At the end of the novel , The Road, I found it sad that the father died, however, I am quite happy the boy found other good guys, or people who carry the fire. The imagery at the end of The Road led me to believe that maybe, just maybe, things will work out for the best. The death was of the father was a metaphor for new beginnings in a foreign land, far away from the place the journey began. I found it nice that at the end of the novel, the author gave us hope for the child.
When reading, at first I thought the boy was really sick but later I began to think it was not real. I was wondering if anyone else thought that the man had dreamed up the boy's sickness. I believe he imagined it because when the man asks the boy if he remembers anything about being sick the boy replies no. I can connect with this because sometimes I wake up from a dream that seemed so real at the time. Overall I did not really enjoy the book because to me it seemed a little boring with only two characters and from time to time another character. I also did not find the long dialogues useful because it was hard to tell who was talking.
I thought this book reminded me of a movie. It reminded me of I am Legend because the characters thought they were the only good guys. Then towards the end they find someone who is good and one of the main characters dies just like in the movie when Will Smith's character dies.
The Road is an amazing novel! The relationship between the father and the son is so heart warming and relateable! Throughout these last pages there was foreshadowing that something bad would happen to the father. Here are some great quotes that I found to prove my statement. " That good luck may be no such thing. There were few nights lying in the dark that he did not envy the dead"(230). The father wishes he were dead because of all the pain and worries he has to deal with each day." He thought about life but there was no life to think about" (237). Looking around there is nothing there but the road and pure grayness. No one knows where their life is headed, no one even knows if they will live to see tomorrow. " Every day is a lie, he said. But you are dying. That is not a lie" (238). This is a meaningful sentence because by saying everyday is a lie he is saying that there is useless hope. He views life as each day you are getting closer to your death instead of viewing it as every day you are getting closer to your goals and safety.
A fifthly man took their belongings so the father and son traced his footsteps. They found him and the father pointed the pistol to his face and striped him of his clothes. They got back their belongings but the boy was crying. The father says we did not kill him but the boy says yes we did, we just left him there to die. As they continued walking the road someone shot a gun at them. The father ducked and protected the boy by putting him underneath his body. The father was wounded in the leg. He found a first aid kit and stitched it up himself. It was frigthening to read this but I loved how the father put his sons life before himself, now that is a true family.
" Here they camped and when he lay down he knew that he could go no further and that this was the place where he would die" (277). The father died and I was crying so hard when I read this because the situation is so real and relatable. They are the only two characters of the book and I felt as though we got to be apart of their bond, we heard their conversations, and we could feel how much they truely loved each other. The boy then runs into a man,a good guy who has a little boy, and he decides to go with them. But first he says goodbye to his father one last time. I think this was the hardest part for me to read; I could not control my tears. The boy holds his father in his arms and cries hysterically. He says that he will talk to him every day and he will never forget! I believe that one of the reasons this is so hard for me to read is because I just found out that my Great Aunt has cancer and the doctor told her that she has only one week to live. Today I am going over to her house to say goodbye.
After the boy came back the woman held him in her arms and told him that his father is in God's breath. Everyday the boy talked to his father. He never forgot.
The Road is simply one of my favorite novels. It compels the reader to feel real human emotion in a not so normal human setting, that being the post apocalyptic world McCarthy paints to vividly for us. The father dying was terribly sad and yet McCarthy could have easily ended the book their and left us wondering if the child survives. Instead he delivers a man, a good man we find out to save the boy. I thought it hope giving when the boy asks the man if there are any other children and he replies yes, that he in fact has a little girl and a little boy, not much older than himself. But at this point any age doesn't seperate the fact that finally after all his hardship he has found the good guys and will live to see a new tomorrow, and a better today.
I, for one did not think that this was a great book; it was good, but not great. But I will get to that later. I would like to start with the scene in which the man takes his stuff back from the thief and leaves him to die. At first, I thought he had become just like everyone else. He was no different from the “bad guys” that killed people and took their belongings. Now I realize that there were no “bad guys”, everyone was just doing what they had to do to survive. The one thing that bothered me more than anything at the end of this book was that nothing happened. McCarthy wrote a novel that, I must admit, was hard to stop reading, about nothing. Think about it, what happened? They walked around, ate some food, saw some people, found some stuff, the dad died, the boy finds other people, the end. Not only did this make me really angry, but I was also very impressed. I did have one question when I finished reading the novel. Were the people that the boy found at the end of the book, following them the whole time? I thought the boy that the man (not the dad the other guy. <- I hate McCarthy) was talking about was the same boy that the boy (once again I hate McCarthy) saw earlier in the story. If this is true, why did they decide to come right after the dad died? Why not when he first got hurt? Or when the boy was sick? I HATE McCARTHY
The Road is and absolute epic novel that conveys the tender relationship between a father and a son. Every time I read this book, it reminds me of the Pursuit of Happiness and I am legend as Scott has said. The Pursuit of Happiness, because similar to The road both stories portray the journey of a young and boy and his father. I am Legend, because as the boy in The Road, he found the “good guys” like the woman and boy in I am Legend. In addition, both being the main character, the father dies just like Will Smith’s character in I am Legend.
