For the last couple of days I've had off, I decided to pick up Cormac McCarthy's book, The Road (which has been made into a movie with Viggo Mortensen, otherwise known as Aragorn to most). Since our discussion a couple weeks back, I remember someone mentioning Aragorn reminded them a bit of Cu Chulainn, which in turn made me think of the character of the Man in The Road as Cu Chulainn as well. The Man (as he is called by McCarthy) exhibits the same kind of traits that the hero of the Tain shows, although he's in a more post-apocalyptic world than Cu Chulainn ever was.
There is one thing in particular though that really got me thinking about the similarities of the two. The main theme is the idea of proctecting one's own (people or family). Cu Chulainn had the men of Ulster, who couldn't fight, and the Man had to protect his son from the evils of the world. Although the similarity really stands on a thread, the theme is what I think holds true. A True Hero (of any kind of mythology really) holds onto his honor by defending the weak and protecting his own.
Picture: Felt pretty Appropriate...
....
By the way, whoever said that they pronounced Cu Chulainn's name "Choo Choo Lane" really helped me out with spelling.
No comments:
Post a Comment