Episode Four 210 - 215

How the episode impacted on you. What was the writer doing to evoke this response?

This part was disturbing, as it really makes it clear what the people in this world will do for food now. The impersonal, clinical way McCarthy describes the baby makes it all the more disturbing, the only person that has an emotional response to the baby is the boy – who is also the only character that has hope and innocence left. The man is hardened and used to seeing these kind of things, he doesn’t even think the baby deserves a decent burial, he just leaves it there for someone to scavenge.

Plot progression (what will happen next?)

It is hard to say what will happen next in the novel, I think we will see the boy becoming more and more aware of what’s happening around him as the man fails to shield him from everything. The boy may seem less innocent because of this, and the hope will become to fade.

Your experience (change of mood? A lighter moment? Increase or release of tension?)

This section brings a new sense of tension because these people seem even more dangerous, and this danger is all around. This is achieved by speeding up the pace and then slowing it down again.

How does this develop character and their relationships?

The boy is seeing more and more of the horrible sights in the world, which the man is unable protect him from. It shows how it is maturing him when the man asks if he wants to “ride in the cart” which is something you’d do with a small child, and even though he asks twice the boy refuses him and wants to walk on his own. He isn’t a small child and doesn’t want to be treated as though he is.

Is the language in keeping with rest of novel? Are there particular symbols or images that are foregrounded?

The language is simplistic in keeping with the rest of the novel; there aren’t any changes to the way they speak. He describes the scene with the baby quite graphically, leaving a lasting image in your mind.

Is this in fact a key episode? What makes it important? How does it stand out in a novel without chapters?

This part highlights the desperation that has overcome humans, that they are willing to kill and then eat an innocent baby just so they won’t go hungry. It also shows how separated and different the man and the boy are from the rest of humanity, they won’t become cannibals no matter what, they are clinging on to what makes them humans. They won’t become savages like the rest. Death is all around them and it doesn’t even spare the young, no one is safe.