In the beginning of the novel the father believed there was hope, unlike the ending. He knew he was going to die eventually, he just didn’t believe it at first. The first line I noticed that father was foreshadowing his death was, “That good luck might be no such thing. There were few nights lying in the dark that he did not envy the dead.” (230) The father then starts doubting hope in him living, “The slow surf crawled and seethed in the dark and he thought about his life but there was no life to think about and after a while he walked back.” (237) But the father does have hope for his son; he does have faith in his son finding the “good guys.”
The boy has matured drastically through this courageous journey with his father. The father and son are ransacked by a filthy old man. The father tracks down this man and leaves him nothing, not even the clothes on his back. The boy thought his father was going to shoot him, but he didn’t. The father then says to his son that he wasn’t going to shoot him, but what the boy realized was to leave the old man with completely nothing was just the same as to kill him.
McCarthy illustrates the relationship between the boy and the son so vividly. For example, The Road’s realistic sense of human nature makes you relieved that the father and son discover an enormous amount of food, scared when the father and son’s lives were threatened by a couple of men, suffer through the son’s grieving of when his father died, and lastly content with the fact that the boy found the “good guys,” as father has hoped for. In conclusion, this narrative of survival in a world of devastation is fascinating, frightening, and filled with compassion. Overall, I personally enjoyed the novel. Except for some parts were confusing, because of McCarthy’s writing style.
The boys maturity shows much more in these later chapters. It foreshadows that he will be on his own soon, that his father will be leaving him. He even guesses and gives hints to the reader that he is aware of his fathers sickness. Despite knowing the end is near, the father still cares for his son and looks out for him. He cares for his own son's health more than his own, giving him more food and tending to him while he is ill, yet ignoring his own ailment. This only further enforces the father's kindness and love. The author does this to show that the father looks after the boy in all conditions. The idea may be further expressed by the father's promise: he will continue to talk to the boy, even in death. At this point in the novel, I believe the father is starting to have more hope. Not for him, but for his son. He senses his boys maturity and knows that he will be alright on his own if he uses what he has learned. I believe the author does this to show that he is at peace with himself, despite these difficult times. I believe the father learned to accept the world for what it was on his deathbed, and learned to hope for the best. As he put it, "carrying the fire". When the boy and father found their things gone, I was horrified. I thought it would be the end. But when they found their things I was relieved.. until the father threatened the man. The father's actions showed that he was losing it, he was about to crack. He was losing himself and losing touch of reality. It foreshadowed that the end was near for the father. On the other hand, the boys actions stated the opposite. The boy had hope, love, and forgiveness. He didn't want to end the mans life or take his things. Even after the man stole their blankets and food, the boy forgave him and wanted to give him some food. The boy realized that he was hungry and scared. He sympathized with the man. I believe the author does this to emphasize the boy's emotional stability and show the man's instability, foreshadowing the man's death and the boy's survival. The ending confused me. Specifically, the paragraph in relation to the trout. What was the point? What message was the author trying to send?
The ending of the novel pulled lots of questions from my mind. The book was exhilarating to the very end and I highly enjoyed this book. This taught me a lot about human and life. There were three quotes that made me think a lot. Every day is a lie, he said. But you are dying. that is not a lie.(238) What’s the bravest thing you ever did? He spat into the road bloody phlegm. Getting up this morning, he said. (272) I wasn’t going to kill him, he said.... the boy said: we did kill him. (260)
An important part of the story was the arrival of the thief. The thief showed a side of the father in a different way. The author put him the thief in to show the father that he can be considered bad and do evil things. This was a change in the father’s character. This thief symbolized a change in the father, which the son noticed of the need to survive. I don’t quite understand what the boy meant when he said I am the only one, which was when the father asked that the son is not the only person who has to worry. Does it mean that the son is thinking about things and maturing more? It also probably means that the father is blind with rage that he does not see the error of what he was doing.
