AP Literature

Hallee Ivey

11/7/2017

AP Prompt 1982: In great literature, no scene of violence exists for its own sake. Choose a

work of literary merit that confronts the reader or audience with a scene or scenes of violence. In

a well-organized essay, explain how the scene or scenes contribute to the meaning of the

complete work. Avoid plot summary.

In Cormac McCarthys novel, The Road, the author highlights the extremes of living in a

post apocalyptic era. He includes scenes of cannibalism and murder all in an effort to draw

attention towards the monstrosities the man and boy encounter in the moral less society in which

they are attempting to survive.

Whilst reading this book, you encounter very few characters but each one has an impact

on the boy and man, positively or negatively. Towards the beginning of the book, the man and

boy are sleeping when they see a large diesel truck coming down the road. They flee their car but

one of the men goes to relieve himself and discovers them. After a short conversation and the

guy from the truck threatens the boys safety, the man shoots him and they run before the others

can catch them. This altercation shows the mans disparity and willingness to do anything in

order to ensure both his and his sons survival.

In his book, McCarthy highlights the disparity of the remaining few by including multiple

scenes of cannibalism. In one particular scene, the man and boy discover what appears to be an

abandoned house. When they go to look for food in the cellar, they instead find multiple people

missing limbs, being used as food for a family of cannibals. This graphic and traumatic scene
displays the disparity many people encountered and their willingness to lose all sense of morality

in exchange for survival.

As you can see, in McCarthys The Road, he uses these violent scenes to bring a sense of

hope but also a sense of disparity to the pages. By including these graphic altercations between

the characters, he emphasises the lack of morals and togetherness within their society, while also

establishing that just because the rest of the world has lost hope, the man and boy will continue

to carry the fire in hopes of a better, non murderistic future.