Cormac McCarthy's interview on Oprah indirectly relates to The Road. As Oprah's questions about his life begin to detail how he survived virtually without any money, I'm reminded of how money has become irrelevant for the book's main characters as their journey south seeking refuge focuses on living off the land. Somehow, McCarthy always "knew things would work out" and considers himself "very lucky" with the success he's had, along with "totally unforeseen things that would occur" like the financial boost he received from a courier at his doorstep one day.
I find McCarthy's point of view on how "things will work out" reflected on the Father's attitude. The father always finds a way to secure his son's life and his own at least for a little longer. Also, I've realized that if the father didn't have some sort of hope towards a better life and everything after the road, then there would be no point in undergoing such an arduous journey. This led me to conclude that one of McCarthy's underlying messages in his novel is how people need hope in their lives to encourage them to live. Therefore, those of us living in modern societies in which gaining money is basically our highest priority, the hope of a better job, a better house, even a better family overwhelm us to the point we begin to lose our humanity.
In a similar way, the Father and the Son's race towards safety against the "Bad Guys" symbolizes McCarthy's race towards success against money and the norms imposed by society to live for money. Unlike 99% of the world's population, McCarthy lived for his passion, and his race was to be successful, not through a mundane life and working an average job but actually focusing in his writing and doing what he could to live from it.
During the interview, Oprah asks the author his view on luck to which he replies that sometimes people are meant to be in certain places because of "the laws of probability that exist everywhere." Later, he explains how "without getting superstitious" there is always a luckiest man somewhere on the planet and they don't necessarily hold that title throughout their lives. He takes the example of the stock market and how "in the Barron's there's all these stock market gurus that won't be there next year" using the successful investors to represent the lucky strikes people may go through. I had a hard time trying to relate this part to the book but then I thought of the Father and Son and how, when everything seems to be going straight downhill, they manage to survive out of pure luck and will I suppose.
McCarthy's anecdote about his friend in Las Vegas who gambled and used to win everything until the day he stopped, led me to my final conclusion: humanity's gamble with its survival. So far, humans have been able to adapt and create prosthesis that have secured the continuation of life. Yet throughout our history, we've gambled with the environment and the resources available to us foolishly believing we would forever be on a lucky strike like McCarthy's friend.
Today we face the possibility of an environmental collapse, similar to McCarthy's prediction. After gambling with mother nature's health, we've fatally gambled our own.
I find McCarthy's point of view on how "things will work out" reflected on the Father's attitude. The father always finds a way to secure his son's life and his own at least for a little longer. Also, I've realized that if the father didn't have some sort of hope towards a better life and everything after the road, then there would be no point in undergoing such an arduous journey. This led me to conclude that one of McCarthy's underlying messages in his novel is how people need hope in their lives to encourage them to live. Therefore, those of us living in modern societies in which gaining money is basically our highest priority, the hope of a better job, a better house, even a better family overwhelm us to the point we begin to lose our humanity.
In a similar way, the Father and the Son's race towards safety against the "Bad Guys" symbolizes McCarthy's race towards success against money and the norms imposed by society to live for money. Unlike 99% of the world's population, McCarthy lived for his passion, and his race was to be successful, not through a mundane life and working an average job but actually focusing in his writing and doing what he could to live from it.
During the interview, Oprah asks the author his view on luck to which he replies that sometimes people are meant to be in certain places because of "the laws of probability that exist everywhere." Later, he explains how "without getting superstitious" there is always a luckiest man somewhere on the planet and they don't necessarily hold that title throughout their lives. He takes the example of the stock market and how "in the Barron's there's all these stock market gurus that won't be there next year" using the successful investors to represent the lucky strikes people may go through. I had a hard time trying to relate this part to the book but then I thought of the Father and Son and how, when everything seems to be going straight downhill, they manage to survive out of pure luck and will I suppose.
McCarthy's anecdote about his friend in Las Vegas who gambled and used to win everything until the day he stopped, led me to my final conclusion: humanity's gamble with its survival. So far, humans have been able to adapt and create prosthesis that have secured the continuation of life. Yet throughout our history, we've gambled with the environment and the resources available to us foolishly believing we would forever be on a lucky strike like McCarthy's friend.
Today we face the possibility of an environmental collapse, similar to McCarthy's prediction. After gambling with mother nature's health, we've fatally gambled our own.
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