The father death was also an important even in the story. The father protected the son to the very end. The father was the guardian of the son but in the end the father saw the son as the fire, which would bring hope to the destroyed world. On page 280, I did not understand the conversation between two people. I thought the father was asleep and they are talking about another boy. Is the son just talking about himself in third person? What I am confused about is the old man that came at the end. Was there a group following them for a while? If they did why was there no help. Why did they come at the very end and only help the boy?
The dreams throughout the whole story were a vital part of it. The son and father would have many dreams. It was of depressing nature and only showed death as an answer. The boy was talking about how his father stories weren’t true because they talked about happy endings while the son’s dreams are about real life, which was destruction.
I loved this book and was sad that it ended with this. It had a good plot in general and was very diverse in it too. There were many conflicts and changes to the characters. It was shown that the character went through a change but not very dramatic. The stress of survival in a useless world was an interesting story that showed many evils of human and a love of a father and son that can never be broken. The father-son relationship was touching till the very end when the boy cries for his father and promises to always talk to him. This scene and how the father protected the son when he was dying both touched me. The story was told by his style of writing. This book affects me because of the stuff that my family is going through. We are slowly suffering and this book brings a little light of hope in our struggle. God was mentioned in this book and the son represent as the embodiment of God. He was like a Puritan that we read about in the beginning of the semester and how he never gave up hope, which represents as the fire. Overall, I am thrilled with the book.
I was very disappointed that the faja died. I was happy that the boy found other people at the end of the story. I thought it was epic when the father shot the archer with the flare gun. I didn't approve of when the father took the bandits clothes. He didn't have to stoop down the bandits level. My favorite part of the book was the last paragraph. Overall I really enjoyed reading the book.
The Road was one of the best novels I have ever read in an English class period. Cormac McCarthy helps his readers feel the emotions of being right there with the son and father. A special bond is formed and it is truly unbreakable. They go through several hardships but with each other they were able to overcome every obstacle that cam their way. The father died and that broke my heart. However I think that the boy was ready to survive on his own until the good guys came along and he went with them and left his father behind. He felt bad but he told his father that nothing would ever change. Nothing did ever change in fact they stayed close and talked to each other every day until father passed away. The boy has become a strong and brave young man due to his several hardships and taking on the role of becoming a father to his own father. He has kept his head up high in situations that he did not even think him or his dad would survive but they both did and the boy is stronger than ever. In our society today people are always dwelling on the negative and not focusing on what they do have. Life is not something that you should take for granted because it was a precious gift that was given to you for free. This novel shows what we should be like. We should be thankful and appreciate what we have before it is too late. The boy always had hope and courage that everything would be okay in the end and in our lives today it should be no different. I have learned to appreciate everything I have and to love and spend as much time with my family when my cousin Victoria died two years ago. Her death was not normal it was traumatizing and horrific. I can remember like it was yesterday when I got that phone call at 5am with devastating news. However to this day her killer is on the lose. After this had occurred I knew that there was nothing I could have done but to appreciate everything I have and enjoy every second I have with my family. Cormack ‘s novel I think was to teach us a lesson about life and how the littlest things could mean so much.
Ahh, the end. A great ending to a great book. I found the ending very comfortable. I knew that it wouldn't end with the two finding a civilization and living happily ever after. Because of not knowing exactly what would happen the last 40 or so pages were filled with suspense starting with the thief. And then with an arrow going into the man's leg. I would like to talk about the boy at the end. I found him to be very mature with the situations he had to deal with. When his father died he was very sad but he knew that he had to move on. And then when he was talking to the man who wanted to take him, I was very intrigued with the questions that he was asking. The boy in the beginning of the book would just ask if he had food and shelter, but the instead the boy asked questions like if he had a family and a son. I was very surprised by this question because it might not seem like an important question, but it actually is because it says a lot about the man. The man does say that he has a boy and a girl so that must be somewhat of a good man if he is taking care of his children. I think this is the main reason the boy went with the man because he was a father and he reminded him of his own father. I think that McCarthy ended this book perfectly because we get some relief that the boy isn't alone but has a new kind of family now. However, now I really want to know what will happen to him now and watch him grow up more. I have a feeling that there won't be a sequel to this though.
I so knew that the man was going to die. Even though I really didn't want it to happen I knew that it would. I will admit that I cried at the end when the father is telling the son how he has to continue on with out him and how he has to keep carrying the fire. I could really see the boy just breaking down next to his father as he is slowly dying.
Fitting in with the theme through out the entire book, hope, the ending gave where the boy meets with another family gives us the satisfaction that the boy will continue on the road and survive. Over all, I enjoyed this book a lot!
Wow, such an amazing book. Bravo McCarthy, who knew you could turn such a simple idea of a father and his son and turn it into such a beautiful novel.
