The Road - Cormac McCarthy - The Bunker pp141 - 165

This section is on 'The Bunker'.

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  • Created by: Tiffany
  • Created on: 30-03-12 16:17

Feelings and Reactions

Pessimistic - "How many days till death?""...kissed the child on the forehead."

- Analysing his own existance and expects the worse.

Overwhelmed - "I've found everything. Everything. Wait till you see."

Shocked - "Oh my God, he whispered"


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Narrative Structure

What happened just before the bunker?

They have just escaped the cannibal house. The Man thinks they might actually die now. But when they find the bunker its a moment of hope, "He'd been ready to die and now he wasn't going to and he had to think about that."

What happens after they leave the bunker?

They are back on the road again and they meet Ely and share their food with him.

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Characters and characterisation

The man - The man begins to feel more hopeful. "He'd been ready to die and now
                  he wasn't going to and he had to think about that."

The boy - The boy is scared and vulnerable "Don't open it, Papa, he whispered"
                 The boy does not want it opened because of what they discovered back
                 in the cannibal's house, "This door looks like the other door...But it's
                 not." The father assures him that "This is what the good guys do. They
                 keep trying." The boy chooses to hold the lamp than the pistol which is
                 significant because it can metaphorically suggests that he is carrying
                 the fire, the goodness.

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Narrative and language techniques

Repetition - "Can you see? he said. Can you see?"
                     "Come down. Oh my God. Come down"

Hyperbole - "I found everything. Everything"
                     "These will be the best pears you ever tasted, he said. The best."

Imperatives - "Don't open it, Papa, he whispered."

Interrogatives - "How many days till death?"
                            "What do i eat first?"

Declaratives - "This is what the good guys do. They keep trying. They don't
                         give up."

Lists - "Tomatoes, peaches, beans, apricots..."

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Importance

This section in 'The Road' stands out because they have found so much food and supplies, that as readers you don't want them to leave. It's a brief sanctuary from the world above. Before they eat, the boy wants to "thank the people". Again this is an example of how the boy is full of goodness.

This is one of the few moments in 'The Road' where it is hopeful and uplifting. We visually see how close the relationship between the father and son is. Often we know of there relationship from very short gestures like "he'd reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him" , "leaned and kissed the child on the forehead" but here there's a paragraph of the man cutting the child's hair and his own. A moment in the novel that recalls a father/son ritual of the old world.

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