HWK Episode 4 - The baby on the spit pp.210-215

9th November

4) The Baby on the Spit (pp.210-215)

How the episode impacted on you?
This episode personally made me feel sick, as this episode shows how desperate and low humanity can go in the search for something to eat. The lack of description of the baby as a human, and the more description as an object makes the description more disturbing for the reader. The only character to show any emotion to the sight of the baby is the boy, who is also the character created for a Christian Allegory to symbolise the hope of the planet. The man does not react to this sight which shows he must have seen similar scenes before.

Plot Progression (What will happen next?)
At the risk of sounding repetitive, (which suits the novel very well I must add) this still does not show us how this story may end; but what were are able to say is that the boy is the boy is becoming more aware of the situation he is in and the perils he may face.

Your Experience?
This section in my opinion, brings the tension back up as it shows how the danger and peril is increasing as more and more people are getting so desperate they are resulting to cannibalism. We can also say that as the victims of the apocalypse are getting younger, we could say that the innocence and hope of the boy is starting to fade away.

Is the language in keeping with the rest of the novel?
In keeping with the novel, the language is still simplistic and no changes in the speech of the two characters.

Is this in fact a key episode? What makes it important?
I believe that this episode in particular is a key episode as now it shows that the human race has become so desperate, they have lost all morals all together when the cannibalism has not only became prevelant scene in the book, the cannibalism of babies and young children is brought in. With the death of the baby, we can say that hope and the innocence of humanity has finally gone.