He really stepped up the writing in this last segment. The final conversation between the boy and his father was heart wrenching. I think the man was speaking metaphorically about the other boy they met ear lies as a reference to his son. His last words were when the boy was asking him as to what would happen to the other boy if he is lost "Goodness will find the little boy. It always has. It will again." I think that this was the man's final way of telling his son that he will be safe and that fate will bring good fortune to him like it has previously in the book. It’s his last reassurance that everything will be fine, since the man has been telling him that throughout the whole book. I think this is when the man realizes that the boy has grown up enough to care for himself and carry on alone on his own path on the road.
I think the major turning point in this section was when the man and boy encounter the thief. The man had been very merciful and kind to others on the road that meant no harm (often to the boy's persuading) but the man discards those previous actions and leaves the thief naked and left for dead. I think that this is where the man realizes he's lost the light and realizes that he can't keep on going. I think here he accepts that the end is near and that he can't always be there for the boy and be his moral compass. That or the man has stopped listening to the boy's own morality compass all together.
I'm glad that the boy found a new family of "good guys" to live with. I think the boy leaving the road is symbolic because he's leaving the path he started with his father and moves on to start a new journey with the family .The fact that there is a girl in the group may give some hints that there will be a relationship between the two and give a slight hope as to the future of humanity.
I like the creative metaphor in the very last paragraph of the book, the one concerning the trout. I think it was a metaphor for the world and how beautiful and intricate it can be, but once it's ruined, that beauty can never be restored or "made right" again.
As this book ends, I do have some questions. The man the boy meets on the road says that he's surprised the boy and his father survived this long on the road. Is he saying that it's easier to live off the road and off in the country somewhere? And how long have the man and his family been fallowing the boy and his father? And if they have been tracking them for awhile, why did they wait until the father died to approach them? Plus there are still some details left uncertain about how the world ended up in its current state. I personally would have loved to hear a little more detail on the early life of the boy and man when the mother was still alive.
But minor things left unsaid are small peas when it comes down to how well this novel was crafted. I hope McCarthy continues this novel in the future.
First I would like to say that this was a great book. I had a good time reading it. The ending was very sad, however. When the boy got sick, I thought he would die, but when he got better as the father got worse, the realization of the father's upcoming death became clear.
I thought it was not right of the father to take everything the bandit had. The boy was right, he said he didn't kill him, but he probably did die from the cold. In their world, you do what you can do survive, and the bandit did what he had to do. I'm glad they got their belongings back, but the father went too far.
My favorite part of this last section was when the father shot the flare gun through the window and it hit the man with the bow. It was pretty awesome. Looking back on the father's actions, it's hard to tell what he might have done in life. He had a lot of general knowledge and skill in many fields. I wish McCarthy would have given us more information on the past, such as what happened to their first bullet. Although, it is pretty obvious that it was used in defense when the boy was younger.
The final pages were very saddening. When the father sees his death bed, you can't help but get a tear in your eye. I thought it was interesting how the boy finally found good guys when he needed them most. I wonder if the man's son was the boy he saw in that village. I'm sure it was, because before the father dies he has a little dialogue with the boy about the little boy. I wish we could have seen more into the boy's life.
The last paragraph intrigued me. At first I didn't understand how it was relevant, until I read it a second time. In my opinion, McCarthy was trying to say that the Earth is very complex and almost fragile. We need to be careful how we treat it, because one day we may do something terrible to the world, something that cannot be taken back. Overall, this was a very interesting and fantastic novel. I wonder if the movie will live up to the intensity of the novel.
I'm quite shocked by the ending of the book. I would have never guessed the father would die. That must have really sucked traveling for that long and being scared out of your mind and just end up dying in the end. On the bright side the boy is still alive and has a great opportunity to start over with a new loving family. The boy grew up a lot in the book. I must say that i did not like the book in the beginning but now I can say I actually kind of enjoyed it.
I kinda figured the dad would die. He was coughing up blood a lot. He was getting weaker all the time. It was obvious he wanted to do everything he could to protect his son and teach him all he could on survival. I think he tried to prepare the boy for his death without just telling him straightforward that he felt he would die and the boy would be alone. He didn't want to scare his son. All the time they were together, they developed a strong bond. It was kinda sad when the dad died. But it was pure luck that there was the man and then the woman waiting for him and brought him into their family. I think when the man told the boy he had a boy and girl the same age, I think that was an indicator that life could continue. The boy and girl could have kids one day and the population would grow again. That's what I got out of mentioning the fact that he had two kids, one a girl. It brought up the idea that instead of them all dying or being eaten, that the population would continue and the world would start over again one day.
