The more stringent measures do seem to be having the required effect, with people staying at home, and observing 'social distancing' when out in public, and even the panic-buying seems to have subsided, or at least the supermarket shelves are staying full for longer than they were. We're so used to supermarkets always being able to give us an enormous amount of choice as to what we buy and eat, that when that is no longer the case, it feels hugely disconcerting.
One day last week, after returning from several shops that had been stripped of toilet paper, long-life foods and cleaning products, I saw a homeless person shuffling along, pushing their possessions in an old trolley, and was suddenly reminded of Cormac McCarthy's 2006 novel The Road. It felt like the end of times. I had to put some happy music on when I got home, to remind myself that it isn't.
If you haven't read The Road, now probably isn't the best time. It's astonishing writing, certainly, but goodness me, it's bleak. "Emotionally shattering", "terrifying and beautiful", "a work of such terrible beauty that you will struggle to look away", said the critics. I don't know if the 2009 film adaptation starring Viggo Mortensen packs the same punch; I couldn't quite bring myself to watch it. The blurb on the back of the book describes the story thus:
"A father and his young son walk alone through burned America, heading slowly for the coast. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape sace the ash on the wind. They have nothing but a pistol to defend themselves against the men who stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food - and each other."We never discover the name of either father or son, exactly where they are going, or what and when the apocalyptic event was that caused such destruction. But walking through a land where crops no longer grow, and animals appear to have been wiped out too, the pair's scavenged food is almost entirely of the tinned variety. So, when I re-read the book a while back, I made a list of all the tinned food references - and there are a fair few of them. Page numbers refer to the 2010 Picador edition (there are no chapters, this being contemporary literature and all):
p.16 - "In an old batboard smokehouse they found a ham gambreled up in a high corner...They fried it that night over their fire, thick slices of it, and put the slices to simmer with a tin of beans."
p.29 - "They squatted in the road and ate cold rice and cold beans that they'd cooked days ago. Already beginning to ferment."
p.41 - "he sliced a handful of the mushrooms on a log for their dinner and scooped them into the frying pan along with the fat pork from a can of beans and set them in the coals to simmer...They ate the little mushrooms together with the beans and drank tea and had tinned pears for their dessert."
p.49 - "they ate the last of the morels and a can of spinach."
p.72 - "They ate a can of white beans, passing it between them, and he threw the empty tin into the woods."
p.76 - There were five small tins of food and he chose a can of sausages and one of corn and he opened these with the little army can opener and set them at the edge of the fire and they sat watching the labels char and curl. When the corn began to steam he took the cans from the fire with the pliers and they sat bent over them with their spoons, eating slowly."
p.79 - "he sat up and got the fire going and he set a can of beets in the embers."
p. 80 - "That night they camped in a ravine and built a fire against a small stone bluff and ate their last tin of food. He'd put it by because it was the boy's favourite, pork and beans. They watched it bubble slowly in the coals and he retrieved the tin with the pliers and they ate in silence. He rinsed the empty tin with water and gave it to the child to drink and that was that."
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| Viggo Mortensen finds some tins |
p.147 - "Chile, corn, stew, soup, spaghetti sauce. The richness of a vanished world. Why is this here? the boy said. Is it real? Oh yes. It's real. He pulled one of the boxes down and clawed it open and held up a can of peaches. It's here because someone thought it might be needed."
p.148 - "There were knives and plastic utensils and silverware and kitchen tools in a plastic box. A can opener." [phew!]
p.149 - "he opened the carton of pears and took out a can and set it on the table and clamped the lid with the can opener and began to turn the wheel. He looked at the boy...These will be the best pears you ever tasted, he said. The best. Just you wait...They sat side by side and ate the can of pears. Then they ate a can of peaches. They licked the spoons and tipped the bowls and drank the rich sweet syrup."
p.153 - "He brought the frying pan from the stove and forked a piece of browned ham onto the boy's plate and scooped scrambled eggs from the other pan and ladled out spoonfuls of baked beans and poured coffee into their cups."
p.165 - "The cart was too heavy to push into the wet woods and they nooned in the middle of the road and fixed hot tea and ate the last of the canned ham with crackers and with mustard and applesauce."
p.173 - "He untied the tarp and folded it back and rummaged through the canned goods and came up with a tin of fruit cocktail and took the can opener from his pocket and opened the tin and folded back the lid...The boy took the tin and handed it to the old man. Take it, he whispered. Here."
p.174 - "The old man looked down at the tin. He took a fresh grip and lifted it, his nose wrinkling. His long and yellowed claws scrabbled at the metal. Then he tipped it and drank. The juice ran down his filthy beard. He lowered the can, chewing with difficulty."
p.184 - "In the morning they stood in the road and argued about what to give the old man. In the end he didn't get much. Some cans of vegetables and of fruit...The old man fitted the tins into his knapsack and fastened the straps."
p.187 - "They ate a cold supper of cornbread and beans and franks from a tin."
p.204 - "They sat in the road and ate leftover skilletbread hard as biscuit and their last can of tunafish, He opened a can of prunes and they passed it between them. The boy held the tin up and drained the last of the juice and then sat with the tin in his lap and passed his finger around the inside of it and put his finger in his mouth. Don't cut your finger, the man said. You always say that. I know. He watched him lick the lid of the tin. With great care. Like a cat licking its reflection in a glass."
p.208 - "he went down to the cart and got the map and the bottle of water and a can of fruit from their small stores and he came back and sat in the blankets and studied the map."
p.240 - "He went through to the forward cabins. Past the galley. Flour and coffee in the floor and canned goods half crushed and rusting."
p.245 - "The cans in the galley floor did not look in any way salvageable and even in the locker there were some that were badly rusted and some that wore an ominous bulbed look. They'd all been stripped of their labels and the contents written on the metal in black marker pen in Spanish. Not all of which he knew. He sorted through them, shaking them, squeezing them in his hand. He stacked them on the counter above the small galley refrigerator...He found a can of olive oil and some cans of milk.
p.246 - "Lastly he made a bindle in a plastic tarp of some cans of juice and cans of fruit and of vegetables"
p.254 - "He got a can of peaches from the bag and opened it and sat before the fire and ate the peaches slowly with his spoon while the boy slept...He set the empty tin between his feet."
p.266 - "In the evening he opened a can of soup and set it in the coals and he ate and watched the darkness come up."
p.270 - "He checked all the foodtins but he could find nothing suspect. He threw out a few that looked pretty rusty. They sat that evening by the fire and the boy drank hot soup"
p.278 - "He sorted out cans for their supper and warmed them over the gas burner and they ate and the boy said nothing."
p.280 - "He went through the cans again one by one, holding them in his hand and squeezing them like a man checking for ripeness at a fruitstand. He sorted the two he thought were questionable and packed the cart and they set out upon the road again."
p.294 - "They packed their blankets and the tarp and what was left of the canned goods and set out again with their knapsacks and their bags leaving the cart behind."
p.296 - "They had for food a single tin of peaches but he made the boy eat it and he would not take any. I can't, he said. It's all right."
Oh, and they also find a can of Coca Cola on page 22. But that is of no relevance to this blog.
So, there you have it. All the tins in The Road. You're welcome. Maybe this will become a regular feature on the blog: Tins in Great Literature. Or Great Tins in Literature. I'll feel like I'm putting my degree to good use, at least. Will try to choose something a bit more cheery next time, though.
Anyway, if you're feeling a little glum over the coming weeks, maybe leave The Road on your book pile for another time. But do try a tin of pears. Like the ones on page 149, they might be the best pears you've ever tasted.
Keep safe and well!
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