“You have two bullets and then what?”Fallible Paternity in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road

  1. Villamarín Freire, Sara 1
  1. 1 Universidade da Coruña
    info

    Universidade da Coruña

    La Coruña, España

    ROR https://ror.org/01qckj285

Revista:
Complutense Journal of English Studies

ISSN: 2386-3935

Año de publicación: 2022

Número: 30

Páginas: 91-100

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.5209/CJES.82261 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Otras publicaciones en: Complutense Journal of English Studies

Resumen

This article seeks to critically examine the representation of the father-child bond in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road (2006) in order to elucidate the complex portrayal of fatherhood conjured in the text. In particular, I am interested in analyzing the evolution of the ethical stance taken by the father, as opposed to that of his son and his late wife. By commenting on character building, but also formal and stylistic choices such focalization, I aim to assess the potential of the text to narrate the collapse of the dominant fiction. I contend that The Road includes elements that can be read as challenging towards the father-patriarchy conflation, especially the fallible, embodied father. Still, despite its individualization of the paternal function, The Road fails to articulate a solid alternative to traditional fatherhood as it concludes with the re-creation of the Symbolic father.

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Fuente de los datos: Dialnet