The Ending

In The Road, several points could be considered as the ending of the book.

Reaching the beach?

• End of the literal journey. Getting to the beach was the goal for the man and the boy, and by reaching the beach, they have reached the end of their physical, literal journey.
• Could be considered anti-climactic, reality versus expectations. The man and the boy were hopeful for what they'd find at the beach. The man had said to the boy that the sea might be blue, and apologised when there wasn't. 
• Links to the mother's death, full of hopelessness. Mother gave up.
• Limited linguistic palette.
• "Smog across the horizon." This quote shows that the whole world has come across the same fate as the country the man and the boy have. Also, the fish are found dead on the beach, showing that whatever has happened has killed everything, including the sea life.
• Nothing changes when they reach the beach despite the travelling. "Barren, silent, godless" at the beginning of the book mirrors the description of the beach at the end of the novel, "Cold. Desolate. Birdless."

When the man dies? (Page 301)

• End of original narrative viewpoint from the man.
• The "fading light" symbolises the end of hope. 
• "Old dreams encroached upon the waking world", the man dreaming the same dream as at the very start of the novel makes The Road seem cyclical, that hope will always end.
• The boy has to accept that the journey has ended. "In that cold corridor, they had reached a point of no return."
• The "ever darkening" tunnel shows that their journey has been pointless and futile.
• When the man dies, the scene becomes incredibly cheesy and emotional. The boy says to the man "You said you'd never leave me." This outburst of emotion is unusual. Wearing a mask, mask taken off and emotions revealed.
• The man fails to do what his wife knew he couldn't, can't kill the boy. "Take me with you."
• Start of new narrative viewpoint (the boy) which could be a reason why ending is more hopeful and optimistic with no questions asked.

The final paragraph? (My choice for the ending)

• Physical ending of the book
• Retrospective of pre-apocalyptic world
• Fish go home to breed but can't go home, nothing can return to how it was.
• "They smelled of moss in your hand" appreciation of senses that have now been lost.
• "Maps of the world" definite, fixed. Nothing will return to how it was pre-apocalyptically.

Key Episodes (Part 2)

Finding the cellar of naked and mutilated people (page 112-121)

This episode starts with the man and the boy finsing an old plantation house. Plantation houses were big, decadent manors built by the plantation owners, with slaves working the plantations. I've taken thid particular imagery as a comment on consumerism by McCarthy. The manor's were oppulent, grand and expensive, and funded by a dreadful slave trade that spread through the 'civlised world'. I think that McCarthy is trying to say that consumerism was at fault in the pre-apocalyptic world. This links back to the man and his cart; a shopping cart. Even in the post-apocalyptic world, the man is still attached to consumerism. Consumerism is also made evident in the references in this particular episode. McCarthy almost directly lifts a scene from the original Dawn of the Dead when the man and the boy find the emaciated people in the cellar, which mirrors the scene where the police officer's discover the zombies in the cellar. Dawn of the Dead featured scenes in shopping centres, highlighting consumerism. McCarthy references low-culture horror films (despite the fact that the Dawn of the Dead could be taken as a mockery of society) to highlight a fairly deep idea of consumerism being corrupt.

On page 113, the description of the manor shows luxury decaying within the house. The words chosen in the description have 'o' sounds (excuse the lack of terminology sir!), meaning that the descripiton has to be read slower, creating moments with low tension. Within the description, the scene in the cellar is foreshadowed. Piles of "Clothes and shoes. Belts. Coats. Blankets and old sleeping bags." were found in one room, which the man would have "ample of time later to think about." This leaves the reader wondering why/what is happening within the manor. However, the man ignores this blatent scene of habitation due to his crippling hunger. The boy picks up on such things ("Papa, the boy whispered."). This shows that the boy may be naive, but in some ways is better than his father as his father is rushing in without thinking. The man simply ignores his concern and tells him to "Shh." The man also ignores the "trampled grass", the "smell of mold and excrement", more signs of people. "All these things he saw and did not see." McCarthy has given the man a potentially threatening ignorance.

