The Road is a 2006 post-apocalyptic novel by American writer Cormac McCarthy. The book details the grueling journey of a father and his young son over a period of several months across a landscape blasted by an unspecified cataclysm that has destroyed industrial civilization and almost all life. The novel was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction in 2006. The book was adapted into a film of the same name in 2009, directed by John Hillcoat.
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Author: Cormac McCarthy
(born Charles Joseph McCarthy Jr., July 20, 1933) is an American writer who has written ten novels, two plays, two screenplays, and two short-stories, spanning the Western and post-apocalyptic genres. He is well known for his graphic depictions of violence and his unique writing style, recognizable by its lack of punctuation and attribution. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest contemporary American writers.McCarthy was born in Providence, Rhode Island, although he was raised primarily in Tennessee. In 1951, he enrolled in the University of Tennessee, but dropped out to join the US Air Force. His debut novel, The Orchard Keeper, was published in 1965. Awarded literary grants, McCarthy was able to travel to southern Europe, where he wrote his second novel, Outer Dark (1968). Suttree (1979), like his other early novels, received generally positive reviews, but was not a commercial success. A MacArthur Fellowship enabled him to travel to the American Southwest, where he researched and wrote his fifth novel, Blood Meridian (1985). Although it garnered a lukewarm critical and commercial reception, it is now regarded as his magnum opus, with some even labeling it the Great American Novel.
McCarthy first experienced widespread success with All the Pretty Horses (1992), for which he received both the National Book Award[5] and the National Book Critics Circle Award. It was followed by The Crossing (1994) and Cities of the Plain (1998), completing the Border Trilogy. His 2005 novel No Country for Old Men received mixed reviews. His 2006 novel The Road won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. Many of McCarthy's works have been adapted into film. No Country for Old Men was adapted into a 2007 film, winning four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. All the Pretty Horses, The Road, and Child of God have also been adapted into films, while Outer Dark was turned into a 15-minute short. McCarthy had a play adapted into a 2011 film, The Sunset Limited.
McCarthy currently works with the Santa Fe Institute (SFI), a multidisciplinary research center. At the SFI, he published the essay "The Kekulé Problem" (2017), which explores the human unconscious and the origin of language. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2012. His next novel, The Passenger, was announced in 2015 but has not yet been published as of August 2021.
McCarthy first experienced widespread success with All the Pretty Horses (1992), for which he received both the National Book Award[5] and the National Book Critics Circle Award. It was followed by The Crossing (1994) and Cities of the Plain (1998), completing the Border Trilogy. His 2005 novel No Country for Old Men received mixed reviews. His 2006 novel The Road won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. Many of McCarthy's works have been adapted into film. No Country for Old Men was adapted into a 2007 film, winning four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. All the Pretty Horses, The Road, and Child of God have also been adapted into films, while Outer Dark was turned into a 15-minute short. McCarthy had a play adapted into a 2011 film, The Sunset Limited.
McCarthy currently works with the Santa Fe Institute (SFI), a multidisciplinary research center. At the SFI, he published the essay "The Kekulé Problem" (2017), which explores the human unconscious and the origin of language. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2012. His next novel, The Passenger, was announced in 2015 but has not yet been published as of August 2021.
What would the world be like if it got hit by a meteor?
www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-would-be-the-environ/
Cormac McCarthy: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FepX-B5ggdA
McCarthy Oprah Interview on Subconscious :
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qidyx3oXqpY
Coculi's Benzene Ring: ionscience.com/usa/news/understanding-the-benzene-ring/
"Carry the Fire": www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXNfxK5Q2Qg
Plot
A father and his young son journey on foot across the post-apocalyptic ash-covered United States some years after an extinction event. The boy's mother, pregnant with him at the time of the disaster, committed suicide some time before.
