46 pages • 1 hour read
Cormac McCarthyA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The novel takes on this theme from multiple perspectives. For one thing, the novel explores the intersection between math and physics. There is much discussion of the theory of relativity and how there is a general symmetry to existence. There is also much discussion of discrete mathematics. For example, Bobby Western points out that “A point devoid of physical being leaves you with location. And a location without reference to some other location cant be expressed” (148). In other words, one thing needs another to exist. Bobby continues, saying, “There is no such thing as information in and of itself independent of the apparatus necessary to its perception” (148). In this case, there is no objective reality that exists without someone observing it. The narrator says, “There were no starry skies prior to the first sentient and ocular being to behold them. Before that all was blackness and silence” (149). This idea asserts that we cannot assume that the sky, the stars, or the moon always existed. Whatever happened before the initial observation cannot be verified. Therefore, reality begins with the observer and not the thing being observed.
The nature of reality affects the human condition.
By Cormac McCarthy
All The Pretty Horses
All The Pretty Horses
Cormac McCarthy
Blood Meridian
Blood Meridian
Cormac McCarthy
Child of God
Child of God
Cormac McCarthy
Cities of the Plain
Cities of the Plain
Cormac McCarthy
No Country for Old Men
No Country for Old Men
Cormac McCarthy
Outer Dark
Outer Dark
Cormac McCarthy
Stella Maris
Stella Maris
Cormac McCarthy
Suttree
Suttree
Cormac McCarthy
The Crossing
The Crossing
Cormac McCarthy
The Orchard Keeper
The Orchard Keeper
Cormac McCarthy
The Road
The Road
Cormac McCarthy