When the man first enters the cellar on page 116, the sentence length and frequency of punctuation varies incredibly. It starts off with fairly lengthy sentences, and then cuts to short sentences to increase the tension. It is very similar to the expectation of horror films (another reference to Dawn of the Dead) where the audience is left anticipating something to happen. The man finds "naked people, male and femal, all trying to hide." We can infer the people they find have been held captive by an unseen captor. One of the men they see has "legs gone to the hip and stumps of them blackened and burnt." The man's legs have been removed and the wounds cauterized. This infers canabalism, presumably by the captors. McCarthy shows us that humans can and will turn to any forms of survival, including cannabalism.

After this key scene, the man and the boy rush out of the cellar. Over the next two pages (116-117) the man repeatedly says "Jesus", "Christ" or "God". This could symbolise that people only turn to religion under times of need. It could also infer a slip in the man's front; for just a split second he acts as if he is pre-apocalptic. Previously, the land was described as being 'godless'. Now, he is accidentally referencing Christianity.

When the man and the boy have left the house, the man comes extremely close to killing the boy. "This is the moment." However, the man and they boy hide in the leaves and ash and the man doesn't shoot the boy. This mirrors the man's death towards the end of the novel when the man is dying in the leaves and cannot kill the boy, the one thing he had promised to do throughout the novel and to his wife.

The baby on the spit (page 210- 215)

Tension is created at the opening of this scene by the stillness half way through page 210.

Hanzel and Gretel (slightly altered in terms of plot) in the style of The Road

The man looked down at his emaciated body. The looming hunger was finally starting to take it's toll and his eyes were heavy with weary, and famine. They eat too much, said the woman. Her face was disfigured with hate for his children and her grey skin was pulled tight over her visible cheekbones. We won't survive if they carry on as they are. We need to take them away. For our own good. He turned away, unable to make eye contact with her lifeless eyes.

The boy turned to the girl, a single tear streaming down her face. The man and the woman hadn't noticed them peering through the gaps in the banister. We have to do something, she whispered. He nodded slightly. Okay.

After a breakfast of mouldy oats swimming in a grey hazed water, they prepared to leave. The man grabbed his coat and his shoes and his axe and sat down at the table, his skinny hands grabbing at his thinning hair. She entered the room soon after the boy and the girl. Her eyes looked up and down the boy and the girl, hating every pound of weight which she was never given. Let's go, the man said mournfully. The woman left first, followed slowly by the man and the girl and then finally the boy, who played with the small white pebbles in his tattered coat pocket.

They walked into the forest, each tree identical to the last. No matter how far they travelled, the scenery seemed to stay the same. Every other step they took, the boy dropped one of the pebbles onto the ground. The woman smiled to herself for the first time in weeks. Okay, she turned to the boy and the girl. You two wait here whilst me and your dad look for wood to burn and food to eat. We're running low. They nodded slowly. The man went over to the boy and the girl and hugged them both. He kissed each of their cold cheeks and turned quickly, following the woman into the expanse of trees. The boy and the girl sat and waited. The forest was silent. Soon, the light began to fade on the forest and the boy and the girl started to look for the pebbles. In the dark, the whiteness of the pebbles should be quite easy to see, he said to his sister. She said nothing. They searched and they walked and they began to grow cold.

He saw a light through a clearing in the woods. She turned to him, asking questions yet still remaining silent. They advanced slowly together. It was a cottage. Brightly coloured and made of something different to their own home. He touched the walls of the cottage with his hands. It's made of food, he said to the girl. She picked a bit of the red window ledge and placed it in her mouth. It was sweet. They began to take whole bites from the building. The taste of it made them feel warm, and at ease. After filling themselves until they felt sick, they stopped. The girl turned to the right, and saw the door swing open. A small, old woman appeared. She smiled at them. There's food inside and beds, if you please, she croaked. They took no caution, and followed her inside.

The next morning, after they'd slept safely, the old woman walked into their room.
Are you okay?
Yes, thank you.
Sleep well?
Yes, thank you.
Good.

She looked them up and down. Her eyes fell on the boy.

Follow me, she smiled. He stood, legs aching from the deep sleep and the food he'd eaten yesterday. He followed her downstairs and into the garden. The old woman seemed different. She stood taller. Her shoulders back. Her back was straight. He began to speak, when he saw a cage just before them. He went to turn, but she grabbed him. There was no point fighting. Even though he'd eaten well compared to his parents, he was still weak with famine. He fell. She looked at him, shutting the cage door. Then, she turned and went into the house.

