(Photo Credit: http://sextantbook.com)
"One vast salt sepulchre. Senseless. Senseless." Again, the description of the beach is quite different from what is expected of a beach. What images stand out to you and what about them stands out?
What is the translation of the boat's gilt lettering? What is the significance? Is it ironic?
What is a mae west? Is there any significance to this?
What is a sextant? What does the fact that he put it back in a cupboard suggest about the man?
The man thinks, "good luck might be no such thing." He envies the dead on most nights. If this is the case, what keeps him going? Why is he trying so hard to survive?
On p. 244 in my book, there is an exchange between the man and the boy:
Boy: I don't know what we're doing.
Man: There are people and we'll find them. You'll see.
Focusing on the entire exchange, what do we learn about these two characters at this point?
30 comments:
I believe the man is trying so hard to survive, even though he is fatally ill, to ensure his son's life. He wants to find "good people," in my opinion, to give his son to. The man knows he is going to die, there is no denying it. It's just a matter of when he will die. His will and his undying love for his son carries him on. I think that he knows that as soon as he finds someone to take his son, he will be able to die guilt-free.
The translation of the boat's gilt lettering (Pajaro de Esperanza) is 'Bird of Hope.' This is ironic because there really is nothing hopeful found on the boat. It's funny because the story built you up to think that there would be something magical and game-changing once they reached the beach. However, they just end up reaching yet another desolate landscape. Also, 'bird' implies freedom and the ship couldn't be more trapped. It somewhat signifies the man and the boy's situation. They are stuck, just as the boat is, in a life where there is no hope of escape.
A mae west, in this situation, is referring to an inflatable life jacket. It is not in fact the famous American actress of the early 1900s as Google is so keen on telling anyone who has put in mae west as a search. Anyway, maybe Cormac McCarthy put this in as an item on the boat because he wants to signify that there are still lives to be saved. All hope is not completely gone. Or perhaps this is thinking too deeply and McCarthy was just describing the scene of a boat, a place where life jackets have a high probability of being found. Who knows?
A sextant is an instrument used for navigation. It makes perfect sense that he put it back in the cupboard. He doesn't have any place specific to be. His only goal is to find other civilization or at least a place where he and his son can survive. A sextant cannot help with these goals. The world has near ended. Knowing where one is has ceased to matter, as there is nothing left to relate your location to. Also, now that they have reached the coast, I think the man feels lost with no direction. He doesn't need a tool used for navigation to remind him that he has no direction to find.
I agree with Erin. I believe the only reason the father is trying so hard to survive is for his son. Their have been many occurrences where the boy asks his father not to leave him, or the boy asks the father if he can go with him. The father is scared to leave his son alone and only wants the best for him, he is just still trying to figure out what that is. I believe that no matter the lengths the father will have to go, he will find out the right path for his son and die living until he can give his son that life of happiness.
I completely agree with Kayla about the sextant. In a society that has no standing cities or safe places, there really is no value in having a tool that can guide the man and boy to different places. The fact that the old man put this tool back on the shelf implies three things. It implies that there is nowhere to go in this world, thus making a navigation tool useless, it implies that the older man may not have an affinity or belief in science, and finally, the old man have put the sextant back simply because it was another heavy thing to carry on their long journey. I think it's sad that the old man has realized that there is no purpose to a sextant because there is no place left for the boy and himself to go, but they keep wandering anyways.
There is literally no life at the beach, not birds, not fish, obviously no other people... a beach without seagulls would be a difficult image to fathom. McCarthy mentions an absence of sea-smell. When I think of the beach I think of the salty ocean. Maybe the salt dissipated along with the empathy and humanity...
A few thoughts on the boat: I was surprised it was not already torn through by another survivor(s), it would have made for a handsome reward for swimming so far in such cold water. Also, I kept thinking something terrible was going to happen to the boy while the man was checking out the boat. Maybe just because the man was finding a lot of useful stuff, I guess I thought something needed to counteract that (which it did when the other man showed up).
