Lecture 10: “Okay”

English 165EWWinter 2013

11 February 2013

“Today, some people think that the light of the atom bomb will change the concept of painting once and for all. The eyes that actually saw the light melted out of sheer ecstasy. For one instant everybody was the same color. It made angels out of everybody. A truly Christian light, painful but forgiving.”

— Willem de Kooning, “What Abstract Art Means to Me” (1951)

Please turn to page 168 in your copy of The Road.

The repetition compulsion

● The word “okay” occurs 177 times in The Road, about 0.62 times per page, or about 3 times every five pages..

● Some of the primary ways in which the word is used:● To indicate agreement (or consent, enthusiastic or

grudging).● To evaluate a situation.● To signal understanding.● To provide reassurance.

● It is often the case that the word operates in more than one of these ways at the same time.

To indicate agreement or consent

Where are we going?We’re going south.Okay. (60)

Do you think I lie to you?No.But you think I might lie to you about dying.Yes.Okay. I might. But we’re not dying.Okay. (101)

He stopped. What happened to your flute?I threw it away.You threw it away?Yes.Okay.Okay. (159)

All right, he said. But then tomorrow we go on.The boy didn’t answer.That’s the best deal you’re going to get.Okay.Okay means okay. It doesnt mean we negotiate

another deal tomorrow.What’s negotiate?It means we talk about it some more and come up

with some other deal. There is no other deal. This is it.Okay.Okay. (165)

To evaluate a situation

But the roads are still there.Yes. For a while.How long a while?I dont know. Maybe quite a while. There’s nothing

to uproot them so they should be okay for a while. (43)

Dear people, thank you for all this food and stuff. We know that you saved it for yourself and if you were here we wouldnt eat it no matter how hungry we were and we’re sorry that you didnt get to eat it and we hope that you’re safe in heaven with God.

He looked up. Is that okay? He said.Yes. I think that’s okay. (146)

To signal understanding

Where’s the neighborhood?It just means I wont be far.Okay. (95)

They’re going to eat them, arent they?Yes.And we couldnt help them because then

they’d eat us too.Yes.And that’s why we couldn’t help them.Yes.Okay. (127)

Dont you want to see where I used to live?No.It’ll be okay. (25)

He woke whimpering in the night and the man held him. Shh, he said. Shh. It’s okay.

I had a bad dream.I know.Should I tell you what it was?If you want to. I had this penguin that you wound up and it would

waddle and flap its flippers. And we were in that house that we used to live in and it came around the corner but nobody had wound it up and it was really scary.

Okay. (36)

To provide reassurance

He staggered on another half mile or so and finally dropped to his knees and put the boy down in the ashes and leaves. He wiped the blood from his face and held him. It’s okay, he said. It’s okay. (67)

We’re going to be okay, arent we Papa?Yes. We are.And nothing bad is going to happen to us.That’s right.Because we’re carrying the fire.Yes. Because we’re carrying the fire. (83)

We could have done this with other words or short phrases in the novel.

● For instance, “I know” and “I dont know” construct areas of shared knowledge (and ignorance), and to signal alienation.

Where are you going with the truck.I dont know.What do you mean you dont know? Take the mask off. (63)

What are our long term goals? he said. […]Where did you hear that? […] You said it.When?A long time ago.What was the answer?I dont know.Well. I dont either. Come on. It’s getting dark. (160-161)

Growing up after the end of the world

He looked at the boy. These may be poison, he said. We’ll have to cook everything really well. Is that okay?

I dont know.What do you want to do?You have to say.We both have to say.Do you think they’re okay?I think if we cook them really good they’ll be all

right. […] What do you think? the man said.I think we’ve got no choice.I think you’re right. Let’s get some wood before it

gets dark. (207)

Maybe they’re dead.Then they wont mind if we take a few things. Look,

whatever is up there it’s better to know about it than not to know.

Why?Why. Well, because we dont like surprises. Surprises

are scary. And we dont like to be scared. And there could be things up there that we need. We have to take a look.

Okay.Okay? Just like that?Well. You’re not going to listen to me.I have been listening to you.Not very hard.There’s no one here. There has been no one here for

years. There are no tracks in the ash. Nothing disturbed. No furniture burned in the fireplace. There’s food here.

Tracks dont stay in the ash. You said so yourself. The wind blows them away. (210-11)

So how many people do you think are alive?In the world?In the world. Yes.I dont know. Let’s stop and rest.Okay.You’re wearing me out.Okay.They sat among their bundles.How long can we stay here, Papa?You asked me that.I know.We’ll see.That means not very long.Probably. (243)

He was just hungry, Papa. He’s going to die.He’s going to die anyway.He’s so scared, Papa.The man squatted and looked at him. I’m

scared, he said. Do you understand? I’m scared.The boy didnt answer. He just sat there with

his head bowed, sobbing.You’re not the one who has to worry about

everything.The boy said something but he couldnt

understand him. What? he said.He looked up, his wet and grimy face. Yes I

am, he said. I am the one. (259)

There could be people alive someplace else.Whereplace else?I dont know. Anywhere.You mean besides on earth?Yes.I dont think so. They couldnt live anyplace

else.Not even if they could get there?No.The boy looked away.What? The man said.He shook his head. I dont know what we’re

doing, he said. (244)

I’m sorry I yelled at you.He looked up. That’s okay, Papa.Let’s start over.Okay. (267)

Perhaps in the world’s destruction it would be possible at last to see how it was made. Oceans, mountains. The ponderous counterspectacle of things ceasing to be. The sweeping waste, hydroptic and coldly secular. The silence. (274)

Look, he said. You got two choices here. There was some discussion about whether to even come after you at all. You can stay here with your papa and die or you can go with me. If you stay you need to keep out of the road. I dont know how you made it this far. (283)

Once there were brook trout in the streams in the mountains. You could see them standing in the amber current where the white edges of their fins wimpled softly in the flow. They smelled of moss in your hand. Polished and muscular and torsional. On their backs were vermiculate patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming. Maps and mazes. Of a thing which could not be put back. Not be made right again. In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery. (286-87)