Several sun rises later, the girl was in the kitchen. She was being forced to scrub the floor. Her knuckles were bleeding. The floor was looking as dirty as it did when dawn broke and now she could see the darkness creeping over the horizon. She glanced up. The old woman was still towering over her.

Where is he?
Does it matter?
Yes.
No it doesn't.

The old woman turned, and left through the door. As she walked into the garden, she took the loaf of bread out of her bag. Her almost-blind-eyes could make out the shape of the boy. He looked slightly larger than yesterday. Like a pig. She tossed the bread between the iron bars. Holding on to the bars, she leant in and pinched the boy. He still felt underweight. Not at all like the dinner she was hoping for that evening. Annoyed, she went back into the house. The boy dropped the bone he'd been holding. He let out a sigh of relief, glad that his quick thinking had saved him for at least one more day.

With the coming of the dawn, the old woman was lighting the furnace in her cottage. She grabbed her aching back. Get here. The girl ran to the old woman, silently.

What's wrong, she murmured.
Help me light the fire. There's logs over there. Hurry.

The girl turned around and grabbed some logs, placing them in the fire. She could feel the warmth on her cheeks. The old woman demanded more logs. The girl took a deep breath. She lifted a log slowly. She placed it into the furnace before quickly grabbing the old woman by the scruff of her neck and placing her in the fire, just like the logs. She closed the furnace and ran into the garden. She found the boy in the iron cage, and together they ran into the forest. Never once turning back.

Key Episodes (Part 1)

Coming across the man who has been struck by lightening (page 50-53)

When the man and the boy come across the tracks that had "suddenly appeared", it made me question who or what had made the tracks. Throughout the book leading up to this moment, the man and boy hadn't really encountered anything living and tension is created due to the sudden arrival of signs of life. However, as the man and the boy had camped on the "actual road" and whoever it was would have to have passed straight past them. They had not been bothered by them so they can't be that dangerous or they can't hurt them. When the boy asks who the person could be, the man responds by saying "who is anybody?" showing his acceptance of the loss of identity of people. Who needs a personality, or personal traits when all you need to do is survive.
The boy's empathetic nature is prominent throughout the episode. When they come across the man, the boy immediately asks what they should do, inferring that he wants to help. The man just tells him that they are going to follow and watch, a consistent characteristic of his, distancing himself from everything that isn't key to survival. McCarthy's contrast of the characters is prevalent through The Road and is made even more evident in episodes like this. When the man and the boy leave the injured man, the boy was "crying. He kept looking back". This reinforces the boy's loving nature and also his naivety. The man knows that if they helped the injured man, they will die. The boy cannot accept this.
  We gain an insight to the man's feelings during this episode. McCarthy flashes back to an incident where the man leaves his wallet, including evidences of the pre-apocalyptic world, on the road. McCarthy cleverly places this flash back during this episode, as they mirror each other. The man leaves behind "His driver's license. A picture of his wife." as they won't help him along his journey, and are an emotional burden. They will only remind him of his past which won't help him survive. The same is true of leaving the injured man, as he would be a physical burden to the pair, not helping them survive; survival is key throughout the novel.

Shooting the 'road rat' (page 62-69)

This episode is different in pace and tension to a lot of the episodes in the book. McCarthy draws us into a false sense of security to begin with on page 62. The boy is playing with his truck and making truck noises (reminding the reader of his young age) and they fall asleep in the leaves on a day that "seemed almost warm.". The man falls asleep, showing that he feels safe, as he usually does not sleep. He just watches the boy. When the man is woken, it is by men with a truck. This is ironic as the boy had been 'happy' whilst he was playing with his toy truck. McCarthy shortens the length of the sentences on page 63 ("We have to run. Dont look back. Come on." This increases the tension, due to the quick pace of which you have to read.
We gain a sense of the desperation of people in this episode. McCarthy describes one of the men as being like "an animal inside a skull looking out the eyeholes". The humans left have regressed to animals, and as the same man says, they eat "Whatever we can find." This seems to infer cannibalism.
We gain an insight into what the father's career/life was like before the apocalypse in this episode. He talks to one of the men about the brain in detail ("A frontall lobe and things with names like colliculus and temporal gyrus") He is very well educated, and may have been a doctor. By infering that he was a doctor, McCarthy may be saying that it didn't matter who/what you were before the apocalypse; everyone lost everything.
Also, the man "dove and grabbed the boy and rolled [...] and fired from a two-handed position on both knees at a distance of six feet." The man has clearly done something similar to this due to his precision and accuracy of aim.
Images of horror are present on page 68/9. After the man shoots the roadrat, he lay "with blood bubbling from the hole in his forehead" The image is quite gory and scary. The boy ends up "covered in gore", which is horrible as he is only young. Even then, the boy seems to be empathetic as he was "clutching his forehead". He can't believe what has just happened.
I believe that this episode highlights the dangerous world in which the pair live in. McCarthy is showing us that regardless of how safe they feel, the man and the boy will always be under threat of danger.

