McCarthy builds up tension by taking great care to create a detailed description of the ‘roadrat’, this indicates to the reader that something big is about to happen. He illustrates their slow advance towards where the man and boy where sheltering, and hides the other men’s intentions. As the roadrat unbuckles his belt, many scenarios are played before the reader as he could have seen the man and boy, and his aim could be to rape and kill them. McCarthy then diminishes this tension with the men continuing with their own business and having a relatively normal conversation.
Unlike the other characters involved within the novel, the roadrat is given a vast description almost to the extent that the reader could picture them. By stating that this ‘roadrat’ is someone who is so sickly looking that they are ‘like an animal inside a skull looking out the eyeholes’. This also conveys the idea of losing their human nature and becoming more animalistic as well as being an image of death.
There is a lot of speech in this episode unlike many others as it is the first human being to contact the man and boy since the beginning of the novel. McCarthy however does not indicate who is speaking at each moment allowing the reader to confuse characters. This could be intentional as it shows that everyone is alike from linguistics to actions. This roadrat is categorised as a ‘bad guy’ but the man is just as willing to kill him as the roadrat is the boy. This could be a reflection on all the remaining human beings being the same, as they lose their identities and values as they travel further down the road.
It is unclear up until page 68 that the man is being serious about shooting the roadrat, his fast reaction to the taking of the child comes a quite a shock as he doesn’t attempt to reason with the roadrat and instead shoots him in an choreographed and professional manner. This could suggest that the man has used a good against people before which could indicate a military type of institution. The incident itself appears to happen extremely fast, this is obvious as there are long sentences. It almost gives the feel of actual time for an event such as this.
Another excellent response, the merging of conversations is an great point and the fact (as you correctly state) that such time is devoted to his appearance makes the character stand out. You also infer a great deal about the man from his almost instinctive response to danger with the two handed shooting stance he adopts and the deadly accurate execution of the rat
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