The Road Flashcards
What is ‘the road’ about
Bleak journey of a man and his son across a post-apocalyptic landscape seeking survival and safety offered by the coast
- story of love, courage and innocence in a horrific world
Author of The Road and when was it published
2006 by Cormac McCarthy
What are 3 words that describe the tone of the Road
Morbid, dark and depressing
What is the overall affect of the Road on the reader
- familiar becomes unfamiliar
- cognitive dissonance
- confronted and uncomfortable
What is the constant tone and setting of the road and why is it used?
Bleakness never let’s up
- “nights dark beyond darkness and days more gray each one that what had gone before”
- constructs horrific world
- damaged beyond repair
What is different about McCarthy’s writings style and what effect does it have
Punctuation is sparse and unpredictable with wrong use of grammar
- suits and reflects world he is describing = wrong and unpredictable
Why doesn’t McCarthy use names for characters?
Creates cognitive dissonance (physiological discomfort)
- keels reader intrigued
- gives characters sense of anonymity
- take away what they hold dear - no longer as important as survival
Why does McCarthy use flashbacks in a largely linear structure?
- disrupt order
- dreams vs. Reality
- maintain suspense
- creates disjointed narrative: mood of confusing and isolation
- society is disjointed
What can be said of the ending of The Road
Some sort of hope (with caution)
- “keepers of the fire”
- symbolise goodness of human spirit and will to survive
How is man vs nature conflict represented in The Road
Struggle of survival in destroyed landscape
- land becomes the antagonists
How is man vs man and man vs self conflict represented in The Road
Quagmire of human frailty
- good vs evil
- what classifies as evil when you are try to survive
- “can you do it? when the time comes?”
‘The Road’ theme: deification of the boy by the father
- explain
- use quote/ example
Uses religious connotations and language when referring to the boy
Father treats boy as a redemptive figure
- ‘if he is not the word of God, God never spoke’
- John 1:14
‘The Road’ theme: deification of the boy - the one
- explain
- use quote/ example
‘Yes I am, he said, I am the one’
- Matthew 14:62
‘The Road’ theme: deification of the boy - light
- explain
- use quote/ example
” there was light all about him”
- John 8:12
Why does McCarthy is spiritual references, especially in referring to the boy?
Help reader feel hope
Present boy as Jesus
- miracle and saviour
- goodness and compassion that will ultimately redeem world
‘The Road’ theme: values vs. Survival
- explain
- use quote/ example
Conflict between betraying values of life to survive
- value of perseverance
- “this is what the good guys do. They keep trying. They never give up.”
How is parental love represented as a God given duty in The Road
Do anything to protect and ensure the survival of the boy
- “My job is to take care of you. I was appointed to do that by God. I will kill any one who touches you.”
What drives the father forward in the will to survive regardless of his illness and encroaching death in The Road
Love for his son
- “the boy was all that stood between him and death”
What does fire symbolise in the road?
Symbolises life, courage, and strength
- ability to see the way forward
- “keep carrying the fire”