Realizing they cannot survive the winter in more northern latitudes, the father takes the boy south along interstate highways towards the sea, carrying their meager possessions in their knapsacks and a supermarket cart. The father is suffering from a cough. He assures his son that they are "good guys" who are "carrying the fire". The pair have a revolver, but only two rounds. The father has tried to teach the boy to use the gun on himself if necessary, to avoid falling into the hands of cannibals.
They attempt to evade a group of marauders traveling along the road but one of the marauders discovers them and seizes the boy. The father shoots him dead and they flee the marauder's companions, abandoning most of their possessions. Later, when searching a house for supplies, they discover a locked cellar containing captives whom cannibals have been eating limb by limb, and flee into the woods.
As they near starvation, the pair discovers a concealed bunker filled with food, clothes, and other supplies. They stay there for many days, regaining their strength, and then carry on, taking supplies with them in a cart. They encounter an elderly man with whom the boy insists they share food. Further along the road, they evade a group whose members include pregnant women and catamites, and soon after they discover an abandoned campsite with a newborn infant roasted on a spit. They soon run out of supplies and begin to starve before finding a house containing more food to carry in their cart, but the man's condition worsens.
The pair reaches the sea, where they discover a boat that has drifted ashore. The man swims to it and recovers supplies, including a flare gun, which he demonstrates to the boy. The boy becomes ill. When they stop on the beach while the boy recovers, their cart is stolen. They pursue and confront the thief, a wretched man traveling alone. The father forces him to strip naked at gunpoint, and takes his clothes together with the cart. This distresses the boy, so the father returns and leaves the man's clothes and shoes on the road, but the man has disappeared.
While walking through a town inland, a man in a window shoots the father in the leg with an arrow. The father responds by shooting his assailant with the flare gun. The pair move further south along the beach. The father's condition worsens, and after several days he realizes he will soon die. The father tells the son he can talk to him in prayer after he is gone, and that he must continue without him. After the father dies, the boy stays with his body for three days. The boy is approached by a man carrying a shotgun, accompanied by his wife and their two children, a son and a daughter. The man convinces the boy he is one of the "good guys" and takes the boy under his protection.
Realizing they cannot survive the winter in more northern latitudes, the father takes the boy south along interstate highways towards the sea, carrying their meager possessions in their knapsacks and a supermarket cart. The father is suffering from a cough. He assures his son that they are "good guys" who are "carrying the fire". The pair have a revolver, but only two rounds. The father has tried to teach the boy to use the gun on himself if necessary, to avoid falling into the hands of cannibals.
They attempt to evade a group of marauders traveling along the road but one of the marauders discovers them and seizes the boy. The father shoots him dead and they flee the marauder's companions, abandoning most of their possessions. Later, when searching a house for supplies, they discover a locked cellar containing captives whom cannibals have been eating limb by limb, and flee into the woods.
As they near starvation, the pair discovers a concealed bunker filled with food, clothes, and other supplies. They stay there for many days, regaining their strength, and then carry on, taking supplies with them in a cart. They encounter an elderly man with whom the boy insists they share food. Further along the road, they evade a group whose members include pregnant women and catamites, and soon after they discover an abandoned campsite with a newborn infant roasted on a spit. They soon run out of supplies and begin to starve before finding a house containing more food to carry in their cart, but the man's condition worsens.
The pair reaches the sea, where they discover a boat that has drifted ashore. The man swims to it and recovers supplies, including a flare gun, which he demonstrates to the boy. The boy becomes ill. When they stop on the beach while the boy recovers, their cart is stolen. They pursue and confront the thief, a wretched man traveling alone. The father forces him to strip naked at gunpoint, and takes his clothes together with the cart. This distresses the boy, so the father returns and leaves the man's clothes and shoes on the road, but the man has disappeared.
While walking through a town inland, a man in a window shoots the father in the leg with an arrow. The father responds by shooting his assailant with the flare gun. The pair move further south along the beach. The father's condition worsens, and after several days he realizes he will soon die. The father tells the son he can talk to him in prayer after he is gone, and that he must continue without him. After the father dies, the boy stays with his body for three days. The boy is approached by a man carrying a shotgun, accompanied by his wife and their two children, a son and a daughter. The man convinces the boy he is one of the "good guys" and takes the boy under his protection.
