After reading the first 100 pages of The Road, reflect on the story thus far and share your thoughts. Then talk about what you feel is the most meaningful event or passage up to this point. Provide a citation if possible.
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9 comments:
Thus far, the Road has been a little hard to follow. At times I find it difficult to understand the chapter's events. Recently, however, the book has picked up pace and become more interesting. I think the strongest passages in the novel are those with the conversations between the father and son. The father is constantly looking out for the son's best interest and the son reciprocates the favor. The father has to conceal his feelings of hopelessness and tiredness from the son so as to not to worry him. He also has to frequently tell his son that they'll be okay.
"We're going to be okay, aren't we Papa?"
"Yes. We are."
"And nothing bad is going to happen to us."
"That's right."
I think the strongest theme in the novel is the ultimate bond between father and son and the endless limits they will go to survive.
Jordan Penney
At this point, I am starting to like the book a little more. It is picking up a little. I think the most signifigant event is finding out that the mother committed suicide, because she could not take living like that. I wonder if that is foreshadowing to something.
Now that I have read the first 100 pages, The Road is getting a little bit easier to understand. At first, it was somewhat confusing to follow, but now there is more action and excitement. I believe that one of the most important scenes thus far is when the father kills the man on the road in order to save his son. It displays the father's only motivation for living: to make his son feel safe. I think that this theme will continue in the novel along with the more fast paced action.
Brianna Cote
"The Road" is a very peculiar book. It first, I really didn't enjoy the book or the diction used. However, as you continue to read McCarthy's work, in some ways it grows on you. I actually enjoy reading his writing and how he describes different incidents using words like "pipepuffed" or "overclown". I like how he doesn't use one's everyday typical writing style. It keeps the reader interested in what the story is trying to talk about.
So far in the story, I feel as though the most meaningful part is when the father and the son come upon the cannibalistic man who threatens the boy. When the reader finds that the father knows a lot about medical issues, we learn the father was a doctor, which in some ways is ironic and intriguing. It allows the reader to draw some type of connection on how the father and son have made it thus far and how they get through their journey together.
-John Cummings
Thus far I think the story is very repetitive. Not a lot of things change throughout the novel. They are always traveling on the road, eating, making a fire, and just trying to survive. Once every some odd pages there is one twist like a new house or dead people in a house. I like the book because it is an easy read but it isn’t that exciting. I don’t think there is one meaningful event or citation in the book. I think that every time Papa tells his son that he isn’t going to die, reassures him that everything will be ok, and that he will always protect him; is the best citation. One example is when the boy and the father say, “What is it Papa? Nothing. We’re ok. Go to sleep. We’re going to be okay, aren’t we Papa? Yes. We are. And nothing bad is going to happen to us. That’s right.” There is not a better feeling than being reassured about living and being safe than by the person you love.
Alyssa Ruta
After reading the first 100 pages of the Road I’d have to say that I honestly really like and enjoy the book. I love McCarthy’s style and diction, and find his writing extremely effective and powerful. I love his descriptions and harshness, as well as his fragmented thoughts and emotions. So far I think that the most meaningful event to have taken place would be when the father shoots the man from the truck, splattering blood and guts all over the little boy, and the most meaningful passage would be the one listed below:
“When they’d eaten he took the boy out on the gravelbar below the bridge and he pushed away the thin shore ice with a stick and they knelt there while he washed the boy’s face and his hair. The water was so cold the boy was crying. They moved down the gravel to find fresh water and he washed his hair again as well as he could and finally stopped because the boy was moaning with the cold of it. He dried him with the blanket, kneeling there in the glow of the light with the shadow of the bridge’s understructure broken across the palisade of treetrunks beyond the creek. This is my child, he said. I wash a dead man’s brains out of his hair. That is my job. Then he wrapped him in the blanket and carried him to the fire.” (Pg. 73-74)
I think that this passage is extremely powerful seeing how it shows the extremes that people have to go to in times such as these in order to protect those that are close and beloved to them, in this case, the father’s son, and the lack of trust that exists in the world around them after such devastating destruction has taken place. I also think that the imagery here is very effective and shocking as well. The thought of having to clean a man’s brains out of your child’s hair is, although horrible to think about, a great way on McCarthy’s part to display to the reader just how bad times have gotten.
It is easier to read now because you can connect things that you have already read to the present. It is a bit predictable. You expect to have them find trouble on the road. The father is always protecting the boy from being taken by cannibals. Of course, they have trouble with the man from the truck and when they return their belongings are missing. A surprise is the reaction the father had when the man grabbed the boy. Without hesitating he shoots the pistol while the man is holding his son and kills him. Prior to that, he was trying to reason with the man and asked to just give them a head start.I was surprised the man was able to be so violent as he appears to be a patient, caring man. It shows an even deeper strength.
A meaningful moment in the story is when during the conversation with the man the boy asks "Are we still the good guys?"
Yes, We're still the good guys.
And we will always be?
Yes we will always be. Part of the boy's protection he gets from the father is that he will not change into a "bad" person, one who has lost the values of life. The stronger bond than just love between the boy and his father is the knowledge that in this broken society they will remain good.
-Keith Kelleher
I'm the biggest boss that you've seen thus far. That's a Rick Ross song and the title of this blog just made me think of it. This book just reminds me completely of I Am Legend. Just for the simple fact that their isn't much dialogue or action, but it has the same basic plot so far. I think the book has the potential to be something GREAT but it's definitly starting off slow. The gloomy and dismal mood is kind of killing me though. It's kind of making me depressed to be honest. But I Am Legend started off the same way so I'm hoping The Road turns out to be exciting like the movie.
So far i think the book is a rollercoaster of highs and lows. At times i feel board but at other times i find that i can't put the book down. I wish that the book had chapters it would be much easier to relfect and remember what happend. Sometimes when i reflect i feel as though the events are out of order and the details are blurred. I feel a very desparate relationship between the son and papa which draws me in emotionally. I feel as the Papa is very strong and the perfect picture of a father figure. i feel bad for both the characters, and for the boy. I feel as though he is so scared to lose his father after the death of his mother. They are both living on edge just waiting for the worst. However i do think the book moves at kind of a slow pace.
-Melissa Graham
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