18 comments:
At the end of the novel , The Road, I found it sad that the father died, however, I am quite happy the boy found other good guys, or people who carry the fire. The imagery at the end of The Road led me to believe that maybe, just maybe, things will work out for the best. The death was of the father was a metaphor for new beginnings in a foreign land, far away from the place the journey began. I found it nice that at the end of the novel, the author gave us hope for the child.
When reading, at first I thought the boy was really sick but later I began to think it was not real. I was wondering if anyone else thought that the man had dreamed up the boy's sickness. I believe he imagined it because when the man asks the boy if he remembers anything about being sick the boy replies no. I can connect with this because sometimes I wake up from a dream that seemed so real at the time.
Overall I did not really enjoy the book because to me it seemed a little boring with only two characters and from time to time another character. I also did not find the long dialogues useful because it was hard to tell who was talking.
I thought this book reminded me of a movie. It reminded me of I am Legend because the characters thought they were the only good guys. Then towards the end they find someone who is good and one of the main characters dies just like in the movie when Will Smith's character dies.
The Road is an amazing novel! The relationship between the father and the son is so heart warming and relateable! Throughout these last pages there was foreshadowing that something bad would happen to the father. Here are some great quotes that I found to prove my statement. " That good luck may be no such thing. There were few nights lying in the dark that he did not envy the dead"(230). The father wishes he were dead because of all the pain and worries he has to deal with each day." He thought about life but there was no life to think about" (237). Looking around there is nothing there but the road and pure grayness. No one knows where their life is headed, no one even knows if they will live to see tomorrow. " Every day is a lie, he said. But you are dying. That is not a lie" (238). This is a meaningful sentence because by saying everyday is a lie he is saying that there is useless hope. He views life as each day you are getting closer to your death instead of viewing it as every day you are getting closer to your goals and safety.
A fifthly man took their belongings so the father and son traced his footsteps. They found him and the father pointed the pistol to his face and striped him of his clothes. They got back their belongings but the boy was crying. The father says we did not kill him but the boy says yes we did, we just left him there to die. As they continued walking the road someone shot a gun at them. The father ducked and protected the boy by putting him underneath his body. The father was wounded in the leg. He found a first aid kit and stitched it up himself. It was frigthening to read this but I loved how the father put his sons life before himself, now that is a true family.
" Here they camped and when he lay down he knew that he could go no further and that this was the place where he would die" (277). The father died and I was crying so hard when I read this because the situation is so real and relatable. They are the only two characters of the book and I felt as though we got to be apart of their bond, we heard their conversations, and we could feel how much they truely loved each other. The boy then runs into a man,a good guy who has a little boy, and he decides to go with them. But first he says goodbye to his father one last time. I think this was the hardest part for me to read; I could not control my tears. The boy holds his father in his arms and cries hysterically. He says that he will talk to him every day and he will never forget! I believe that one of the reasons this is so hard for me to read is because I just found out that my Great Aunt has cancer and the doctor told her that she has only one week to live. Today I am going over to her house to say goodbye.
After the boy came back the woman held him in her arms and told him that his father is in God's breath. Everyday the boy talked to his father. He never forgot.
The Road is simply one of my favorite novels. It compels the reader to feel real human emotion in a not so normal human setting, that being the post apocalyptic world McCarthy paints to vividly for us. The father dying was terribly sad and yet McCarthy could have easily ended the book their and left us wondering if the child survives. Instead he delivers a man, a good man we find out to save the boy. I thought it hope giving when the boy asks the man if there are any other children and he replies yes, that he in fact has a little girl and a little boy, not much older than himself. But at this point any age doesn't seperate the fact that finally after all his hardship he has found the good guys and will live to see a new tomorrow, and a better today.
I, for one did not think that this was a great book; it was good, but not great. But I will get to that later.
I would like to start with the scene in which the man takes his stuff back from the thief and leaves him to die. At first, I thought he had become just like everyone else. He was no different from the “bad guys” that killed people and took their belongings. Now I realize that there were no “bad guys”, everyone was just doing what they had to do to survive.
The one thing that bothered me more than anything at the end of this book was that nothing happened. McCarthy wrote a novel that, I must admit, was hard to stop reading, about nothing. Think about it, what happened? They walked around, ate some food, saw some people, found some stuff, the dad died, the boy finds other people, the end. Not only did this make me really angry, but I was also very impressed.