Lesson notes (12th November)

Deux ex machina = God is in the machine.

The Latin phrase 'Deux ex machina' means 'God is in the machine'. This is the idea that in novels, stories, narratives etc, a problem/situation is resolved through a sudden 'magic' solution. Applying this to The Road, when the boy's father dies on page 300-302, he encounters a family that seem to be the 'good guys' and promise to look after him now his father has gone. Personally, I believe that this act of luck applies to the saying 'deux ex machina' as we are given few details about this family, and for all we know, could be cannibals planning to eat the boy. However due to the change in narrative viewpoint, from the father to the son after the man's death, the family appear to be safe. This mirrors the boy's naive and relentless hope throughout the novel. The family could also be representative of the 'nuclear' family of 2.4 that is representative of the ideology of a perfect society, that isn't even present in our pre-apocalyptic 21st century world.

Structure and the Handling of Time

References and quotes (passing of time)

• "Spent the afternoon sitting" Aftenoon shows passing of the day. (Page 131)
• "They stood in the door watching the light draw down over the world to the west" Sunset shows end of the day. (Page 131)
• "Long a night" (Page 132)
•  "The dawn was a long time coming" (Page 133)
• "In the morning when he woke the rain had stopped" (Page 195)
• "Long days" (Page 229)
• "Went up the road calling out in the empty dusk" Empty dusk = sunset/evening. (Page 278)
• "In the long cold evening with the darkness dropping" (Page 69)
• "It was colder" Passing of seasons. (Page 31)
• "With dark they built a fire" (Page 233)
• "It's getting colder everyday" Passing of seasons. (Page 42)

Throughout the road, McCarthy uses the daylight, and weather to mark the passing of time. This could symbolise the decay of civilisation, as time is simply a human conception to organise and structure our lives. In a post-apocalyptic word, 'civilised' organisation is no longer needed; the people remaining only need know day and night and the weather. For example, the main gaol for the boy and the man (with survival being put aside) is to move south and reach the sea. By moving south, the man is trying to keep alive for longer, as the weather is warmer thus easier to survive in. They do not need to know exact times during the day, because they aren't living each day by a schedule or time table. However, the man seems to want the day to remain slightly structured as he and the boy have breakfast and dinner in the morning and evening respectively.

Lesson Notes (9th November)

Lack of Mothers/females in The Road

There is a lack of a maternal figure for the boy throughout The Road. The boy's mother killed herself when she believed that there was no hope left. (Death is not a lover. Oh yes he is.) She believed that "They will rape me. They'll rape him. They are going to rape us and kill us and eat us." By killing herself, she symbolises the death of the world. Females are hardly seen or mentioned throughout the book, which practically, means no more reproduction to birth a new generation. It also symbolises the death of 'Mother' Earth. Without females, the world has no hope for a future.

5+5=1 (9th November lesson)

5 Sentences

1) McCarthy uses increased punctuation to build tension
2) The 'Road' mirrors American need to move west
3) Breakfast and dinner used to keep structure, routine and normality.
4) Simple language could be seen as being used to keep distance from reader (the man's characteristic)
5) Detailed descriptions are used to expand time or when food is mentioned, ie filtering the water.

5 Words

1) Punctuation
2) West
3) Normality
4) Distance
5) Description

1 Word

1) Necessity

5+5=1

5 sentences:

1. I learnt that The Road is a road story. A road story is a story of a journey and the people met along the way.
2. I learnt that The Road is a post-modern novel. A post modern novel defies the conventions of normal books and narratives.
3. I learnt that The Road is set post-apocalyptic. Post-Apocalyptic is after the end of civilisation and the world as we know it.
4. I learnt that a 'Deathscape' is a world of death, which applies to The Road,
5. I learnt that throughout the novel, McCarthy references low-culture horror films. Low-culture books, films etc are disposable, or 'trashy'.

