Lit Crit Paper

Shannon Hurst
Longish Paper
Critical Issues in Literary Studies
Dr. Parrish
12/09/07

It is interesting, to say the least, to take on multiple literary critical theories while reading Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Some seem to have to do more with the text and how the book was written, while others are more useful when read in regard to the meaning behind the text. In actuality, it is possible to read this novel from the viewpoints of every critic the class has read this semester, but in the essence of time, we will focus on a few: particularly, semi-New Criticism view of Kenneth Burke, the Deconstructionalist view of Jacques Derrida, the Post-Modern view of Linda Hutcheon, and the hard-to-define Susan Sontag.
Because of his concern for symbols, language, and imagery, Kenneth Burke has begrudgingly been termed a "New Critic" - that is, in the school of New Criticism. Contrary to their beliefs though, Burke believed there was no room for "pure literature", but that literature was a work of art. He also believed that a poem was a "verbal creation", or a "dance of attitudes". Taking this viewpoint and applying it to The Road, it is possible to imagine that Burke might believe McCarthy went against traditional standards in grammar for a deeper meaning; Burke believed, after all, that "everything is relevant". The lack of conventional punctuation found throughout McCarthy's novel seems to mimic the conditions of the story. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where everything has been destroyed for an unknown reason, the attitudes of all characters involved are all very similar: nervous, afraid, and anxious. McCarthy could be making the statement that the story is too important to bother with conventions; in a world such as this, the character's certainly wouldn't bother with doing things correctly. People, according to Burke, write literature to achieve some sort of personal goal, and it appears McCarthy's goal is for the reader to see past the grammar and pay attention to the devastating story.
Similarly, Deridda believes that speech is greater than writing, because voice is a direct manifestation of thought. Because of the way The Road is written, it reads almost like we are inside the mind of the father, or being directly spoken to by a narrator who is relaying every move of the father and son. Since thoughts are considered more important than speech, and speech more important than writing to Deridda, it seems he might have approved of this style of writing which favors thoughts and speech above convention. This is similar to the Burke argument in that they seem to agree that this style of writing works best for how the novel was meant to be read: with a meaning deeper than the text.