The Road Language - English

Personification

The land is described in terms of a rotting human body. "Ashen scabland", and "the oneset of some cold glaucoma" - this is an extended metaphor and the use of the word intestate helps this. The world has been destroyed and the father realises he has to find other like minded survivors. It is through this apocalytpic setting that McCarthy informs his readers that love, kindess and realtionships are essential for surviving the most deadly circumstances.

Flashbacks

Flashbacks reveal how beautiful the old world was and how hard it is to perseve in the new one. The flashbacks also convey a lure of wanting to not persevere in the nightmarish world and give in to the easy option of death. His dreams are filled with colour and good memories which is contrasted when he wakes up to the grey dull world. "The right dreams for a man in peril are of a man in peril."

Rich Colour

The contrast with the monochromatic landscape reveals how harsh their world is and how beautiful the world they lost was. RIch colours appear in key symbols. There are things in the present that symblize the richness of the past that have gone. And with their passing goes their langauge with it, "Shom of its reference". We see this when the man and boy find a coca cola. "The names of things slowly following these things into oblivion. Colours. The names of birds. Thinsg to eat."

Allusion

Allusion to greek mythology is used with the siren memories. The sirens used to lure sailors to their death with their beauty and songs. Here the flashbacks are the sirens for the father as they lure him to give in as he has flashbacks of his wife and the colours of the past world. It is the need to deliver his son to like minded people who have retained their morality and basic human dignity tah prevents him to giving in to these sirens. The language feature of the flashback is used to give context to the novel and give a certain symmetry and rhythm to the narrative, by comparing what was lost and bringing beauty back into the novel.

Religious Imagery

The author uses religious imagery, "golden chalice good to house god". The pair are on a mission, and the father is the old testament prophet gievn the burden to test his devotion to God by keeping his son alive and keeping the fire. "My job is to take care of you, I was appointed by God." And "If he isnt the word of God, God never spoke." The last…