Notes

Jack
‘Survival is a primary necessity’

The theme of survival is central to both the post-modern 21st century novel ‘The Road’ by Cormac McCarthy and 20th century American classical tragedy ‘All My Sons’ by Arthur Miller. However, the application of the theme differs in each text. ‘The Road’ contains the setting of a dystopian post-apocalyptic world where the world is described as a ‘cold glaucoma’ in which an unnamed man and boy are incessantly fighting to stay alive, however primitively they do so. On the other hand, in ‘All My Sons’, the characters such as Joe Keller attempt to ‘survive’ by means of self preservation within a competitive capitalist society in which Keller is successful. This drive for self sustainability is typical of the economic climate of the mid 1940s- a time of rapid economic growth in which Keller operates and capitalises on.

The characters in both texts each have a personalised definition of survival which impacts whether it is a primary necessity or not. For example, the man in ‘The Road’ believes that survival is the mere act of being alive and having his son alive. Despite the man admitting to the boy that ‘a lot of bad things have happened’, the man states ‘we’re survivors’. The term ‘survivor’ connotes strength and perseverance and despite the ‘barren, silent’ world the man and boy live in, they manage to continue a primitive means of living throughout the novel. In contrast, the wife in ‘The Road’ appears horrified by the man’s statement of them being survivors. Her disbelief is characterised by her demand of ‘what in God’s name are you talking about?’. The reference to God in this demand demonstrates the extent of the wife’s outrage. Furthermore, her counter statement of ‘we’re the walking dead in a horror film’ uses hyperbole and metaphor to express her opinion. The ‘walking dead’ is oxymoronic as the dead cannot walk, yet it is implied by the wife that their primitive living is nothing more than death where they can walk. This moment of conversation is represented through a flashback sequence, which McCarthy frequently interjects the continuous timeline of ‘The Road’. The effect of this flashback sequence is that McCarthy shows the reader that the man still reflects on the choices made in the past concerning his wife’s definition of survival. This ultimately shows that the wife’s definition of survival is more concerned with thriving rather than the basic level of survival that the man is glad to achieve.

Joe Keller in ‘All My Sons’ parallels the man in ‘The Road’ in his definition of survival. Keller defines survival through the maintenance of normality and having a solid income from his business. His constant avoidance of the truth demonstrates his strive for normality. He hypocritically states ‘there are certain men in this world who rather see everybody hung before they’ll take blame’. Miller uses this statement as a form of exposition because he uses the choice word ‘certain’ which subtly indicates that Keller is part of this category; which shows the lengths Keller goes to in order to keep a sense of normality which guarantees his survival. Furthermore, Keller highlights the parallel between the success of his business and his survival with his speech to Chris. He asks if he could ‘let them take forty years, let them take my life away?’. In this instance, Miller uses ‘life’ instead of ‘business’ which shows their synonimity in Keller’s view and this clarifies the link between the business and his survival. Chris Keller also realises his father’s view and confronts him with the question of ‘Is that as far as your mind can see, the business?’. This comment further shows that Keller synonymises his business with survival through the use of the metaphor that the ‘mind can see’. This metaphor suggests Keller’s synonymization is subconscious as he is incapable of seeing a greater picture than one where he survives from the success of his business.

The themes of practicality and pragmatism link to the theme of survival in both ‘The Road’ and ‘All My Sons’. In each text, there is a constant contrast between those who do what needs to be done in order to survive and those who jeopardize their survival for the benefit of others. ‘The Road’ consistently balances the pragmatic doings of the man with the moral and idealised wishes of the boy. For example, the boy wishes to help the man who has ‘been struck by lightning’ but the man says ‘there is nothing to be done for him’. McCarthy shows how injured the man is by describing him with the simile ‘he was as burntlooking as the country’ which is ‘scorched’ and ‘black’. Furthermore, the defeated nature of the man who ‘did not get up again’ is representative of the country which cannot rise again. Despite this the boy repeatedly asks ‘can’t we help him papa?’. McCarthy uses repetition to emphasise this line of questioning which reveals the boy’s benevolence and strong moral compass which he does not abandon in the novel. A second example of this is when the boy begs for the other little boy’s survival, stating he would ‘give him half my food’; which considering the lack of food is an extremely bold statement. During ‘The Road’, the man and boy often make reference to ‘carrying the fire’ which is a metaphor which signifies their morality and innate goodness. Furthermore, the interior fire is a biblical image (insert critical reading here) .The boy is ready to sacrifice his own resources and chances of survival for others because he gains comfort from knowing he has helped someone.

‘All My Sons’ explicitly features practicality and its contrast with survival. Chris’ character arc demonstrates this as he begins as a ‘man capable of immense affection and loyalty’ but the final act of the play has Chris ‘watch his star (of honesty) go out’. This metaphor resembles ‘the fire’ referred to in ‘The Road’. However, the boy never stops ‘carrying’ the fire which contrasts Chris’ loss of his idealised moral standpoint to become ‘practical’ like everybody else.






There is a contest between survival and suicide within both texts. This introduces the idea that survival is not a primary necessity for certain characters because they believe that suicide is the easier option. The primary example of this in ‘The Road’ is the wife’s decision to take her own life. She chooses this to avoid the belief that ‘they will rape us and kill us and eat us’. McCarthy uses a rising tricolonic polysyndetic list