Sunday, August 21, 2011

The Road (Question 7)

I think the question that McCarthy is trying to answer is, How can you live when there really is nothing to live for? This was the depressing story of a man and his young son trying to make it to the south through this post-apocalyptic world. The man's wife commits suicide before they begin their journey and this creates more problems. They have to survive in this harsh winter and things aren't getting better for them. They 're hungry, tired, and dirty. They seem to be the last people on planet and everything is desert like and dead. How do you continue to live when deep down you know your going to die? What will you do in order to insure safety to child? The story was a test of survival for these two people in which the father dies and leaves his child alone. McCarthy answers this question in a way by having the boy meeting another family that says they will take care of him.
Posted by Imani at 6:40 PM

2 comments:

Maya said...

Reading The Road, I came up with essentially the same question as you did. (I said that I thought the question McCarthy was trying to answer was How do we keep living when there is nothing seemingly left.)

The question brings up thoughts of survival, and trying to get through life, and it speaks to the fears of life and death. I agree with everything you say here, but I also think it has a lot to do with hope.

The man's wife/the boy's mother lost hope, and I feel that that is the reason she took her own life. When the boy's father dies, it seems to me that he is almost out of hope, that he has almost given up, but his father's talk of 'carrying the flame' reminds him not to give up, and finding this new family, who will care for him, is a new hope, and another way to survive.

August 22, 2011 at 10:13 AM
Sarah C. said...

I came up with a different question when reading the book, but I think yours is really good.

I also completely agree with Maya that it comes down to hope. If the man had no hope, he would do what the woman did, and kill himself, and the boy. That would be the easy out. But, this hope keeps him going south. South is hope, that somewhere things will be better. As long as they can keep moving, there is still hope.

August 22, 2011 at 7:06 PM

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