The Light Bearers
Posted: Sun May 08, 2011 11:18 am
- "Are we still the good guys?"
- "Yes, We are"
Cormac McCarthy takes us by the hand into a journey to an apocalyptic world by the hand of a father and son who "run" into a sort of pilgrimage trying to carry the Light in a dark, hollow world which is now a complete chaos. It´s like a escape to the horror, searching for a "sea" of salvation that offers nothing but death in return. It´s like that same voyage that Mr Conrad once tooks us in his masterpieace "Heart of darkness" but this time is no a trip to Congo but across a more nearby place: our homeland
From the very beginning we feel that the world we know is no longer there. Everything is chaos, darkness and ashes. Humans, for no apparent reason, have destroyed the world we know. As Roger Waters once put it in one of his albums humans "amused themselves to death". Mc Carthy makes us witness of the worst side of human nature. How humans can obtain the greatest achievements and at the same time we may turn into the wildest species on earth. One of the most brutal examples is that scene when father and son come across that basement of horror where people are kept there as beef cattle.
It´s bravery what you need in order to survive in a world like this, and not everybody is fit for that challenge. "The wife" couldn´t take it any more, and makes a "quick" escape. But it´s the father the real bearer of the Light they try to bring to "the Road". He tries to preserve both his son´s life and innocence. He strains himself to such an extent that he finally has to pay a very expensive toll. He does everything within his reach to protect his "family". He kills and even goes beyond his strength in order to offer his offspring a better future. He really never gets to know, but he manages somehow in the end. Light moves to different bearers and a new ray of hope shines through this barren and obscure world where even now everything is possible, and HOPE, after all is what always keeps us alive.
- "Yes, We are"
Cormac McCarthy takes us by the hand into a journey to an apocalyptic world by the hand of a father and son who "run" into a sort of pilgrimage trying to carry the Light in a dark, hollow world which is now a complete chaos. It´s like a escape to the horror, searching for a "sea" of salvation that offers nothing but death in return. It´s like that same voyage that Mr Conrad once tooks us in his masterpieace "Heart of darkness" but this time is no a trip to Congo but across a more nearby place: our homeland
From the very beginning we feel that the world we know is no longer there. Everything is chaos, darkness and ashes. Humans, for no apparent reason, have destroyed the world we know. As Roger Waters once put it in one of his albums humans "amused themselves to death". Mc Carthy makes us witness of the worst side of human nature. How humans can obtain the greatest achievements and at the same time we may turn into the wildest species on earth. One of the most brutal examples is that scene when father and son come across that basement of horror where people are kept there as beef cattle.
It´s bravery what you need in order to survive in a world like this, and not everybody is fit for that challenge. "The wife" couldn´t take it any more, and makes a "quick" escape. But it´s the father the real bearer of the Light they try to bring to "the Road". He tries to preserve both his son´s life and innocence. He strains himself to such an extent that he finally has to pay a very expensive toll. He does everything within his reach to protect his "family". He kills and even goes beyond his strength in order to offer his offspring a better future. He really never gets to know, but he manages somehow in the end. Light moves to different bearers and a new ray of hope shines through this barren and obscure world where even now everything is possible, and HOPE, after all is what always keeps us alive.