Style

The first word that pops into my mind when I think of McCarthy's style of writing in The Road is unorthodox.  I say this because of the one big thing that he does, there aren't any chapters.  Yup, that's right.  A book with no chapters.  There are only short sections that are broken apart from each other.  To a reader who just picked up the book and started from the first page, he/she most likely would have just assumed that the sections were paragraphs.  That's what I thought at first, up until about forty pages in and there still wasn't any breaks by chapters (not the knock of version of Beats by Dre).  At times this no chapter system can seem refreshing and nice while also seeming boring and endless.  Leaving me with mixed opinions.

At times, mainly during the few action scenes involved in this book, not having any chapters is very nice to the reader because there is no end in sight.  The scene will keep going until it gradually fades out into a different scene.  The reader will not get blindsided by a break from a chapter, just to be left with a cliff hanger.  Yes, cliff hangers can be fun for the reader.  However, most of the times they suck and just leave the reader wanting more.  And guess what?  Half of the time the author doesn't give the reader what they want until multiple chapters later!  You do not have to worry about that in this book, no cliff hangers.  

However, while having no chapters can be helpful, it can also be dreadful (I'm a poet and I didn't even know it).  As said, during the action scenes, it's great.  However, the majority of this book so far has been far from action.  The majority of the book is just the man and the kid walking around either on a road or in the woods.  Having no chapters in this case leaves the reader with no breaks to collect themselves from the boring reading.  It just keeps going on and on until something exciting happens, which it rarely does.

Ok.  Back to McCarthy's style.  I just had to rant about his layout of his book, its a blessing and a curse.  The most prominent device that has been strung along in this book is clearly motifs.  There are tons.  To just list them off there is death, darkness, good vs. bad, God, cold and warmth, and loneliness.  Those are just the ones off of the top of my head, there are sure to be many more to come.  The most prevalent one in the first quarter of the book being death.  The talk of death drove the story.  Whether death was being talked about with the father and the son, the wife, or random people, it was scattered everywhere.  My personal favorite quote about it so far being "...the boy was all that stood between [the man] and death" (29).  This quote sums up the whole book up to the halfway mark.  The man trying to take care of his boy.  However, one of the newer motifs that has started to develop in this section of reading being the battle between good and bad.

After the first quarter of the book ended, the second section started off with the man and the boy reconvening after the encounter with the "bad" people.  The man says to the boy "'You wanted to know what the bad guys looked like.  Now you know.  It may happen again'" (77).  The man is telling his boy who is who.  This is followed by the further conversation between the two, with the boy asking "'Are we still the good guys?' he said.  'Yes.  We're still the good guys'.  'And we will always be?'  'Yes.  We always will be'" (77).  The man wants his son to know that in the world that they are in, they are the only good ones, and everyone else is bad.  They can't trust anyone else.  Sure, there are definitely other good people out there.  But they cannot risk getting close to anyone because it could end badly for the both of them.  So, to teach the boy, they are the only good ones.  The point of good and bad is brought up again later on when the two are exploring the bunker.  The boy is scared to continue due to his last experience of finding chained up humans to be eaten.  The man says to the boy "'This is what the good guys do.  They keep trying.  They dont give up'" (137).  The man is further using the reference of good vs bad to show the boy that they are the good ones.  I believe that he is doing this because of the boys selflessness and willingness to help others, like the burned man.  The man see's those characteristics as the downfall of the boy.  And if something happens to the boy, we all know what will happen to the man.  

On another topic of style that was stealthy placed in a previous paragraph is the fact that McCarthy rarely used punctuation.  Take a look at the paragraph before this, in the quote on page 137 he spells don't as dont.  For some reason that I am yet to figure out, he rarely uses apostrophes, quotations, and commas.  Everything is very short and sweet for him.  Take a look at the dialogue.  At the most one person only talked for two sentences.  Most of the dialogue being similar to this notation:

"'I see smoke,' he said.

'Where.'

'Past those buildings.'

'What buildings?'" (78)

When it is said "where" there is no question mark even though it is clearly a question.  Yet, two lines down "what buildings' has a question mark!  Make up your mind!  McCarthy is either just using whatever punctuation he feels like, or there is a deeper meaning behind his lack of punctuation that I am yet determine.  My most educated guess being to represent the setting.  Everything is dead, dry, dark, and lacks depth.  Just like the writing style he is creating.  Nothing lasts for very long, just like his sentences and paragraphs/sections.  Leaving me to say that McCarthy's writing style is representing the apocalyptic setting.