The man is trying to survive for only one reason: his son. He even said earlier that if his son died, he would want to die as well. The boy is the father's main purpose for survival. There's no doubt that his own life is miserable, but he is not living for himself. He knows that if he dies, the boy will probably die as well. More than anything, he wants his son to stay alive and stays alive himself to teach his boy how.
I agree with Kourtney and Erin about the man wanting the best for his son. It is inevitable that he is going to die, and it is only just a matter of time. He knows that he has prepared his son by teaching him, but he wants to find someone to take care of him. Many people need closure and acceptance before they can let go. I believe that the man needs the closure of knowing that the son is taken care of and that he will lead a good life before he can let go of his own life.
The exchange between the man and boy shows a lot about the two characters. The boy has always been a bit lost and scared throughout the book. He doesn't know another life besides this one, and that influences his perspective on the world. He doesn't realize what life once was like, and it makes him question why people fight so hard for something so unappealing. Opposite of the boy, the man is determined to find what he once had. He has hope that someone is out there who can make their lives better. He wants the boy to know the world he once knew.
I also agree that the man wants the best for his son and is searching for people who will take care of the boy as he has for all these years. He knows that he is dying and has known this for most of the book, but he is sensing the time is coming soon. The boy says, "I don't know what we're doing" because he doesn't understand that the man is dying and he needs someone else to watch over him. All his life it has just been him and his father and he can't imagine his life without his father. His father knows that the boy could have such a better life and he wants him to experience the world as he did. By finding good people the boy may be able to experience a happy life.
The man tries so hard to survive for his son. He has not lost his paternal instinct to try and always do what's best for his young. I agree with most of my classmates when they say he keeps going to make sure he leaves his son in a good place in his eyes with some assurance of life. The man knows you can't cheat death and relentlessly is holding on for his son. How could any parent die knowing that their child is not taken care of? The man is doing what he believes to be best for both him and his son.
What keeps the man going is his son. He needs to survive in order for his son to survive. He knows he cannot leave him alone. Even though the man is dying he keeps going as long as he can before he does eventually die. But I think he is just trying to stay alive until he can find some “good guys” to take his son for him and care for him. He wants his son to live and he knows he will die soon.
The reason why the man tries so hard to survive is because of his son. If he dies, then there would be nobody to take care of his son. There are many times where he wishes he could just give up and die, but he cant bare the thought of leaving his child.
I think that the man is trying so hard to survive because of the boy. The boy is probably the only reason he gets up day to day. I can see that if the man didn't have the boy he would have either shot himself, or let himself die a long time ago. He's trying to give the boy the necessary skills to survive once the man is gone.
As with everyone else, I think that the man is trying to stay alive for his son. He wants his son to have a good life and he is trying to find that for him. He wants to find other people that could possibly help them and wants what is best for his son. But then again, he isn't sure if living or death would be best.
The man always keeps telling the boy that they will find people, but when they do they either hide from them or just walk on by. I know that some of these are bad people that would harm the man and boy if they got the chance, but what I keep wondering is how will they know a good person when they cross them? Who are these people that they are looking for?
With this story it often reminds me of a saying, "in the end you will not escape alive." We don't often appreciate the things we have around us and being able to live each day is one of them. In this story alone the characters look at death in the eyes almost every day. They seem to get that death is the only part of anyone’s future that is certain. How and why they happen or even at what time can never be understood fully, but no matter what life always ends with death. It’s a sad fact that we don't live forever, but maybe that why the man stopped thinking there was a God and then talked about the boy forgetting about it too.
I think the reason the man struggles so hard to keep going and to survive is solely for his son. If it was just himself he would have given up and died years ago. He feels that, as a father, he owes it to his son to keep them both up and going, to comfort him and tell him that they will make it. He also knows that if he were to give up and die, his son would be murdered and probably eaten by the blood-gangs.
The man tries so hard to survive is for his son. His son is what keeps him going. When the boy's mother left, the man was left all alone with the boy. The man realizes that his son is his responsibility and that he must do whatever it takes to keep him alive. Even though the man is sick, he tries his absolute best for his son. This shows how much love he has for him. I think the man is doing a good job under the circumstances. I also agree with Erin, that the man wants to find "good people" for his son. In case the man dies, he doesn't want his son out in this world alone.
