Infant scene

First of all, I feel really sorry to post a writing about this scene;;

But this scene wouldn't leave my mind for hours after finishing the reading so I decided to shake off the thoughts after posting this... T T



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He was standing there checking the perimeter when the boy turned and buried his face against him. He looked quickly to see what had happened. What is it? he said. What is it? the boy shook his head. Oh Papa, he said. He turned and looked again. What the boy had seen was a charred human infant headless and gutted and blackening on the spit. He bent and picked the boy up and started for the road with him, holding him close. I'm sorry, he wihispered. I'm sorry

So... this was what the boy possibly might have seen ^^;;

1) Figure of speech

a) Understatement : If you look at the boy't reaction toward this, it's too faint. If this happened in this world we are living in, it would shock many people and hunt them for many days. However, the boy shows no special sympathy toward what he had just seen and instead, he rather looks like an old man full of experience and has no heart left to cry over any tragedy.

b) Style : Cormac McCarthy wrote this book very objectively. He shows no especial emotion toward happenings. Also, whenever a pitiable scene is described, he uses 'the boy' as an observer so he could emphasize the tragedy happened to the world.

c) Total effect : Including this scene, in the story, cannibalism is mentioned several times. Due to this, readers get an impression that the world the man and the boy is living in is hopeless and despairing. Furthermore it implies that there are now no more morality existing in this world and people are now more like an animal which even kills its fellows if it is neccessary for living.

2) My explanation to this scene

The night before the boy and the man finds out this infant turned into a piece of meat, the man observes three man and a pregnant woman walking across the bridge. If we suppose that this pregnant woman weren't a captive of any kind, it can be said that there is no humanity to be expected from this world. Mother's instinctive love is often said to be the most powerful thing. However, the world, where even mothers deceive their children is more like a jungle where you have no one to rely on but your intuition and luck. Maybe this, knowing that even motherhood doesn't work properly and eat the child she bore for 10 months, shocked me and made me disgusted. Infants are symbolic as a pure spirit and sancity of birth, but in this context, holiness and sanctity of life is ignored and used as a measure to feed on.

My sudden thougt is however, if this act is moral no, I mean the best solution the remaning people could have. What I thought then, was if it's better to eat an infant than a person who would possibly feel more fear and pain only if the cannibalism is really the only answer to this situation. It is inhumane and insane to start thinking about eating an infant but the world these people are living in is insane. Just almost impossible to remain moral.

However, still there remains some food, and the boy and the man keep proving that surviving on human food is possible, cannibalsim makes me think about morality. Eating people could be said as easier way to sustain life. There's no one there to scold you about wrongdoings and it seems to be quite a trend to eat human. The idea of cannibalism when the catastrophy happens, is persuasive after following the boy in the story. I think I might rather kill myself when the world is hopless enough to eat human meat, but would there be some people who would want to continue their lives still?