Characters
Major Characters
The Man
The man goes unnamed throughout the novel. He is the boy's father, his papa, and believes that he has been entrusted by God to keep the boy safe and to protect him from harm and the evils in the world — even if that means killing him before the bad guys can get to him. He wonders if he has it in him to do harm to his own son, the only source of light in the man's world. He must push himself and his son to extreme measures in order to survive. The connection that the man feels with his son is sacred, almost holy, and throughout the novel the man makes great sacrifices to allow his son to live on and have a future in a world that has gone dim. He shows his son how to carry the fire, first with his help, and then, later, without him.
The Boy
The boy goes unnamed throughout the novel. As the man and boy travel on the road, the boy is the only source of light in his father's life. Similarly, the man is all that the boy has, and the boy doesn't want to live unless his father remains with him. The boy is strong and resilient, but also sensitive and compassionate. When the man and boy encounter others on the road, the boy shows more sympathy towards them, while his father is more concerned about keeping the two of them alive. It is the boy who is able to get the man to show kindness to others on the road, however begrudgingly such kindness is given. One of the boy's top priorities is to be a good guy. He wants to make sure that he and his father are helping people and are carrying the fire. While the boy is the source of all of the man's strength, the man doesn't realize how much the boy worries about him, and how much the boy's will to live on depends on his father.
Minor Characters
The Woman
The woman is the man's wife and the boy's mother, and she also goes unnamed throughout the novel. She leaves the man and boy when the boy is still very young, and she is presumed to be dead. Through the man's flashbacks, it became clear that the woman had grown weary of the brutal and bleak world in which they lived and wanted to die alone. She wanted to take the boy with her, but the man refused to let her. Many of the man's dreams and memories are of the woman, and he knows that death is near when he starts having comforting, good dreams about her.
Man struck by lightning
The man and boy come upon a burnt man on the road, a man who's been struck by lightning. They follow him for a short time, but the man eventually sits down in the road and they overtake him. The boy wants to help, but the man says they can't help him because they don't have anything to give him. The boy cries for the man struck by lightning, a man who highlights the sadness and helplessness that exists along the road.
The Roadagents
The roadagents and members of communes are the bad guys, and they're the ones who the man and boy fear and must watch out for. They rape, kill, and eat other humans, which the man and boy bear witness to multiple times throughout the novel. The man and boy come upon a group of roadagents that keep a group of humans locked in a basement, each to be killed and used as food, as if they are livestock. Another group of roadagents births, kills, and cooks a baby over a spit. They are the essence of evil in the novel.
One of the roadagents is killed by the Man: He's the first human being, other than the boy, that the father speaks to in over a year. He represents what has become of the human race. When the bad man grabs the boy, the boy's father shoots him in the head.
One of the roadagents is killed by the Man: He's the first human being, other than the boy, that the father speaks to in over a year. He represents what has become of the human race. When the bad man grabs the boy, the boy's father shoots him in the head.
Ely
The old man that the man and boy come upon in the road. The boy takes pity on him and convinces his father to let Ely eat dinner with them. Ely doesn't thank the boy because he says that he wouldn't have done the same, if the situation was reversed. Ely isn't the man's real name: He doesn't want to reveal who he really is.
Thief
This thief, an outcast from one of the communes, steals all that the man and boy own while they are away walking on the beach. The man and boy catch up to him and the man makes him strip naked and leave his clothes. The man wants to leave the thief with nothing, just as the thief did to them. But the boy cries for the man, saying they've killed him.
Man with bow and woman
As the man and boy are walking through town, the man with the bow and arrow shoots the boy's father with an arrow. The boy's father shoots back with a flare gun and either kills or severely wounds the man. It is not made clear which, but the father tells his son that he didn't kill the man.After the boy's father shoots the man with the bow and arrow, he enters the house to see who else is inside. He finds this woman, who holds the man with the bow and arrow, curing the boy's father for what he's done. When the boy's father realizes that other people left her there with the man, she tells him that she chose to stay behind.
