Hello blog followers!
Unfortunately this will be my final blog post, but hopefully at least a few of
you have been inspired to read The Road after hearing my thoughts about
the novel. For my last post I decided to analyze the father and son
relationship since as it changed throughout the story along with my final
thoughts on the book.
At the beginning of the
novel the boy looks to the father for knowledge and guidance, believing
everything his father replied in return. This is seen when the son wakes up
from a nightmare and tells his father about the dream. The son says, “It was a
lot scarier in the dream. I know dreams can be really scary, [replies the
father]. Why did I have that scary dream? [asked the son]. I don’t know. But
it’s okay now. I’m going to put some wood on the fire. You go to sleep, [says
the father].” (Page 36) In this scene you can see how the son is looking to his
father for the answers to his questions and for his comfort. The boy remains
very curious early in the book as he continually asks his father questions
about the road like, “Why are they the state roads?...But there’s not any more
states?...What happened to them?...How long a while?” (Page 43) However as the
boy experiences and sees more things on the road, he starts to learn to use his
own judgement and not rely on his father's “truthful” answers.
You start to notice the
son is doubting his father’s choices when he tells his father he wishes he was
with his mother, dead; how being dead would be a better life than continually
walking on this road without a destination in sight. However this doubt is most
apparent after the son is almost killed by the bad guys. After seeking shelter
and safety, the son asks his father, “Are we still the good guys?” (Page 77)
The son had been told the bad people are trying to kill them, yet he just
watched his father kill a man. He does not doubt his father’s love for him but
begins to doubt the choices he is making. This doubt is strengthened by the
father not letting the son give any of his food away to strays on their
deathbeds the father and son encounter along their journey.
Over the course of the
book you can see how the boy goes from believing every word his father says and
relying on him for everything, to questioning his father’s choices, and then
finally learns to use his own judgement. When the son and father go for a walk
on the beach and find their stuff missing when they return, the father wants to
kill the man who stole everything. However, the son is begging the father to
leave him alone. The son has realized all they have done to survive is take
others’ belongings from houses they raided and anything left in the road. This
stranger is doing the same thing, trying to survive, yet his father wants to
shoot him.
The final scene of the
novel truly shows the sons growth in maturity. When his father dies he realizes
he must persevere for his father and continue to “carry the fire.” The son
decides to do what he wanted to do all along, help and team up with others in
the same position as him. As he walks out to the road he sees a man. Hesitant
at first to trust the stranger, he eventually joins him as they take off on the
road to return to the stranger’s family and continue his journey.
Overall I really enjoyed
this book. Although it can become slightly dull at parts, I found myself
holding onto every word on each page. I would rate the book 9 out of 10 and
strongly encourage others to read it if you need a good book. However I can’t
stress enough this is not a summertime beach book, you need to be prepared for
the dark side of humanity. That is one of the reasons I think this story was so
unique is because very few books focus on the dark reality humanity can lead
to.
First of all, thank you for agreeing to read this book with me. I know it took some convincing, because everyone knows how dark this book was said to be...but you took the risk and I'm really glad you enjoyed it so much. I enjoyed it too, except the ending, but besides the ending I was actually clinging to this book. For once in my life I was actually looking forward to going to bed early and reading.
ReplyDeleteNow back to your blog..
I really like your final choice blog to analyze the father and son's relationship. I do agree in the sense that their bond changed overtime as the boy matured. At first he looked to the man for all his answers, in a sense he was very unaware and childish. Later on, he began to form his own opinions and ideas, and even doubted the man's choices and refuted. While this story should not be looked at as a "coming of age" novel, it cannot be ignored that boy went through some intellectual growth as time went by. So here's a question, what do you think was more important to the father: was it his focus on morals and the boy's upbringing to be a good person? Or was it the boys safety at all times making sure he survived? These two focuses were conflicted when the father felt the need to kill someone.
Your discussion of the changing relationship between the boy and his father is thoughtful. While it's not a normal coming-of-age story, The Road does fit that category in some ways.
ReplyDeleteI find your comment about the darker aspects of humanity in literature interesting, as I usually hear from students that they feel all of the books we read are so depressing, and often that's because they are focused on the darker aspects of human nature. Macbeth, much? Slaughterhouse Five develops this idea a bit more too. Heart of Darkness would be a good one for comparison purposes. And most dystopia literature seems to explore this idea. If you're looking for a good comparison text, perhaps for your final novel project, you might try Station Eleven.
I think I found this story in particular to be more about the darker aspects of humanity than the other books we read because of its reality and ability to relate to. I'm not saying the chance of bad people taking over the world and having to walk on a destroyed road to find safety is a reality, but in the way of humans becoming poor, impoverished, and scared, and the effects physically and psychologically of when one is desperate to find food and shelter is. In comparison, The Handmaid's Tale seems less relatable to me because there aren't people around me living in societies where the women have zero power and some of their sole purposes is to have sex. Yes this shows a darker side of humanity as people view women powerless and their only purpose to reproduce, along with there being societies close to this in other countries, but this is less prevalent in my life than people being impoverished and desperate for basic life necessities.
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