McMarthy has made certain words that are repeated throughout the book; reasons could be that it was a constant reminder of the journey and atmosphere it must be for the man and his son. The idea of them travelling but the black and cold remains the same from the very beginning to the end could also bring curiosity if they travelled at all. His writing style can seem basic but affective to some people, as he repeats simple words such as “and”, “blanket” and “fire” yet they can bring a deep meaning to the readers mind.
In the first few pages, repetition of “dark” starts characters interact and known to the reader, it also sets out the imagery of the road by having “When he woke up in the woods in the dark”; commonly woods have images such as empty and negative feeling, with the repetition of “dark” made it seem even more negative making the reader curious as what kind of journey this book will have. The word dark alone is repeated 98 times throughout the whole book, this would echoes’ the ideas on being on the road as the man and boy are constantly moving however still seeing the same things and feeling the same “dark” oar around them.
Throughout the whole book “and” is repeated over 2,800 times, an average of 9 times on each page; this could imply that the journey of the man and the boy just continues, as long as the man is alive they both keep on going on the road. It is also repeated whenever they find goods that will help them to survive and continue their travels, with the repetition of “and” it could make it feel relieved and possibly happy the man and his son was to find the goods; when in such situation you tend to not speak properly and start to repeat yourself.
During the travels of the man and the boy, they often have small talk with each other; whether it is because the boy is very young and he does not know much, or is it just the horrible state of land around them that makes them not want to talk; “okay” is repeated almost 200 times. This could also show how long they have been on the road for, so long that they have ran out of things to talk about and stories to tell; which may echo in their minds about how long they have been travelling for.
“Fire” could be seen as the most important word and actions within this book, this brought warmth to the man and the boy; gave them heat to make their food and because of this, it would’ve made the man and boy feel better and cheer up from the whole disaster. “Fire” is repeated 130 times, mostly they were able to make the fire but there were times when they couldn’t or the fire had died out. Nonetheless “fire” would be something that kept them going and being on the road which repeats the thoughts of their state.
McMarthy also uses a large amount of concrete nouns, which some of them are repeated over 100 times; example of this would be “blanket”. This could been repeated constantly as there was always a need of security as they were travelling on the road, this would relate especially for to boy, the man can be seen as the boy’s “blanket” too as he is always protecting him just like a “blanket” covers you and protects you from the cold and bring heat instead. Each time they moved on further, they would need the sense of the “blanket” more; this could be symbolize each time they find more and new “blankets” there seems to be some sort of negative event that happens after it as well.
React!