Poetry Essay #3

Show how McCarthy's techniques convey the impact of the experience on the main character.

                            Dramatic experiences must be felt, and relived by a reader. McCarthy does just this is his novel The Crossing, retelling the chilling story of a man trying to put to rest the life of a wolf in the wild. He brings the author to the scene with vivid imagery, relives the action play-by-play, and takes the reader with him. The struggle with death can also be seen allegorically through the smoldering fire, and the nature that encompasses him. Through his action-to-thought structure, symbolic imagery, and his third person writing style, McCarthy conveys the main character's psychological struggle, and their connection to nature that they gain through the experience.

                             This insert in the essay is structured so that the reader goes through the actions in the main character's eyes without pause, then hear his inner thoughts. This form serves a two pronged purpose. The first half of the insert allows the reader to tell real time, through indirect characterization, how the main character was impacted by the experience first hand. His very careful and delicate proceedings with the wolf show his care of the animal. In doing this, you get a raw feel of the emotional connection that the main character has with the wolf. The second half of the insert has to deal with the inner workings of the character's thoughts. His self reflection on nature shares how he feels part of it, and how even a vicious creature is an integral part of the world how we know it, as are we.

                        The author uses very powerful, symbolic imagery throughout to help tell the story. A smoldering fire helped represent the struggle to stay alive. A wolf running through fresh morning grass before the rise of the sun showed the fresh and innocent view on life. Blood running from the wolf showed its life was whisked away from it. This was able to share the character's inner thoughts without explicitly saying the feelings that they had. It allowed for a more free flowing, action oriented text, with still conveying the significant impact the experience had on the main character.

                       In writing in third person, the author is able to gain a third person perspective on the character. By doing this he was able to share the characters perceptive in a different manner. He allowed the character's actions to speak for themselves, and for his inner thoughts to paint a picture fore the reader. By objectively peering into his inner imagery and thoughts, a general view on how the character changes through the experience can be made.