The man's dedication to his son is so inspiring. It's only a matter of time before he dies, yet he devotes everything to protecting his son and keeping him in good shape. Also, the translation of the boats lettering (which said Pajaro de Esperanza) is bird of hope. Although the man finds valuable supplies on the boat, it doesn't provide any permanant hope because they will soon run out, like they always do. This is why the name of the boat is so ironic to the situation of the man and the boy.
The man is forcing himself to stay alive to protect his son. It is amazing how much the man cares for the boy, it really is touching in a story so full of hopelessness. The man knows that he is the only thing that the boy has life so he is doing everything in his power to stay alive and be there for him. It really shows how much he loves his boy, and it makes me like his character more to know the he is doing the absolute best he can as a father.
As the man travels down the road with his son, he knows that he is eventually going to die. He keeps coughing up blood and he can hardly keep up a normal walking pace while he is pushing the cart. I think in this whole situation, the boy is the key. The boy is what keeps the man going, even if there is no such thing as good luck and he envies dead. The man is trying so hard to survive because he wants to be there for his son. He wants to help him make decisions and keep him company. I think his worst fear is leaving his son alone in that horrible world to fend for himself, so the man keeps pushing himself to stay alive. I also think a part of the man wants to survive because he has a small hope that one day the world would go back to what it used to be in his memories and he wants to see it that way again. There may also be a part of him that wants to finally meet the “good guys” instead of just telling the boy that they do exist.
The man keeps going because of the love he has for his son. He wants to keep him safe and will do anything to keep him that way. If him and his son survive he will then feel fufilled and that he did a good job.
A sextant is something used for navigation. I believe the man puts it back into the cupboard because he has absolutely no use for it. Although they keep traveling, they really have no destination in mind. In a world that has all but ended, the specific place that you are in ceases to matter. It is actually a very depressing thought.
A Mae West was a slang term in World War II for a life preserver. I smiled to myself when I read this mostly because through the whole journey, the beach was the goal. When they got there, however, it's just a bleak as anywhere else in the world. Then they find a life jacket, which is something used to keep people afloat. The symbolism is overwhelming with just that little flotation device. I like what Kayla W said about there still being lives to save. I also like to think that it's a sign for the man to keep treading water as long as he can. Either way, I'm really glad McCarthy threw the Mae West in there.
The man envies the dead because they don't have to fight for their lives. The man struggles everyday with starvation, weather, thieves, exhaustion, etc. I think he keeps fighting to survive because of the boy. He knows that if he dies the boy probably wouldn't last very long by himself. He also doesn't want to give up after so much time and effort.
pajaro de esperanza translates to bird of hope, and the contents of the ship do give them hope. tenerife is the largest of the canary islands, which means that either the people on the ship were trying to get away and go somewhere else, which didn't seem to work out, or the ship drifted very far away, either of which help it live up to it's title as a bird.
i think the boy keeps the man going, he doesn't want to leave the boy alone even more than he doesn't want to live. he might also just be trying to justify that he made the right decision in going on while his wife made the wrong decision in killing herself.
the exchange on p. 244 shows us that the boy keeps on going only because his father his and he doesn't know anything else, and the father keeps on going so that he can show the kid a little bit of what the old world was like, non-hostile interaction between people
I think the man is surviving just for his son. If he was alone he would have given up and either died or killed himself a long time ago. His son is his sole reason for living.
A sextant is a navigation device that uses the stars, moon, and planets to navigate the earth. He had no use for it because it seems as though the sky is never clear, keeping the sun from warming the earth and allowing things to grow
The man envies the dead, for their hardships are over. The only thing that keeps him going is the boy. He cares deeply for the boy, and knows that neither one would be likely to survive on their own. The boy needs the man for protection and to find food and shelter. The man needs the boy for emotional strength. Without the boy, the man feels that he has no reason to live.
I believe that is keeping the man going is his son. He needs to survive in order for his son to survive. Even though the man is dying he keeps going as long as he can before he does eventually die. But I think he is just trying to stay alive until he can find some “good guys” to take his son for him and care for him. He wants his son to live and he knows he will die soon.
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