Group Meeting #3

Juan Byun

Why does the father put in fake bullets in the gun?
The father got branches and crafted a fake bullet
He did this because they were almost out of ammunition, with only one bullet left
In cases of emergency when people were threatening them, the father could bluff by
holding out the revolver making it look like there was ammo in the gun

There is no God and we are his prophets. (170)
There is a connection between this and the ashes, it shows how humanity is ruined and
almost gone
Everything is gone but the ashes
Since there is no God and we are his prophets - this ties to nihilism
Nihilism is the belief of nothing - By being Gods prophets, we are nothing and were
meant to be nothing because there was no God in the first place
Humanity was meant to go extinct at some point in time, and that time is now

People were always getting ready for tomorrow. I didnt believe in that. Tomorrow wasnt
getting ready for them. It didnt even know they were there. (168).
McCarthy satirizing the behavior of people before the apocalypse and how they would
not cherish the moments they were in, but look forward to another day
This is hypocritical because humans are constantly worrying about the future, even
during the apocalypse, thinking if they would live to see another day

When your dreams are of some world that never was or of some world that never will be and
you are happy again then you will have given up. Do you understand? And you cant give up. I
wont let you. (189).
When achieving your goals, you are happy and you never want to make more goals
because you want to cherish that happiness
The father is telling his son not to give up, which basically is telling him not to be happy
because he wont let him be happy
Ties back to how the son doesnt care about survival and wants to die so he could be
with his mom
Being happy is a bad thing -- Paradoxical

He turned and looked at the boy. Maybe he understood for the first time that to the boy he was
himself an alien. A being from a planet that no longer existed. (153).
The father is an alien to the boy because of their different mindsets
There are multiple times when there are people in need and the father doesnt want to
help them because they themselves are in critical condition
The little boy always wants to help those people because he is naive and
innocent and does not understand the conditions they are in
The age difference between the two is transparent Maturity vs. Innocence
Father prioritizes survival = him being realistic
Son cares for other people, constantly looking back at the road
This is because the sons priority is not survival, but his first priorities are unclear
at this point
We can see that the son really wants to help others because when he sees the
little boy (real or imaginary- unclear) he constantly thinks about him and begs his
father to search for the boy and help
Father constantly saying no distances the relationship between the two