Unique, Response to the Book, p.51-101

Compared to last week, this week, I underlined more and wrote more on the book. I couldn't hlep it. There were more information given and more events going on.

This week, I'd like to talk about structure, the father and the boy's relationship and some motifs just like last week, and also talk about some parts that gave me important information. Now, let me start.



1. Structure

This time, the structure is simpler. From page 51 to 60, most of the text is about the man's memories(thoughts on the past + what happened in the past), dreams and thoughts. Then from page 61, except for a paragraph in page 87, all the other paragraphs are describing the events that happens to the man and the boy. I think it's because the man and the boy are in hurry and danger almost all the time so the man has no time to think about the past.

Let's briefly look into the more detailed structure: the present - the man leaving his wife's photograph with money, cards and license on the road - the present - the dream of tattered gods - the beginning of the apocalypse - hearing birds flying away - playing cards and telling the boy some fake stories about the past - providential days and beauty based on pain (thoughts of the man) - the present, the boy says he'd like to die and the man says not to think of it - the past, the man's wife kills herself - the past, the birth of the boy - a dialogue between the man and the boy - the present (meet bad guys on a truck, kill one of them and run away - visit a village that seems deserted but is inhabited by some people - leave the village and a little boy and a dog the boy saw there - a memory of a dog of the past - see a troop of bad guys - meet snow and decide to leave the cart and move on - a dialogue between the man and the boy.


some notes on some paragraphs;

1) The man's wife chose the death because she couldn't bear the situation. She didn't show love toward the man and the boy. She didn't really care about them. She just wanted to escape, give up, run away. Think I can say the man loves the boy more than the woman did.

2) In the paragraph on the dog of the past, there were very strange words. 'us', 'I', and 'me'. Guess 'I' is the man, but then it's inexplainable why 'he' is also used to name the man. Direct quote is here : 'The dog that he remembers followed us for two days. I tried to coax it to come but it would not. ... I promised I would not hur the dog. ... That is the dog he remembers. He doesn't remember any little boys.' Well, think 'I' means the man, but 'he' was used in the beginning and at the end to connect the memory(past) and the present. But still, why did the author use the word 'I'? What does it mean?

3) The dialogue on page 100 to 101 shows that the man started to doubt whether they'll survive or not. 'You think we're going to die, don't you? ... We're not going to die ... But you don't believe me ... Why do you think we're going to die? ... But you don't belive me ... But you think I might lie to you about dying.' Even if the boy keeps saying that he doesn't know, the man keeps saying that the boy doesn't believe him. It shows that HE is not believing himself. He wants to believe that they're not goning to die, but he can't stop thinking that they'll die soon.

+) Bad guys eat humans. The guy the father shot was changed into a pile of bones, skins and guts when the father went back to the place to fetch the cart. And the bones seemed to be boiled, the man said. It shows that they eat dead people. Another group of bad guys, they have woman and boy slaves. These slaves are for sexual things. The father had every reason to avoid these bad guys. There's even the wife saying that they'll rape her and her son if they catch them. They'll really do. And They'll eat the man.



2. Characters

1) The man
He's trying to calm the boy, make him believe they'll survive, nothing bad will happen. Even in a desperate and dangerous situation, he continues to say 'it's all right'. As they are running for their lives, as they are dying of the cold, he keeps saying 'it's all right', 'we'll not die'.
(In the text, he also proves himself to be a calm man, ready to kill a person clean and quickly when the danger comes. Also he knows a lot about human bodies and might be a doctor since he knew how to cut the cord of the baby.)

2) The boy
He recognizes things quickly and accurately. He is the one who sees the smoke of the village. He is the one who hears the dog barking. He also recognized that his mom killed herself right away when he woke up. He is a warm-hearted child who pities a man hit by a lightening and worries about a little boy in the village. But he is also strong. Even if the man's filtering most of the violence in the world, the boy still sees the brutal scenes and bears them with no word. He is bearing the situation well.


+) A note on the people's health. The man is coughing. The bad guys(the first group, I mean) were coughing. Many of them wore masks. Someone even wore a biohazard suit. They need to cover their mouth to filter some bad chemicals in the air. Sure, there are ashes everywhere. But why is the boy not affected by it? Why are the people affected by the atmosphere all the adults? Will the boy get sick like that in the end?




3. Motifs

1) gray, ash
These words are repeated a lot this time. Ashes covering the snow so quickly. All the world is gray and ash. (... wanna quote some lines of the text but I underlined too much I cannot find the parts quickly;;)

2) death
There are many deaths here. The man's wife says the death is a lover, and she loves it now, and kills herself. The man kills another man who threats the boy's life. There are dried corpses and skulls. The boy and the man worries about the death that will eventually reach them soon or later. Death is a threat. And it's quite near them.

3) God

This time, the man didn't show that much doubt toward God. Rather than that, the word 'God' was repeated a lot this time to show surprise. You know, there are expressions with the word 'God' that are used when you're shocked or surprised. 'God!' or 'God's sake' and things like that.

However, on page 74, the man says his brushing the boy's hair to dry it seems like some ancient anointing. Anointing is putting sacred oil on one's head. This term's used in Christianity to mean a sacred and positive ceremony. It's so sad that I'm not a Chirstian so I don't know what it means in detail. Somebody please let me know.

On the next page, p.75, the man says as he looks at the boy's hair, 'Golden chalice, good to house a god. Please don't tell me how the story ends.' It reminds me of the line in page 5, 'He knew only that the child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke.' After reading page 75, I started to think that maybe 'he' of the last line of the quote from page 5 might mean the boy. To the man, the boy equals the God. And in that sense, god is not a negative figure to the man.

And, on page 77, the man says that his job is to take care of the boy and he's appointed to do that by the God. Throught this, we can see that the man is not having negative feelings toward God anymore. I don't see why he's attitude changed, but well, think we'll gonna see it soon or later.

(+ Maybe this part shows that still, his faith is not as strong as it was before the apocalypse. 'The sacred idiom shorn of its referents and so of its reality. (page 89)' The word 'sacred' makes me think that it has something to do with the god and the bible. Does sacred idiom mean something related to the Bible?)