The little boy
Throughout the novel, there are instances when the boy says he sees another little boy and is deeply concerned for him. At the novel's end, we meet this other traveling family that has both a little boy and a little girl. This could be the same little boy that the boy has seen previously, or he could be a different one. It's never made clear, but the link between the little boy from earlier in the novel and the little boy at the end is clear.
Man with shotgun and woman
He finds the boy after his father dies. He tells the boy that his family has been following them and that there was some debate as to whether they should come for the boy. In the end, they decide to invite the boy to join them on their journey. The man says that he's one of the good guys and that he's carrying the fire. This man adopts a fatherly role for the boy and seems to be a man that the boy can trust as he keeps his promise to cover the boy's father with a blanket. The woman takes on a motherly role for the boy, welcoming him to their family with a hug and saying that she's glad to see him. The boy talks to the woman about God because the woman still believes in His existence. The boy says that he finds it hard to talk to God, but that he prefers to talk to his father. The woman assures him this is okay, saying that the breath of God passes through all men.
The little girl
Though she's never seen in the novel, she is mentioned by the man with the shotgun. She will be a part of this new post-apocalyptic nuclear family.
Themes/Thematic Ideals
Belief/Unbelief in God
The fragility of structures of meaning (government, religion, education, language)
The depravity of man
The costs and benefits of survival
The tension between protective love of the family unit and empathy with outsiders
The fragility of structures of meaning (government, religion, education, language)
The depravity of man
The costs and benefits of survival
The tension between protective love of the family unit and empathy with outsiders
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Discussion Ideas
1. What can you say of the title? How does it compare to other works you have read?
2. What role does "the road" play in the novel? Consider symbolism, relevance to plot or theme.
3. How and with what effect does he use the setting in the novel? Why might McCarthy use setting as another "character"?
4. Compare McCarthy's descriptions of setting to his use of dialogue.
5. In what ways is the point-of-view developed? What are the results of this choice?
6. This novel focuses on the Man and the Boy. What is the nature and significance of their relationship? How does McCarthy develop their relationship?
7. Ely is the only character to whom McCarthy has given a "name," even a false one. What is significant about him and/or the episode where the Man and the Boy encounter him?
8. How does McCarthy describe and use ofther minor characters (the Woman, the Veteran, the Roadrat) in this novel?
9. How does McCarthy use memory and dreams (or hallucinations)? Are the Man's memories reliable? What are the effects of this?
10. Some critics claim that McCarthy is anti-humanist. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
11. How, and to what effect, does McCarthy use religious (specifically Judeo-Christian) allusion and reference?
12. What are the effects of lack of punctuation (apostrophe, quotation marks, commas)?
2. What role does "the road" play in the novel? Consider symbolism, relevance to plot or theme.
3. How and with what effect does he use the setting in the novel? Why might McCarthy use setting as another "character"?
4. Compare McCarthy's descriptions of setting to his use of dialogue.
5. In what ways is the point-of-view developed? What are the results of this choice?
6. This novel focuses on the Man and the Boy. What is the nature and significance of their relationship? How does McCarthy develop their relationship?
7. Ely is the only character to whom McCarthy has given a "name," even a false one. What is significant about him and/or the episode where the Man and the Boy encounter him?
8. How does McCarthy describe and use ofther minor characters (the Woman, the Veteran, the Roadrat) in this novel?
9. How does McCarthy use memory and dreams (or hallucinations)? Are the Man's memories reliable? What are the effects of this?
10. Some critics claim that McCarthy is anti-humanist. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
11. How, and to what effect, does McCarthy use religious (specifically Judeo-Christian) allusion and reference?
12. What are the effects of lack of punctuation (apostrophe, quotation marks, commas)?