Remember- The Road

“The dog that he remembers followed us for two days. I tried to coax it to come but it would not. I made a noose of wire to catch it. There were three cartridges in the pistol. None to spare. She walked away down the road. The boy looked after her and then he looked at me and then he looked at the dog and began to cry and to beg for the dog's life and I promised I would not hurt the dog. A trellis of a dog with the hide stretched over it. The next day it was gone. This is the dog he remembers. He doesnt remember any little boys.” (McCarthy,87)

The paragraph caught my attention for two main reasons. One, it is written in first person, while the novel in general is in third person.This shifting in the narration automatically reaches the readers attention. McCarthy uses this technique to describe a personal, life reflecting experience. This is my second reason to write about this paragraph, the message behind the text. In life, sometimes the smallest things are the ones that impact you the most. For example, in literature, the most important things aren't always the most interesting. In this case, the dog had an impact on the father (assuming e is the one speaking). “The dog that he remembers” follows them down the road. The father talks about how he tried to coach him and take care of him, but that the dog was gone by the next day, and “he doesn't remember any little boys” (McCarthy, 87). As I see it, this passage talks about loss. When you're living you are remembered and you are able to remember, just like the son remembers the dog. But when you die, you are limited to only be remembered, like the dog when he leaves. We cannot hope to be remembered forever, specially in a situation similar to what the father and son are in. We have to be satisfied with just living the moment, regardless of what our memories will keep.