This makes perfect sense. We are brought into this reality without consent and trapped in its circles, therefor: life is a prison, living and surviving is a prisoner's dilemma and the only escape is death. Becoming more aware of how your prison works won't make you happier, it will make you feel more trapped.
Interesting insight. :) In the book, Black actually was a legit prisoner at one time, but found an escape through faith. White feels like you say, that life itself is a prison and he wants out, by taking the train.
@@TH3F4LC0Nx They'll both end up the same though, does it really make a difference that White leaves 40-50 years earlier than Black? On a scale of things... not really.
Glad to hear you ranked this as one of McCarthy’s better works. Not many see it as a profound work at all. I remember reading the whole thing three times in one day. The dialogue just flows like one long sentence. I might disagree with your criticism that McCarthy could have done a bit more with it. The story is very simple, and he does more than most could have done with it. To have gone any further would have made the work less focused. Even the segment where they just talk about food goes back to how to deal with spiritual destitution. The work is a demonstration of creative restraint. As for the hbo adaptation, I thought it was pretty good. It’s what got me to pick up the book. Practically word for word exact. Only difference is some lines are cut out for time length, small lines. Might be Sam L Jackson’s best role, though I don’t really care much for most of his movies anyways. McCarthy talks a bit about the story in the dvd commentary. Pretty interesting. The one time he speaks more about what he meant then at any other time as I can recall, even though still he was quite sparse. Always surprises me how few people know about the dvd commentary, or maybe they just don’t care what McCarthy has to say about it since no one gets shot in the story. I would personally rank this work better than The Road, but then, I think The Orchard Keeper is better than NCFOM. But that’s another conversation.
Oh wow, that's really cool that this book affected you that deeply. :) I can definitely see how it might. As for my complaint about there being more that he could have done, I would say primarily I wanted to see a little more from White. Really he doesn't say nearly as much as Black throughout the work. He doesn't really dissect Black's arguments as intensively as I thought he could have, but then maybe that was a way of subtly demonstrating that deep down he actually wants to believe. I dunno; still a great work. :)
I've never actually read anything by Roth, although I have debated it. I'm aware that he was one of the most highly regarded novelists while alive, but I've kind of heard mixed things about his work as well. A lot of it looks kind of similar to me, but I don't guess I would be opposed to giving American Pastoral or Sabbath's Theater a try sometime. :)
Like I say, it's pretty atypical for theater, I think. I think the only reason he wrote it this way was because there wasn't really any need for physical action and description.
Why is it assumed that because a person is not a diehard evangelical christian, they must be an atheist.🙄 That's quite a stretch isn't it🤔 More realistically, it probably suggests that they simply don't share the same idea of what god is.
Well, as to the character in the book, I would say he's pretty clearly heavily atheistic. But in general you're right; just because one doesn't subscribe to the Christian faith certainly doesn't equal default atheism. There are probably a lot less true "don't believe in any sort of higher power" atheists out there than people think.
@@TH3F4LC0Nx Yes, I agree, and I would suspect that McCarthy himself didn't have a clear idea of what a "higher power" might be. I never heard him say it, but I don't think he would have been too terribly uncomfortable describing himself as an Agnostic.
This makes perfect sense. We are brought into this reality without consent and trapped in its circles, therefor: life is a prison, living and surviving is a prisoner's dilemma and the only escape is death. Becoming more aware of how your prison works won't make you happier, it will make you feel more trapped.
Interesting insight. :) In the book, Black actually was a legit prisoner at one time, but found an escape through faith. White feels like you say, that life itself is a prison and he wants out, by taking the train.
@@TH3F4LC0Nx They'll both end up the same though, does it really make a difference that White leaves 40-50 years earlier than Black? On a scale of things... not really.
"Increase in knowledge, decrease in contentment" 🎯
Seems to be the case, much of the time.
Glad to hear you ranked this as one of McCarthy’s better works. Not many see it as a profound work at all. I remember reading the whole thing three times in one day. The dialogue just flows like one long sentence. I might disagree with your criticism that McCarthy could have done a bit more with it. The story is very simple, and he does more than most could have done with it. To have gone any further would have made the work less focused. Even the segment where they just talk about food goes back to how to deal with spiritual destitution. The work is a demonstration of creative restraint.
As for the hbo adaptation, I thought it was pretty good. It’s what got me to pick up the book. Practically word for word exact. Only difference is some lines are cut out for time length, small lines. Might be Sam L Jackson’s best role, though I don’t really care much for most of his movies anyways. McCarthy talks a bit about the story in the dvd commentary. Pretty interesting. The one time he speaks more about what he meant then at any other time as I can recall, even though still he was quite sparse. Always surprises me how few people know about the dvd commentary, or maybe they just don’t care what McCarthy has to say about it since no one gets shot in the story.
I would personally rank this work better than The Road, but then, I think The Orchard Keeper is better than NCFOM. But that’s another conversation.
Oh wow, that's really cool that this book affected you that deeply. :) I can definitely see how it might. As for my complaint about there being more that he could have done, I would say primarily I wanted to see a little more from White. Really he doesn't say nearly as much as Black throughout the work. He doesn't really dissect Black's arguments as intensively as I thought he could have, but then maybe that was a way of subtly demonstrating that deep down he actually wants to believe. I dunno; still a great work. :)
Did you ever read American Pastoral by Philip Roth? I think this might be a novel that you could be interested in.
I've never actually read anything by Roth, although I have debated it. I'm aware that he was one of the most highly regarded novelists while alive, but I've kind of heard mixed things about his work as well. A lot of it looks kind of similar to me, but I don't guess I would be opposed to giving American Pastoral or Sabbath's Theater a try sometime. :)
Considering I don't like theater, this one might be for me haha
Like I say, it's pretty atypical for theater, I think. I think the only reason he wrote it this way was because there wasn't really any need for physical action and description.
Interesting.
Very much so! :)
Why is it assumed that because a person is not a diehard evangelical christian, they must be an atheist.🙄
That's quite a stretch isn't it🤔
More realistically, it probably suggests that they simply don't share the same idea of what god is.
Well, as to the character in the book, I would say he's pretty clearly heavily atheistic. But in general you're right; just because one doesn't subscribe to the Christian faith certainly doesn't equal default atheism. There are probably a lot less true "don't believe in any sort of higher power" atheists out there than people think.
@@TH3F4LC0Nx Yes, I agree, and I would suspect that McCarthy himself didn't have a clear idea of what a "higher power" might be. I never heard him say it, but I don't think he would have been too terribly uncomfortable describing himself as an Agnostic.