McCarthy Unabridged: The Road, Page 183

Be aware by reading this passage you have opened your mind into what could be a parallel universe from Cormac McCarthy’s The Road ..

Holding the boy in his arms rubbing his thin black hair.

Its going to be okay.

Okay ?

Okay .

Close your eyes and go to sleep.

Inhale. Exhale. His eyes are closed. The man lays him down. Feel the breeze that flows across his body. His dreams begin to take over his thoughts. Hear the ocean breeze that runswards the sand. A familiar voice in the distance.

Honey.

Honey, come on.

You’re going to miss the kite show.

Without any words exchanged, the man walks towards her. Holding out his hand, waiting to touch hers. Twirling her around in his hands. Laughter and love fills the air. A countdown from a crowd full of people.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

Eyes all over the crowd light up like stars in the sky.

Turn around and close your eyes.

Okay.

Covering her eyes, distracted by the noise from the crowd around her he says turn back around. Down on one knee he was with a little black book. Before the question could be asked the answer came unfold.

Yes I do.

The man go up from one knee and kissed her. Everyone around him became mute. He was the happiest man on earth. Holding hands walking towards  where the ocean meets the sand. There was nothing in view except for dim path of light. She walks towards in extending her hand.

Come with me.

He takes her hand nothing left but footsteps on the sand as their souls walk towards the never ending pathway of light.

Although my part never made the cut, here is my rationale to explain the choices I made for my project ..

The placement in where I choose to start my creative piece  is significant because in the book “The Road”, in  boy’s mind his dream was so strong that instantly he awakened  full of emotions. Almost as  if the dream was really real.  It is interesting because to the man he was unaware that the boy unknowingly had a dream about the man dying. I choose to do a scene about a dream because in the book dreams are nothing but an illusion of reality. Dreams in this book have multiple meanings to them. The dreams are essentially a parallel universe, however each dream varies on the outcome.  Whether it is negative or positive or whether the man or the boy posses the dream. It reveals a new fragment to the plot of the story. 

The plot for the creative piece was very simple. In the book “The Road” the man shows his affection towards the boy in a  oddly way. It comes across however as reader as severely over protective. I wanted to recreate a time in the man’s life where he was once carefree and happy. His wife who is signified as “her” in this section is not mentioned often in the actual book because, she leaves in the very beginning of the book. It is unknown of what really happened to her character, although you have a clue. Therefore I created this flash black in the man dreams, where he was head over heels in love with her. The setting is on the beach, which is a familiar setting in the book. However there are people all around, caught by the attention of the kites in the sky. The man proposes to the women and their full of bliss. But the twist is at the very end it says “He takes her hand nothing left but footsteps on the sand as their souls walk towards the never ending pathway of light.”, this sentence right here is SUPER important. I say this because it lets you know that this is not real. The man and woman are no longer in existent,as it says their souls leave their body.  By context clues you can infer that the man and woman are following the never ending light which would be considered the gateway to heaven. My McCarthy-esque word is runswards which means to run forward and or to run towards.