The Beginning

Nights beyond darkness and the days more gray than each one that had gone before.
Imagery, handling of the structure and chronological time are used to set the theme of the novel and that time is constant and never ending.
Eyes dead white and sightless as the eggs of spiders.
Imagery is used to describe the sites of what the man and child witness on their journey.
The month was October but he wasn't sure. He hadn't kept a calendar for years.
Chronological time shows that time is non existent and unrecorded as there is no change in atmosphere over long periods including months and years.
Dust and ash everywhere.
Imagery shows negative mood and suffocated atmosphere of being surrounded by dust.
Charred and limbless trunks of trees
Imagery suggests no life and negativity of black, greys and darkness.
The cold and silence. The ashes of the late world.
Imagery suggests apocalyptic world of no humans and no fragments of the previous world.
The city was mostly burned. No sign of life. Cars in the street caked with ash. Everything covered in dust and ash.
Imagery, negativity of the world and loneliness and isolation of the man and child.
Nights were long and dark and cold
Imagery, chronological time, no difference between day and night, no difference or record of time.  Sentence structure of ‘and’ emphasis long period of nothingness and dullness.
Walking in the cold dawn everything turned to ash instantly.
Imagery, negative and supernatural atmosphere with contrast between coldness and instant ash.

The repetition of the lines 'dust and ash everywhere' suggests the horrible atmosphere withing the novel and that the air is suffocating all around with no hope or guidance to escape. It also highlights that McCarthy has used this particular feature to really emphasis the air and atmosphere the characters within the novel live in and it makes the reader understand the darkness within this apocalyptic atmosphere.

The line 'cold and silence. The ashes of the lat world' suggest that on this Earth there is little life left due to the apocalyptic atmosphere. McCarthy uses the description of 'cold' and 'silence' to highlight the theme of death and unnatural occurrences which take place within the novel . this gives significance to the reader as they see the life on the road and that there are little remaining survivors due to this supernatural apocalyptic world and behavior of remaining humans.

The lines 'The month was October but he wasn't sure. He hadn't kept a calendar in years' suggests that in this atmosphere and land on Earth there is no set time as night and day are merged into one. On the surface this could suggest that due to the apocalyptic atmosphere and behavior time is lost however under the surface McCarthy does this to suggest the lack of civilization in this society and the unnatural behavior of other survivors which takes place within the novel.