The closest we will ever come to obtaining any type of supernatural power will be when we use our sixth sense. Which in this case would be? I like to think of it as our ability to read people. Sometimes we meet people and we decide that we just don’t like them because is something there, subtle, and yet extremely powerful. Gut feelings go a long way. I find myself having some sort of six-sense-y feelings towards the old man the father and son meet.
But they’re more awe-inspiring feelings and less I-feel-like-this-guy-is-going-to-behead-me-with-a-chainsaw feelings. For some reason, I feel like he’s some sort of prophet or sign sent by God. A sign of hope, maybe? But if he were sent by God, who in his right mind would say, “There is no God and we are all his prophets.” Firstly, let me say that having your boss send you to help his campaign for presidency and then stating that said candidate doesn’t exist? Yeah. That won’t help your case much. There’s also the fact that it’s a juxtaposition given that he says there’s no God and yet we are all his disciples. In order for there to be disciples pertaining to him, he must exist. So maybe he’s trying to transmit the fact that….okay, I really can’t come up with anything. Epic fail.
So. The old man somehow atones his resource of food being random people. Who, he doesn’t know. Then he admits that he made those people up. So where in the world are you getting your food from, you dingo? He also lied about his name, too. Fishy? TELL ME WHO YOU ARE!
Please?
I’m still with the idea that he’s sent from God for God knows what reason. The point is, he’s probably going to play a role in the ultimate ending. Which brings me to, how in this world is this going to end? Apparently, McCarthey didn’t know either, his exact words being, “I had no idea where it was going to end,” when Oprah asks him whether he knew this in the beginning. That makes two of us.
So I guess we’re just going to have to be held in suspense. The funny thing is, when he wrote, he didn’t know what exactly he wanted to write. It just flowed and shaped itself into what ultimately became this masterful work. It’s kind of the like the road the father and son are taking, they don’t know where it’s leading, they’re just wandering around, with no direct goal in mind (besides the obvious, survival, I mean) and eventually they’ll get their ending. Whether it be happy or sad, it will be how it was meant to be. Period.
What also got to me was McCarthey’s view of achieving ‘perfection’ or his ideal novel when writing. And he said something that truly got to me:
“You have this interior image of something that is absolutely perfect. That is your guide. You’ll never get there. But without that you won’t get anywhere.”
It’s true. We will never amount to perfection because it just doesn’t happen, and let’s face it, we’re not Jesus. But if we set up goals for ourselves, high goals, then at least we’ll try and we know we will achieve something that at least is in hopes of reaching fulfillment and success. Without aims in life, we wouldn’t strive for anything, to become anything. We’d be…nothing.
As for finally fulfilling my curiosity? The reason he doesn’t use certain types of punctuation (Quotations!) is “to make it easier, not to make it harder.” Apparently good writers can not use quotations and still make it obvious to the reader who is supposed to be talking. And that’s exactly what I feel and I never question it, in this novel. You’re a good writer, Corman. Be proud.
One day I shall be able to abstain from using punctuation and still sound smart. Er. One day.
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