5 words:

1. Journey
2. Post-modern
3. Post-Apocalyptic
4. Deathscape
5. References

1 word:

1. Responsibility

Quotations

This is my child, he said. I wash a dead man's brains out of his hair. That is my job.

The genre suggested within this quote is horror. Washing "a dead man's brains" out of his young son's hair is a disgusting and horrific image. It infers a dangerous environment in which the man and child live; men are being shot at and killed. The "dead man's brains" is also a reference to low culture horror films, especially Dawn of the Dead (a zombie apocalypse film). The reference to low culture horror films are throughout The Road. For example, the basement scene in which the father and son come across emanciated bodies in a cellar is almost directly lifted from the original Dawn of the Dead film.
The use of the word "child", as opposed to son is highly revealing into the relationship the father and son have. "Child" is a cold, detatched word to use for his son. The man is distancing himself from his son, as he thinks that he will ultimately have to kill him with their last remaining bullet. The more he distances himself, the easier the killing and loss of his son will be. Be saying that it is "my" child, it indicates a single ownership. He is a single parent, and it is not "our" child.
By saing that cleaning the brains from his "child" is his "job", the man is giving a sense of responsibilty and even a sense of begrudgement.


Yes I am, he said. I am the one.

When the child says "I am the one.", he presents himself as old beyond his years. He has (barely) lived through a great deal, and in a terrible world full of death and fear. By saying that he is "the one", he shows a knowledge of responsibilty and duty that he holds and shouldn't have to at his age.


Tomatoes, peaches, beans, apricots. Canned hams. Corned beef.

The list of food is all of the food the child and son have found in the bunker. There is a sense of disbelief as they discover more and more food. The pair have been near-death for a while and haven't eaten anything substantial for a while. Interestingly enough, all of the 'natural' food is grouped together. The artificial, man-made food is grouped separately using full tops.

Are we still the good guys, he said.

The boy asking such a question shows his age. When we are younger, we have a distinct sense of good versus bad, rather than feeling that a person could be bad and good at the same time. It also shows that boy is feeling guilt for they have done something that questions his and his dad's choices and morals.


We should go, Papa, he said. Yes, the man said. But he didn't.

The son calling his dad 'Papa' suggests that before the apocalypse, they came from a wealthy and privileged background. Also, the roles seem to have been reversed in this quote. The father would usually make the decisions and the son would choose to ignore or follow (in normal father/son relationships). The son is again showing a sense of responsibility by trying to make the decisions, and the father is showing an apatheticness, or weariness towards moving. The son saying 'Papa' shows an affection for the father that the man is not reciprocating. He simply says "yes", another example of distancing himself from his child.


The snow fell nor did it cease to fall.

This quote shows an endless towards the weather. Also, the snow is not white and pure; it is a grey sludge that falls due to whatever tragedy had occured to the world prior the book. The use of the word "cease" is interesting as the word stop could have been used. However, by using "cease", McCarthy presents us a relentless weather form as if it itself is almost doing it in spite of the pair.


Okay? Okay.

The father asking his son if he's okay emphasises his main goal of protecting his son. He also seems to be quite assertive, as the question "Okay?" isn't argued with, or contradicted. The son merely replies "Okay." Also, the father constantly checking that his son is okay seems to be a comfort of his own. He is depending on his son to be okay, even if he isn't. The speech isn't in speech marks, infering that this conversation is nothing out of the ordinary and is a regular occurence.


They sat on the edge of the tub and pulled their shoes on and them he handed the boy the pan and soap and he took the stove and the little bottle of gas and the pistol and wrapped in their blankets and they went back across the yard to the bunker.
This quote gives a sense of monotony, and a dragging out of the actions described. The pair do not wish to leave the bunker as it has been somthing of a temporary home for them. The word "and" is used frequently through the quote, suggesting a sense of time passing slowly. The pistol is the last thing that is said to be picked up, a symbol of safety for the man. It could also be taken as a symbol of the inevitability of death as the man will shoot his son if he needs to.