You might think that the things in this world that truly hold any power are communist dictators and corrupt governments as well as over-indulged celebrities.
But ever thought of the power of words?
How every syllable of every string of letters makes you feel, makes you think, or means something?
What truly sucks is when certain words just don’t mean anything to you. Partly because you’re not cultured enough to know their definitions and you feel stupid at not having ever heard them in the first place. Which is what I felt at hearing the phrase, “Shh. The phalanx following the carried spears or lances tousled with ribbons…” Phalanx? Is that some biology term like trachea or femur? Nah. Apparently it just means ‘a compact or close-knit body of people.’ Now I know what to say next time I’m walking down the hallways in order to seem like a walking dictionary. Be ready, oh people of CNG. Here, I come!
Or not.
So that’s basically the one word I found which could account for a foreign concept.
But that’s not it. Words? Yes. They might have a specific definition that states what they mean, and what they're supposed to mean to everyone around the world. But there’s more to them. The definition of snow is 'a precipitation in the form of ice crystals, formed directly from the freezing of the water vapor in the air', but for someone whose father died in an avalanche, snow might mean death and ergo bring a sense of dread.
Just like in The Road the author tends to make a huge deal of the word ‘ash.’ And not make-a-big-deal in the way that he says that ash is some alien-like force made to create mass destruction, but make-a-big-deal as in repeating the word so many times to the point where you just can’t help but think it means something. And by ‘mean something’ I mean something more than the obvious 'powdery residue of matter that remains after burning.'
Throughout the novel, “ash” is used repeatedly to describe their surroundings. Everything is covered by ash. Constantly. I have to admit in the beginning I was considering yelling at Cormac McCarthy for his repetitiveness, unoriginality and inability to obtain a thesaurus. But I guess there must be a reason, no?
Ash is the remains of what once was power, happiness, hope, love, fire. Fire in all its powerful and amazing beauty. And ashes are the sad remains of what used to be so glorious. They’re the reminder that once upon a time their was something meaningful there and now all that’s left is a pile of powder all pale and a lack-luster gray. Here, they’re a memento for what used to be America and what is left of it. And in a pessimistic way, the ashes are always there to assure them that what they’re living in is a disaster of what once was an almost perfect place.
A reminder of what once was and will never be.
Hi! I thought this post was really interesting, especially the parts about ash and fire. The ash is definitely meant to be depressing, but that doesn't mean the fire was so great either -- fires can be destructive, burning up useful things to make ash. It makes me wonder if the author's trying to say something about our world, today, or just the fires they make in the book. Maybe it's the fire that's the problem, not all the ash. Or maybe both?
ReplyDeleteHey, nice blog post, the connections that are there from the book to your mind are well-thought of. Have you ever seen Der Welle (The Wave)? Well it's a kick-you-in-the-teeth move that shows how screwed up our society is when it comes to the influence of others words, recommended.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I love this post and how it talks about the way the author uses one specific word. Speaking of words, this blog post itself has, to a certain extent, word-power (You know what I mean?)
ReplyDeleteI think you could have added that the fire symbolizes civilization (since the discovery of fire sort of marked the blah blah *insert imagination*). In a part, the father says that they are 'carrying the fire', showing how they are the last remaining pieces of what used to be. Something like that.