I did have one question when I finished reading the novel. Were the people that the boy found at the end of the book, following them the whole time? I thought the boy that the man (not the dad the other guy. <- I hate McCarthy) was talking about was the same boy that the boy (once again I hate McCarthy) saw earlier in the story. If this is true, why did they decide to come right after the dad died? Why not when he first got hurt? Or when the boy was sick? I HATE McCARTHY
The Road is and absolute epic novel that conveys the tender relationship between a father and a son. Every time I read this book, it reminds me of the Pursuit of Happiness and I am legend as Scott has said. The Pursuit of Happiness, because similar to The road both stories portray the journey of a young and boy and his father. I am Legend, because as the boy in The Road, he found the “good guys” like the woman and boy in I am Legend. In addition, both being the main character, the father dies just like Will Smith’s character in I am Legend.
In the beginning of the novel the father believed there was hope, unlike the ending. He knew he was going to die eventually, he just didn’t believe it at first. The first line I noticed that father was foreshadowing his death was, “That good luck might be no such thing. There were few nights lying in the dark that he did not envy the dead.” (230)
The father then starts doubting hope in him living, “The slow surf crawled and seethed in the dark and he thought about his life but there was no life to think about and after a while he walked back.” (237) But the father does have hope for his son; he does have faith in his son finding the “good guys.”
The boy has matured drastically through this courageous journey with his father. The father and son are ransacked by a filthy old man. The father tracks down this man and leaves him nothing, not even the clothes on his back. The boy thought his father was going to shoot him, but he didn’t. The father then says to his son that he wasn’t going to shoot him, but what the boy realized was to leave the old man with completely nothing was just the same as to kill him.
McCarthy illustrates the relationship between the boy and the son so vividly. For example, The Road’s realistic sense of human nature makes you relieved that the father and son discover an enormous amount of food, scared when the father and son’s lives were threatened by a couple of men, suffer through the son’s grieving of when his father died, and lastly content with the fact that the boy found the “good guys,” as father has hoped for. In conclusion, this narrative of survival in a world of devastation is fascinating, frightening, and filled with compassion. Overall, I personally enjoyed the novel. Except for some parts were confusing, because of McCarthy’s writing style.
The boys maturity shows much more in these later chapters. It foreshadows that he will be on his own soon, that his father will be leaving him. He even guesses and gives hints to the reader that he is aware of his fathers sickness.
Despite knowing the end is near, the father still cares for his son and looks out for him. He cares for his own son's health more than his own, giving him more food and tending to him while he is ill, yet ignoring his own ailment. This only further enforces the father's kindness and love. The author does this to show that the father looks after the boy in all conditions. The idea may be further expressed by the father's promise: he will continue to talk to the boy, even in death.
At this point in the novel, I believe the father is starting to have more hope. Not for him, but for his son. He senses his boys maturity and knows that he will be alright on his own if he uses what he has learned. I believe the author does this to show that he is at peace with himself, despite these difficult times. I believe the father learned to accept the world for what it was on his deathbed, and learned to hope for the best. As he put it, "carrying the fire".
When the boy and father found their things gone, I was horrified. I thought it would be the end. But when they found their things I was relieved.. until the father threatened the man. The father's actions showed that he was losing it, he was about to crack. He was losing himself and losing touch of reality. It foreshadowed that the end was near for the father.
On the other hand, the boys actions stated the opposite. The boy had hope, love, and forgiveness. He didn't want to end the mans life or take his things. Even after the man stole their blankets and food, the boy forgave him and wanted to give him some food. The boy realized that he was hungry and scared. He sympathized with the man. I believe the author does this to emphasize the boy's emotional stability and show the man's instability, foreshadowing the man's death and the boy's survival.
The ending confused me. Specifically, the paragraph in relation to the trout. What was the point? What message was the author trying to send?
The ending of the novel pulled lots of questions from my mind. The book was exhilarating to the very end and I highly enjoyed this book. This taught me a lot about human and life. There were three quotes that made me think a lot. Every day is a lie, he said. But you are dying. that is not a lie.(238) What’s the bravest thing you ever did? He spat into the road bloody phlegm. Getting up this morning, he said. (272) I wasn’t going to kill him, he said.... the boy said: we did kill him. (260)
An important part of the story was the arrival of the thief. The thief showed a side of the father in a different way. The author put him the thief in to show the father that he can be considered bad and do evil things. This was a change in the father’s character. This thief symbolized a change in the father, which the son noticed of the need to survive. I don’t quite understand what the boy meant when he said I am the only one, which was when the father asked that the son is not the only person who has to worry. Does it mean that the son is thinking about things and maturing more? It also probably means that the father is blind with rage that he does not see the error of what he was doing.
