At the book club meeting, held on 24th June, we discussed Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel The Road (2006). In his most recent book, McCarthy trains his trademark modernist craft on contemplating the end of humanity, providing a dark and largely bleak vision of a father and son struggling to survive in a world where humanity is all but lost.
In the first half of the discussion we shared our initial responses to the novel, which were overwhelmingly positive. Readers obviously enjoyed McCarthy elegant prose and were genuinely held by the narrative, despite some of the more graphic scenes! An insightful contribution by one member prompted an intriguing discussion on whether The Road could be considered an allegory on the current state of global capitalism.
Focusing on selected passages, we discussed the figure of the prophet in the text and drew out a number of intertextual strategies that McCarthy used, such as his allusions to the bible and religious imagery. The description of the boy as ‘carrying the fire’ helped us to focus discussion on the human subject, and whether, when pushed to the brink, a sense of purpose and duty can still exist.
Interestingly, many in the group did not regard McCarthy’s text as a conservative, anti-feminist text, and rather sympathized with the women’s position that under such circumstances the only humane action is suicide.
The book club closed with a contemplation of possible frameworks in which to read McCarthy (whether his book is a work of eco-criticism, for instance) and if the book had a morale. This prompted interesting discussion with debate ranging from reading the text as unheeded warning on humanity’s current state of existence to others which saw a redemptive potential even in the bleakest of human circumstances. Finally, we mentioned, for those interested, suggestions for further reading, including The Border Trilogy (1992-1998) and Blood Meridian (1985).