“He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The crushing black vacuum of the universe. And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like ground-foxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it.”
Explore This Quote Further
Analysis of Quote from Cormac McCarthy
In this quote from Cormac McCarthy's novel, the protagonist is portrayed as experiencing a moment of intense existential despair and realization. The imagery used to describe the truth of the world - the relentless circling of the earth, the darkness, and the vastness of the universe - conveys a sense of insignificance and mortality. The mention of "borrowed time and borrowed world" suggests a fleeting and temporary nature of existence, emphasizing the transient and fragile nature of life. This quote captures the bleak and existential themes often present in McCarthy's works, highlighting the harsh realities of the world and human vulnerability.
Cormac McCarthy's Descriptive Prose
In this passage, Cormac McCarthy uses vivid imagery to paint a bleak picture of the world. The use of metaphors and descriptive language create a sense of emptiness and despair. McCarthy's writing style is often characterized by its starkness and raw emotive power.
Reflection Questions
In this powerful excerpt from Cormac McCarthy's novel, we are confronted with the bleak and nihilistic worldview of the protagonist. As you reflect on these words, consider the following questions:
- How does the imagery of the "cold relentless circling of the intestate earth" impact your perception of the world?
- What emotions arise when you think about the "darkness implacable" and the "crushing black vacuum of the universe"?
- How do you interpret the metaphor of the "two hunted animals trembling like ground-foxes in their cover" in relation to the human experience?
- What does it mean to exist in a world of "borrowed time and borrowed world"? How does this idea shape your understanding of life and mortality?
- How can we find meaning and purpose in a world that seems so indifferent and overwhelming?
Modern Relevance
In this quote from Cormac McCarthy's novel, the protagonist experiences a moment of stark realization about the harsh and unforgiving nature of the world. This sense of existential dread and insignificance can still resonate with modern audiences, who may grapple with similar feelings in the face of global challenges such as climate change, political unrest, and societal injustices. The quote serves as a reminder of the fragility of life and the ephemeral nature of our existence in a vast and indifferent universe.
Similar quotes
“Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it.”
“He got up and walked out to the road. The black shape of it running from dark to dark. Then the distant low rumble. Not thunder. You could feel it under your feet. A sound without cognate and so without description. Something imponderable shifting out there in the dark. The earth itself contracting with the cold. It did not come again. What time of year? What age the child? He walked out into the road and stood. The silence. The salitter drying from the earth. The mudstained shapes of flooded cities burned to the waterline. At a crossroads a ground set with dolmen stones where the spoken bones of oracles lay moldering. No sound but the wind. What will you say? A living man spoke these lines? He sharpened a quill with his small pen knife to scribe these things in sloe or lampblack? At some reckonable and entabled moment? He is coming to steal my eyes. To seal my mouth with dirt.”
“They rode out along the fenceline and across the open pastureland. The leather creaked in the morning cold. They pushed the horses into a lope. The lights fell away behind them. They rode out on the high prairie where they slowed the horses to a walk and the stars swarmed around them out of the blackness. They heard somewhere in that tenantless night a bell that tolled and ceased where no bell was and they rode out on the round dais of the earth which alone was dark and no light to it and which carried their figures and bore them up into the swarming stars so that they rode not under but among them and they rode at once jaunty and circumspect, like thieves newly loosed in that dark electric, like young thieves in a glowing orchard, loosely jacketed against the cold and ten thousand worlds for the choosing.”
“The fire had burned to coals and he lay looking up at the stars in their places and the hot belt of matter that ran the chord of the dark vault overhead and he put his hands on the ground at either side of him and pressed them against the earth and in that coldly burning canopy of black he slowly turned dead center to the world, all of it taut and trembling and moving enormous and alive under his hands.What's her name? said Rawlins in the darkness.Alejandra. Her name is Alejandra.”
“Dark of the invisible moon. The night now only slightly less black. By day the banished sun circles the earth like a grieving mother with a lamp.”
“They heard somewhere in that tenantless night a bell that tolled and ceased where no bell was and they rode out on the round dais of the earth which alone was dark and no light to it and which carried their figures and bore them up into the swarming stars so that they rode not under but among them and they rode at once jaunty and circumspect, like thieves newly loosed in that dark electric, like young thieves in a glowing orchard, loosely jacketed against the cold and ten thousand worlds for the choosing.”