The father death was also an important even in the story. The father protected the son to the very end. The father was the guardian of the son but in the end the father saw the son as the fire, which would bring hope to the destroyed world. On page 280, I did not understand the conversation between two people. I thought the father was asleep and they are talking about another boy. Is the son just talking about himself in third person? What I am confused about is the old man that came at the end. Was there a group following them for a while? If they did why was there no help. Why did they come at the very end and only help the boy?
The dreams throughout the whole story were a vital part of it. The son and father would have many dreams. It was of depressing nature and only showed death as an answer. The boy was talking about how his father stories weren’t true because they talked about happy endings while the son’s dreams are about real life, which was destruction.
I loved this book and was sad that it ended with this. It had a good plot in general and was very diverse in it too. There were many conflicts and changes to the characters. It was shown that the character went through a change but not very dramatic. The stress of survival in a useless world was an interesting story that showed many evils of human and a love of a father and son that can never be broken. The father-son relationship was touching till the very end when the boy cries for his father and promises to always talk to him. This scene and how the father protected the son when he was dying both touched me. The story was told by his style of writing. This book affects me because of the stuff that my family is going through. We are slowly suffering and this book brings a little light of hope in our struggle. God was mentioned in this book and the son represent as the embodiment of God. He was like a Puritan that we read about in the beginning of the semester and how he never gave up hope, which represents as the fire. Overall, I am thrilled with the book.
I was very disappointed that the faja died. I was happy that the boy found other people at the end of the story. I thought it was epic when the father shot the archer with the flare gun. I didn't approve of when the father took the bandits clothes. He didn't have to stoop down the bandits level. My favorite part of the book was the last paragraph. Overall I really enjoyed reading the book.
The Road was one of the best novels I have ever read in an English class period. Cormac McCarthy helps his readers feel the emotions of being right there with the son and father. A special bond is formed and it is truly unbreakable. They go through several hardships but with each other they were able to overcome every obstacle that cam their way. The father died and that broke my heart. However I think that the boy was ready to survive on his own until the good guys came along and he went with them and left his father behind. He felt bad but he told his father that nothing would ever change. Nothing did ever change in fact they stayed close and talked to each other every day until father passed away. The boy has become a strong and brave young man due to his several hardships and taking on the role of becoming a father to his own father. He has kept his head up high in situations that he did not even think him or his dad would survive but they both did and the boy is stronger than ever. In our society today people are always dwelling on the negative and not focusing on what they do have. Life is not something that you should take for granted because it was a precious gift that was given to you for free. This novel shows what we should be like. We should be thankful and appreciate what we have before it is too late. The boy always had hope and courage that everything would be okay in the end and in our lives today it should be no different. I have learned to appreciate everything I have and to love and spend as much time with my family when my cousin Victoria died two years ago. Her death was not normal it was traumatizing and horrific. I can remember like it was yesterday when I got that phone call at 5am with devastating news. However to this day her killer is on the lose. After this had occurred I knew that there was nothing I could have done but to appreciate everything I have and enjoy every second I have with my family. Cormack ‘s novel I think was to teach us a lesson about life and how the littlest things could mean so much.
Ahh, the end. A great ending to a great book. I found the ending very comfortable. I knew that it wouldn't end with the two finding a civilization and living happily ever after. Because of not knowing exactly what would happen the last 40 or so pages were filled with suspense starting with the thief. And then with an arrow going into the man's leg. I would like to talk about the boy at the end. I found him to be very mature with the situations he had to deal with. When his father died he was very sad but he knew that he had to move on. And then when he was talking to the man who wanted to take him, I was very intrigued with the questions that he was asking. The boy in the beginning of the book would just ask if he had food and shelter, but the instead the boy asked questions like if he had a family and a son. I was very surprised by this question because it might not seem like an important question, but it actually is because it says a lot about the man. The man does say that he has a boy and a girl so that must be somewhat of a good man if he is taking care of his children. I think this is the main reason the boy went with the man because he was a father and he reminded him of his own father. I think that McCarthy ended this book perfectly because we get some relief that the boy isn't alone but has a new kind of family now. However, now I really want to know what will happen to him now and watch him grow up more. I have a feeling that there won't be a sequel to this though.
I so knew that the man was going to die. Even though I really didn't want it to happen I knew that it would. I will admit that I cried at the end when the father is telling the son how he has to continue on with out him and how he has to keep carrying the fire. I could really see the boy just breaking down next to his father as he is slowly dying.
Fitting in with the theme through out the entire book, hope, the ending gave where the boy meets with another family gives us the satisfaction that the boy will continue on the road and survive. Over all, I enjoyed this book a lot!
Wow, such an amazing book. Bravo McCarthy, who knew you could turn such a simple idea of a father and his son and turn it into such a beautiful novel.
