2022 IB Diploma Extended Essays

Conclusion Both books approach the use of ‘Grotesque’ in embracing the sense of small-town hopelessness, across the spectrum of human behavior. Readers are positioned to reflect on not only the bleak characterizations made in each book, but also the scathingly harsh reality behind each human endeavor that appears. Throughout the course of each book, the readers are positioned to acknowledge and eventually understand, the basic qualities of what makes humans, human. Ultimately, each book approaches the multifaceted complexion of the nature of sin and its undeniable relation to human behaviour. Throughout the exploration of moral deprivation, the readers are positioned to observe the story either externally or from within the eyes of the character – in experiencing the unsettling dynamics of the ‘Grotesque’. Both Corman McCarthy and Donald Ray Pollock strive to embrace not only the twisted realms of the ‘Grotesque’, but also the raw and unfeigned side to the genre – in allowing the reader to recognize the sophistication and complexity that human nature is comprised of.

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