"Dark of the invisible moon"-(page 32) Time expands.
"And then one evening he stopped and looked all about..."- (page 33) Time expands.
"Where he stood once with his own father in a winter long ago"-(page 34) References to a time before (flashbacks).
"It's getting colder every day"-(page 42) Time expanding.
"The tree had been there for years"-(page 45). More abstract reference to time.
Passage of the days:
"In the evening" pg 92
"In the morning" pg 93
"He woke in the morning" pg 95
"In the afternoon" pg 98
"When day broke" pg 103
"Within the hour" pg 110
Markers in the year:
"It could be November" pg 93
Telescoped time:
"In the evening... tomorrow... dark of night" pg 92 - all in one paragraph
Before (flash backs):
"He'd had this feeling before" pg 93
Suspended time:
"The snow fell nor did it cease to fall" pg 101
Other:
"It takes a long time" pg 106
"We probably don't have much time" pg 109
‘it was almost light enough to see’ – 123
‘The boy wouldn’t wake for hours’ – p124
‘He wondered if it was even midnight’ – 133‘He was gone longer than he’d meant to be’ – gives an indication of time flying p130
Expanded narrative time‘Lingering odour of cows... and he realized they were extinct’ – p127
‘nothing in his memory anywhere of anything so good’ – p130
Abstract references‘He would have ample time later to think about that’ – shows there are no deadlines/rushing p113
'In the night he was wakened by the muted patter of rain' (Page 162) - Passage of time
'They spent the day eating and sleeping' (Page 164) - Telescoping through time
'Impossible to tell what time of the day he was looking at' (Page 164) - Abstract reference to time
'The day was brief, hardly a day at all' (Page 164) - Telescoping through time.‘When did you eat last?’ ‘I don’t know.’ ‘You don’t remember.’
This shows the reader that there is no reason for people on the road to remember when they have eaten as they have no reason to plan meals. We only plan meals today because our day follows a set routine and we eat to keep up with this. On the road however, day and night have almost become one due to the ash and dust that falls, blocking out the sun. They have no concept of time and no reason for it so all they can really distinguish between is day and night so it is easy to imagine how a person could lose track of the days as they are all the same; as long as they are alive, they have no reason to remember when or what they eat.
‘How long have you been on the road?’ ‘I’ve always been on the road.’
Once again, in this section, McCarthy uses the dialogue between two characters to make the reader question the necessity of time; the fact that the man can’t actually remember how long he has been on the road for suggests that time is insignificant. The way that the man says he has always been on the road would suggest that time is standing still for these people. McCarthy handles time simply by putting a halt to it to show that it is just another thing on the road which is dying.
‘People were always getting ready for tomorrow. I didn’t believe in that. Tomorrow wasnt getting ready for them.’
This quote is suggesting that for all the care we take over time, it doesn’t care about us. It is telling the reader that all the worry we have over keeping to a schedule is ridiculous because time is a made up thing and isn’t going to alter itself to suit us. All the people who worried and invested plans in the future, ironically, weren’t actually as prepared for the next day as they could have been where as those who take each day as it comes are surviving still as they had no expectations and don’t need time to rule their lives.
‘You said it would last a few weeks’ ‘I know.’ ‘But it’s just been a few days.’
This back up the previous quote in suggesting that time is speeding up and things are going a lot quicker than the man and the boy expected them to.
Page 233: 'With dark they built a fire.' Shows the turning of day to night.
Page 219-224: Several pages devoted to a short time, less than half an hour. Every little detail is told.
Page 228-229: Time goes very fast, one second they are at the abandoned house and in the next paragraph they are standing in a supermarket. Then it skips to 'Long days' and we cannot tell whether is has been days or weeks or months.
Page 234: Flashback, 'he remembered walking once on such a night...' he is comparing his old beach memories to his experiences on the beach now. He is remembering a better time. This is significant because flashbacks occur throughout the novel as a running theme.
Time- Pages 260-280
1) "He fixed dinner" could suggest evening time p. 261
2) "He loaded the flarepistol and as soon as it was dark" p.262
4) "He held him all night" p.265
7) "The boy slept all day" p.267
10) "When he woke again" "Grey daylight" p.268
13) " ...stood there in the cold and gathering dark" p. 278
"The wintery dawn was coming" p. 266- This suggests that the months are later in the year. We depend on hints like the weather and how McCarthy describes the sceneary to establish/ estimate what time of the year it is.
"In three days they came to a small port town"- This passage of time has no mention of what may have happened within those three days,which creates confusion as the reader wonders why this passage of time has gone quicker than others as McCarthy often describes the days/nights events.
"In two days' time they were walking the beach as far as the headland and back"- Again time has passed quickly as we do not get any description of what has happened within those two days.
The shooting of the Road Rat and the stealing of their possessions is an example of Narrative time expanding. This is too build up the tension of what The man will do to him. Also the narrative time could be expanded to show the true character of The man, and how The boy reacts to his fathers actions. The event goes for seven pages. McCarthy may have done this to show the raw emotions of the boy and how his fathers action have shaped and changed his view of him.
Points at which time seems to be suspended...
When The boy and The man are looking for their stolen cart, time seems to be suspended "They went on. It was already late in the day and it was another hour into the long dusk" the words "Another" and "long" create a sense of time going slowly. This creates tension as the reader wonders if they will find their cart as time seems to be running out for them before it starts to get dark. McCarthy suspends time here to build up tension, "They went on." makes it seem like they have been searching of their cart for a long time. This suspends time because we as the readers want them to get their belongings back, but it appears to be taking a while to find the thief so we start to doubt id they will find it.
When the boy becomes ill, time seems susupended. ""You have to stay near, he said. You have to be quick. So you can be with him. Hold him close. Last day of the earth" Time appears to be suspended becasue the we can sense that the man is worried for the boy, and it seems like he is getting worse so time has slowed down and is hanging on to this tense moment. The mans speech also creates suspended time as it appears like he is trying to prepare himself for the worst, which creates more tension.