He really stepped up the writing in this last segment. The final conversation between the boy and his father was heart wrenching. I think the man was speaking metaphorically about the other boy they met ear lies as a reference to his son. His last words were when the boy was asking him as to what would happen to the other boy if he is lost "Goodness will find the little boy. It always has. It will again." I think that this was the man's final way of telling his son that he will be safe and that fate will bring good fortune to him like it has previously in the book. It’s his last reassurance that everything will be fine, since the man has been telling him that throughout the whole book. I think this is when the man realizes that the boy has grown up enough to care for himself and carry on alone on his own path on the road.
I think the major turning point in this section was when the man and boy encounter the thief. The man had been very merciful and kind to others on the road that meant no harm (often to the boy's persuading) but the man discards those previous actions and leaves the thief naked and left for dead. I think that this is where the man realizes he's lost the light and realizes that he can't keep on going. I think here he accepts that the end is near and that he can't always be there for the boy and be his moral compass. That or the man has stopped listening to the boy's own morality compass all together.
I'm glad that the boy found a new family of "good guys" to live with. I think the boy leaving the road is symbolic because he's leaving the path he started with his father and moves on to start a new journey with the family .The fact that there is a girl in the group may give some hints that there will be a relationship between the two and give a slight hope as to the future of humanity.
I like the creative metaphor in the very last paragraph of the book, the one concerning the trout. I think it was a metaphor for the world and how beautiful and intricate it can be, but once it's ruined, that beauty can never be restored or "made right" again.
As this book ends, I do have some questions. The man the boy meets on the road says that he's surprised the boy and his father survived this long on the road. Is he saying that it's easier to live off the road and off in the country somewhere? And how long have the man and his family been fallowing the boy and his father? And if they have been tracking them for awhile, why did they wait until the father died to approach them? Plus there are still some details left uncertain about how the world ended up in its current state. I personally would have loved to hear a little more detail on the early life of the boy and man when the mother was still alive.
But minor things left unsaid are small peas when it comes down to how well this novel was crafted. I hope McCarthy continues this novel in the future.
Goodbye.
First I would like to say that this was a great book. I had a good time reading it. The ending was very sad, however. When the boy got sick, I thought he would die, but when he got better as the father got worse, the realization of the father's upcoming death became clear.
I thought it was not right of the father to take everything the bandit had. The boy was right, he said he didn't kill him, but he probably did die from the cold. In their world, you do what you can do survive, and the bandit did what he had to do. I'm glad they got their belongings back, but the father went too far.
My favorite part of this last section was when the father shot the flare gun through the window and it hit the man with the bow. It was pretty awesome. Looking back on the father's actions, it's hard to tell what he might have done in life. He had a lot of general knowledge and skill in many fields. I wish McCarthy would have given us more information on the past, such as what happened to their first bullet. Although, it is pretty obvious that it was used in defense when the boy was younger.
The final pages were very saddening. When the father sees his death bed, you can't help but get a tear in your eye. I thought it was interesting how the boy finally found good guys when he needed them most. I wonder if the man's son was the boy he saw in that village. I'm sure it was, because before the father dies he has a little dialogue with the boy about the little boy. I wish we could have seen more into the boy's life.
The last paragraph intrigued me. At first I didn't understand how it was relevant, until I read it a second time. In my opinion, McCarthy was trying to say that the Earth is very complex and almost fragile. We need to be careful how we treat it, because one day we may do something terrible to the world, something that cannot be taken back. Overall, this was a very interesting and fantastic novel. I wonder if the movie will live up to the intensity of the novel.
I'm quite shocked by the ending of the book. I would have never guessed the father would die. That must have really sucked traveling for that long and being scared out of your mind and just end up dying in the end. On the bright side the boy is still alive and has a great opportunity to start over with a new loving family. The boy grew up a lot in the book. I must say that i did not like the book in the beginning but now I can say I actually kind of enjoyed it.
I kinda figured the dad would die. He was coughing up blood a lot. He was getting weaker all the time. It was obvious he wanted to do everything he could to protect his son and teach him all he could on survival. I think he tried to prepare the boy for his death without just telling him straightforward that he felt he would die and the boy would be alone. He didn't want to scare his son. All the time they were together, they developed a strong bond. It was kinda sad when the dad died. But it was pure luck that there was the man and then the woman waiting for him and brought him into their family. I think when the man told the boy he had a boy and girl the same age, I think that was an indicator that life could continue. The boy and girl could have kids one day and the population would grow again. That's what I got out of mentioning the fact that he had two kids, one a girl. It brought up the idea that instead of them all dying or being eaten, that the population would continue and the world would start over again one day.
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