Nov 24 2009
Ely and the man
Do you wish you would die?
No. But I might wish I had died. When you’re alive you’ve always got that ahead of you.
Or you might wish you’d never been born.
Well. Beggars can’t be choosers.
(The Road, 169)
—
The dialog between the old man who calls himself Ely and the man was potent and insightful.
The man asks Ely if he tried preparing for the thing that caused the destruction. The man responds, “People were always getting ready for tomorrow…Tomorrow wasn’t getting ready for them.” This tone veers from the traditional apocalypse towards the neo-apocalypse. The world takes no heed of its “inhabitants.” (168)
Ely’s thoughts on God confirm this: “There is no God…There is no God and we are his prophets.” The survivors of the apocalypse, in their rags and caked vomit, show the prophecy of their creator more than tell it. Man is made in God’s image, and in this world, God is at the end of the line and perhaps not even there at all. (170)
In a story within a story, Kurt Vonnegut writes that’s Hitler’s last words were “I never asked to be born.” Putting the choice of suicide (ceasing life) aside, “never asking to be born” is a concept that concerns the man, Ely, Dr. Manhattan, and perhaps every human being ever subject to judgment. (The concept is concerned less with Dr. Manhattan’s human birth, but his God birth – becoming something that can no longer relate to human life and the moral quandaries and judgments that follow.) Ely’s response to this objection is that “Beggars can’t be choosers,” as if the natural state of our souls is supplication, as if being alive fulfills our (what exactly does “our” mean here?) most basic necessities, which may be life affirming after all. (169)
I actually felt that the film ended on a bright note – a loving maternal figure, the son marching on, finally meeting other good guys etc.
Yes the father died, but he died with love on his lips – and he didn’t seem to bitter or sad. He seemed almost hopeful that his son would continue – or perhaps he just acted that way to give his son hope.
It really does seem that you are able to pull more than one kernel of life affirming hope from one of the most depressing stories ever. I did notice that Ely said that he “might” wish that he had died. I wonder if this is further evidence for “being alive” and the worth of a life regardless of external or surrounding circumstances.