Quotations

“This is my child, he said. I wash a dead man’s brains out of his hair. That is my job.”

In this quote the speaker calls his son “child” rather than son, or by his actual name. This shows the books simplicity, and how he distances himself from his son, it’s because he doesn't want to get too attached, as he is more than likely going to lose him. “Dead man’s brains” suggests that the book is horror and the main themes are death and gore. It’s more important for him to get away from the danger rather than clean his child.

“Yes I am, he said. I am the one.”

In this quote it is the child speaking but he doesn’t use any speech marks, this again emphasizes the simplicity of the book. “I am the one” shows that the child has been raised to believe he is important, indicating the father’s belief that he should be protected before himself. The father thinks his child’s welfare is the most important thing in his world, and no matter what he should be safe even if that means he has to die.

“Tomatoes, peaches, bean, apricots. Canned hams. Corned beef.”

In this list the “canned hams” and “corned beef” are separate to the fruit and vegetable items. I think this is because they simply meat items, in their world it is so rare to come by any meat other than human meat, so the beef and ham is so much more special than the other things they found, the ones grouped together. From this you can see one of the themes of the book is desperation, they are living with the very bare minimum, so any food they find is a massive deal to them.

“Are we still the good guys, he said”

The lack of speech marks again shows us the simplicity of the book. The fact that the child has to actually ask whether or not they are “still the good guys” shows how much this post-apocalyptic world has distorted their view on the world. The lines between good and evil, right and wrong, are no longer clear; nothing is black and white. So this show one of the main themes in the book is good and evil, and whether or not they fit into the good category any more.

“We should go, Papa, he said. Yes, the man said. But he didn’t.”

This quote is one of the rare times a name is used, and as it is the child calling him “Papa” is suggests that the child is more emotionally attached to his father than he is to him. “The man” still does not refer to himself as the child’s father shows how emotionally unattached he is. The need to keep moving, keep hidden and out of danger makes them seem like animals, being hunted like prey for the cannibals.

“The snow fell nor did it cease to fall.”

This shows how bleak and grim this post-apocalyptic world is for them, it is dark, cold and lonely. It’s as if the happiness has been sucked out and they are left is this grey world. Even the snow is grey; there is no colour, not even black or white. It shows how uninhabitable this world is becoming, the weather is changing, and it is relentless.

“Okay? Okay.”

The repetition of the world “okay” shows he is reassuring the child. Not only is the man reassuring the child in this quote, he is also reassuring himself that the child is okay. His protectiveness of the child is a main theme; every action is designed to protect him. He needs to be assertive in order to look after him. Even if he is not okay, or the world is not okay, as long as his child is okay nothing else matters.