Just a thought this morning, and one that comes up in my mind quite a bit: How much does the author know about what he presents in a story, what is planned, and what can still surprise him? What is offered to the reader and what does a reader pull out in deep digging that is his, and his alone?
With Faulknerian influence on this first novel of McCarthy’s, there is a difficulty in recognizing the three main characters of Uncle Ather, Sylder, and John Wesley. Often starting action without definite character appointment, it is up to the reader to recognize both who, and in what time period this event is occurring. The novel opens with an unnamed hitchhiker. Sylder is then introduced. We find the man Rattner, and then there is a boy. We’re never quite sure who’s the "he" that McCarthy begins a new thread with until we’ve gotten more acquainted and set back into time.
Is this feeling of becoming lost at times in the reading a plot technique? Does it gear us towards latching onto a character, learning him and his ways as he weaves his way through the countryside, in the hope that he knows his way around and will lead us on through the story?
One thing about the actors in McCarthy’s stories is that they are always on the move. Sometimes they know what they’re seeking, sometimes they don’t, but they always seem to know their environment. They understand it, even if they’re lost to both God and man.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology