- The theft of the man and boy's belongings (pp. 270-278)

This affected me because I actually felt sorry for the man who tried to steal their cart, as if I was starving and cold, and enough supplies for two people came along, I would steal them. McCarthy evoked this response by making the man plead for all his stuff back, and making sure that I, as a reader understand how desperate the old man was to have his clothes back. I think that they will see the man again in the novel and he will have lots of food and loads of supplies and then the man will ask for some but will be turned away. This is a change of mood as you can tell that the man was getting more and more stressed about life on the road, and being in contact with this old man and being able to hurt him like the way he hurt them could release some of his tension, in a weird way. This develops the man’s character as you find out that he is ridiculously stubborn and that he has some morals. This can make use think of the moral ‘Don’t treat others how you would not like to be treated’ and gives the novel and kind of meaning, not throughout the entire novel but just in this little scene. I don’t think that it is a key scene, as the story would be fine without it.  

- getting to the shore (pp. 227 - 230)

This impacted me because I started to feel like they would never get to the shore, and then all of a sudden they were there, but again, it was a disappointment, it was like they had been waiting for ages to get to the shore and when they got there, it was nothing like they imagined, so much so that the man had to apologise to the boy. I think that the boy will want to leave the beach because it’s upsetting him because it’s nothing like he imagined, and then they will carry on down the road. I think this changes the mood as it’s a lighter moment because their journey to the shore is finally over, but then it’s sad because they still have another journey to do. This shows that the boy and the man care for each other as the man apologises because it’s not making the boy happy, which is obviously what he wants. This is a key episode because they have finished their original journey, and are now about to start their new one. It stands out because it is a real release of tension.

 

- The baby on the spit (pp. 210-215)

This affected me because I sat here disgusted that someone would do that to a little boy, but then I realised the circumstances, and I thought that although this might seem strange for me, the man and the boy, none of us know how long the people that were going to eat him hadn’t eaten, it might have been their only choice. I think that the boy will keep talking about this and maybe the people that did it to the little boy may come back and do it to the son or try to. I think this dramatically drops the mood of the entire novel, although the man has killed someone, he would never kill a boy, even to save his son, he thought his son how to kill himself so he wouldn’t have to do it, and then they find a little boy, on a spit roast. It’s horrific. I think the language is a little more graphic in this scene as to properly describe the scenery to make the imagery for this scene even more real. This is a key episode because it shows how hard it is to live on the road, and how people are coping with living on the road.

- finding the cellar of naked and mutilated people (pp. 112-121)

This impacted me a lot because I felt sorry for the man, the boy and the people inside the house. This scene was a bit of a shocker as the rest of the story is very dull and boring and suddenly it becomes gory and interesting. McCarty used the technique to make all the sentences longer so the reader has to read it quicker, therefore building up the tension of the whole scene, this is to make the reader read it as they are on a timer and they only have so much time before they die. I think that they will be found by the people who own the house and get brought into the house with the other people, almost get killed but escape together at the end of the story, to roam the road forever. This is a release of tension, I have been waiting for an interesting moment for a while when I get to this point in the book and this fulfils my needs, it’s a very different approach to the rest of the book as its completely contradicting. The language is very descriptive in this scene, although he has written it so that you read is quickly, he hasn’t missed out on any information about the house or the people as he still wants to explain fully what is happening, so that he does not rush the scene. This is a key episode as the man tells the boy how to kill himself which is referenced later in the book, so without this scene it would not make sense, it makes the boy stronger as the man finally trusts him with the pistol even though its only got one bullet in it after the shooting of the road rat.

- coming across the man who has been struck by lightning (pp. 50-53)

This impacted me because I started to feel sorry for the boy, as he doesn’t really understand that he can’t help the man or he will die, even by the end of this scene he doesn’t feel 100 per cent sure that he couldn’t. I think the writer made this so that the man was especially harsh on the boy so that he got his point across, but also made us feel even more sympathy for the boy. I think that the boy will keep asking the man if he can go back to help him, or they will find the man that got struck by lightning further ahead in the novel. I don’t think this changed the mood of the novel as it was a pretty sad novel anyway. And this doesn’t change it, it is still pretty sad. I think the language stays the same, although he does use a lot more dialogue. This is a pretty important scene as it shows the softer side of the boy and the sternness of the man, and how much power over the boy he has.  

shooting the 'road rat' (pp. 62-69)

 This impacted me because it was the first time in the book where I was actually shocked at what happened, it was the first time there was a sort of climax in the book and it was the first time that I felt that if I stopped reading halfway through this scene, that I would actually want to read on. McCarthy did this section really well as he built up the tension slowly, as this was the first climax he could have ended it really quickly but he didn’t. I think that the people in the truck will have heard the road rat being killed and they find the man and the boy and something happens to them. This is a release of tension as something very interesting happened. This scene develops the character relationships as you can tell that the man definitely looks after the boy as he carries him off, also you can tell that the man is harder than you thought he was as he actually kills the man, even though before this, I didn’t think that he would.  I think that the language is in keeping with the rest of the novel, even though this is the first climax, he doesn’t make it extra special by using extreme language, he keeps is simple, so that the moment is not ruined by people not understanding the words. I don’t think this is a key episode, all it shows is how rough the man is and how tough the boy is, that he doesn’t cry or even move. It stands out because it is a pretty important climax as it’s very out of character.