from the past. The boy asks father if he want some. “I want you to drink it,”(23) the man says. It’s maybe because that he wants to give a piece of the past to his little boy, who’s too young to remember the things before the dooms day. I thought that ‘the man’ is really similar to ‘the Giver’ in the book The Giver. In it, the Giver tries to pass down the memories of the past to the boy Jonas, since it’s part of his job. However, as the time goes by, he passes over big things to minor, littlest things. He tries to give Jonas how was it like long ago. Pleasurable and peaceful times. They become deeply related in a spiritual way with each other.
At the very first part of the book, the boy says to his father.(10) "Are we going to die?" he asks. "Sometime. Not now." the man answers. This conversation between them about living and death really reminded me of the talk with my dad when I was a little kid. I don't know how old is the boy in the book The Road is, but I'm sure that he'd probably felt what I felt that day.
Well, I kind of have lots of thoughts by myself, and sometimes it gets too deep. I believe it was the time right after my grandfather passed away because of lung cancer. I'd never experienced someone so close to me passing away, so for the first time, I was thinking deeply about the life and the death. I suddenly got scared; 'Every human has to die. Then I'll also have to die someday. I won't be able to see, touch, feel, and sing!' The fear of the 'death' was so big that I couldn't control it anymore. With tears bursting out, I ran to my father. "What happened?" he asked. "Dad, am I going to die?" He didn't answer. "Are we all going to die?" I asked again. "Well, someday. But look, Christine. We all have to die. Nothing lasts forever. Yet, the sure thing is that it'll come to you much much later. And when that time comes, you'll be able to understand it and accept it. Sometimes time itself gives you the knowledge." His words calmed me down. Though even now I don't really feel like I could accept the death, but I believe that someday, I will.
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Christine--your literary and personal connections to two very poignant moments in the novel are wonderfully phrased. I didn't even think about how the Coke is passing on the memory of the old world like in The Giver, but you are right! And memory is very important to this novel, just as it was in Lowry's.
ReplyDeleteI think we all have a moment where we begin to understand our own mortality. You've described your encounter with it (when your grandfather died) very beautifully. What strikes me about the boy is that even though he asks his father this, he seems to already know and have accepted the answer. It is so sad that his experiences with death are almost enough that it is routine and expected, not alarming at all.
Wow, I was really into your writing, and could agree and understood your feelings and thoughts toward the death. I also cried few times after reading a book about the life and death, which gave me a great, great shock because I wasn't old enough to understand everyone has to die someday. Well, but it seems like YOU have understood since your father taught you a great lesson. I've never experienced a close person's death and now I'm somewhat afraid of it...(Maybe because of "The Road"? haha) Well, let's see what happens to the man and the boy! I don't want them to die...by the way...
ReplyDeleteI really like your writing! I mean even though I have read the book 'the Giver', I have never thought of connecting it with the relationship between the man and the boy. After you described it, I was able to look at the man and the giver's sacrifice(?) in a new way. For some reason, I was taking the man's love for granted. I just assumed that it was just a father-son thing. Thanks to you I was able to see the love from another perspective! Also, just like Diana said, your writing has something that warms people's heart(I don't know what I'm saying but I was really into your writing!) Anyways, I'll be looking forward to your next post :)
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