- page210. They are watching for a thing that even death cannot undo and if they do not see it they will turn away from us and they will not come back.
At this part, the man says this at the house which was found by the boy. Since the boy got scared that there could be other people in the house-ever since they accidently went into human-raising cell, he says to the man that maybe they(the others) are watching. And this quote was an answer from the man to the boy. However, I couldn't understand a thing that 'even death cannot undo'. He says that if they don't see it from them, they'll go away from them. What could it be?
Though I couldn't find out what that exactly is, I was able to make some guesses about it. At this point, every survivor on the earth is very near to death. And of course they'll feel uneasy and nervous about it. Does God exist? No one knows. No one knows, because this kind of disaster shouldn't be happened when everything's under the control of God. People want something that everlasts. Something that'll save them from the chaos, or at least calm their nerves. And maybe they'll try to that from the man and the boy. If they find out nothing from the man and the boy, they won't com back.
2. page218. But when he looked the boy was crying. What is it? he said. Nothing. No, tell me. Nothing. It's nothing.
The boy went in to the sea to swim. However, after he came out, he suddenly started crying. Why? Simple might be answer is that it was just because the sea was too cold, but it's too simple. Maybe he saw something that's shocking, like another corpse. Yet, this can't be the reason of 'sudden cry'. Or else, though he didn't experienced that much, he might felt nostalgia of the past. The time when things were stable in peace. No eternal darkness. No coldness either. He ironically figured that out in freezing sea water.
3. page238. Every day is a lie, he said. But you are dying. That is not a lie.
The man realizes that his health is getting worse and worse. Even blood comes out from the cough. He saids that daily life have been a lie. Why so? Well, he always had to pretend that there's hope, and there'll be a better world when they reach the South. It was all because of the boy. It seems that the man doesn't afraid of the death. He said that he envied the dead. Meanwhile, it isn't the same with the boy. Not only the man wants him to live on, but also the boy himself desperately wants it. He always hided his feelings in front of the boy, but now there's one thing that he won't be able to hide anymore. It's the fact that he's getting weaker.
Like this, though I did the best I could, I can see that my answers are weak and illogical. I hope you guys could give my your personal opinions! Thank you:D
Your observation looks good enough for me. I particularly thought the same about your question number 2. I was also wondering why the boy was bursting for nothing. The others however, were difficult for me to interpret too so it's no wonder that you are having difficult time dealing with it.
ReplyDeleteI think you picked very important parts that I was also wondering about. For the third question, I agree with you. He is the one who are in charge of the boy's life, so he has to deal with a lot of difficulties. Everytime the boy feels scared or nervous the man says everything's okay. I remember there have been a lot of 'it's okay' sentenses in the book.Like you said, the man knows the reality very well unlike the boy. The boy only thinks that if you carry the fire, you are a good guy and okay. But the reality is not. So he's pretending to be okay every time, every moment. And he also realizes that he can't lie about his death coming and getting weaker.
ReplyDeleteYou've picked three very interesting (and difficult) passages. The first one--I think you're onto something that what "they" are seeking is something eternal and may be related to religion or truth in the way that God used to be for the man.
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