The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Monday: Activity One- Imagination Time- 1 period
Define post-apocalyptic. Use a dictionary to help you.
What movies or novels have you previously read that you could relate to this genre?
What do you imagine a post-apocalyptic world to be like? Use a page in your English book to draw a visual representation of what you imagine. Listen to “It’s the End of the World as we know it”- R.E.M- discuss
Tuesday Activity Two- Close Reading- 1 period
Use the hand-out of the first few pages of the novel (if you have your own copy you can choose to use this). The hand-out is yours to keep. Read the extract You will need highlighters
Questions to ponder and create answers to: 1.What do you immediately notice about the text? 2.What characters are introduced? How? Track comments about character throughout the four pages- use one colour 3.What is the setting (time, place, society) like? Use another colour 4.Can you pick up on any idea about theme? Use another colour 5.What quotes/sentences are standing out for you? Use another colour. 6.What can you find about style (simile, personification, metaphor, odd sentence structure…)? Use another colour 7.Is the style different in any way? 8.Can you find any mention of the passing of time? Use another colour 9.Answer the following questions in your English book: a.Why would I get you to complete an activity like this? What have you learnt from the task? b.What are your predictions for the story? How do you think it will develop?
Thursday/Monday Activity Three- Reading and comprehending the text
You need to read the text in class and for homework. Reading periods: Thursday period 5 Monday period 1
Note: if you finish early then you have time in class to work on the comprehension questions given for homework. You absolutely must have the entire novel read by: TUESDAY 31st APRIL p2
Comprehension questions: Compulsory to answer:
1. How did so many people survive the apocalypse? 2. Was it a nuclear blast? 3. Were there any animals in the novel? How many? 4. If there are no flowers or yellow taxis, candy or balloons, will memories keep these colours, tastes, smells and sights alive? 5. What was the best and worst thing that happened to the father and the son? 6. What was the father's favourite saying? 7. What was their last resort going to be? 8. Why do you think McCarthy wrote The Road? 9. Why did the father choose to survive and not the mother? What did he see that she could not? 10. What do you think the coast represents (physically and literally)? Why? 11. One man they meet on the road says "There is no God and we are his prophets." What does he mean by this? 12. What are the key moments that help push the father to keep striving on? 13. When does the boy become a man? What does he see that his father can’t? 14. What do you think McCarthy is saying about humanity in The Road? 15. What would you do in a world like this? Would it change your beliefs? What would you hope in? 16. What do you think of the end of The Road? After such a fate, could things be "put back again?" Could they be "made right?" 17. What do you think McCarthy is thinking of when he speaks of "the deep glens where all things are older than man and hum of mystery?" What does it make you think of? 18. Rate The Road on a scale of 1 to 5. Justify your position.
Extra questions: your choice either ETHICS or CANNIBALISM Ethics Questions 1.Does God still matter in a fallen world? 2.Does good and evil still battle in a world without rules? 3.Do the characters show their moral characters? How? 4.How does the son show his trust and faith in God in such a violent world? 5.Can hope stay alive in the hearts of man in the face of utter darkness and violence? 6.Can purity be as strong as evil? Cannibalism Questions 1.The world has ended as we know it. If there are no fish or birds or plants to eat, how long can humans exist? 2.Could they come up with a new way to live without resorting to cannibalism? 3.Is cannibalism to be expected? 4.Is cannibalism acceptable in disasters? What real-life cannibalistic events have occurred in the past? 5.At what point does man lose his soul? 6.Does life ever lose its value?
Activity Four- Developing understanding of the text- in-class Tuesday/Wednesday- 2 periods
1.Summarise the plot of the novel- two choices:
a.21 word summary
b.A,b,c,d… summary (Apocolypse Begins Creating Death…. Discuss these questions in your group- everyone write down some thoughts for each question. I want to hear discussion and critical analytical points being made 35 mins in groups 20 mins class discussion on some topics
Tuesday- Questions 1-4 Wednesday- Questions 5-8
1. Cormac McCarthy has an unmistakable prose style. What do you see as the most distinctive features of that style? How is the writing in The Road in some ways more like poetry than narrative prose?
2. Why do you think Cormac has chosen not to give his characters names? How do the generic labels of "the man" and "the boy" affect the way in which readers relate to them?
3. How is Cormac able to make the post-apocalyptic world of The Road seem so real and utterly terrifying? Which descriptive passages are especially vivid and visceral in their depiction of this blasted landscape? What do you find to be the most horrifying features of this world and the survivors who inhabit it?
4. Cormac doesn't make explicit what kind of catastrophe has ruined the earth and destroyed human civilization, but what might be suggested by the many descriptions of a scorched landscape covered in ash? What is implied by the father's statement that, "On this road there are no godspoke men. They are gone and I am left and they have taken with them the world,"?
5. As the father is dying, he tells his son he must go on in order to "carry the fire." When the boy asks if the fire is real, the father says, "It's inside you. It was always there. I can see it". What is this fire? Why is it so crucial that they not let it die?
6. Cormac envisions a post-apocalyptic world in which "murder was everywhere upon the land" and the earth would soon be "largely populated by men who would eat your children in front of your eyes". How difficult or easy is it to imagine Cormac's nightmare vision actually happening? Do you think people would likely behave as they do in the novel, under the same circumstances? Does it now seem that human civilization is headed toward such an end?
7.Cormac's work often dramatizes the opposition between good and evil, with evil sometimes emerging triumphantly. What does The Road ultimately suggest about good and evil? Which force seems to have greater power in the novel?
8.What makes the relationship between the boy and his father so powerful and poignant? What do they feel for each other? How do they maintain their affection for and faith in each other in such brutal conditions?
Activity Four- Theme- Death-
Thursday- 1 period
1.What do see about death in the novel? What imagery is composed to show us death- what descriptions do we see right from the start of the novel? Find three examples of death (animals, life, the world…). List the page number.
2.Share some examples with the class. Read passages out- imagine.
3.Note down the following:
Death
Death pervades from the onset through descriptions of the landscape, the protagonists' struggle to survive, and the constant threats of murder and starvation. The earth is already steeped in death and ashes. Most living creatures and plants have not survived the disaster that has destroyed civilization.
As the novel progresses, the reader becomes more acutely aware that the man is dying. "In the night he woke in the cold dark coughing and he coughed till his chest was raw.... He knelt there wheezing softly, his hands on his knees. I am going to die, he said. Tell me how I am to do that". His encroaching death, evidenced by his worsening cough and the increasing amounts of blood he spits out, stalks the reader.
Even descriptions with rich colours and textures serve as reminders of death. When the man dreams of his wife, of his life before the universal destruction, he considers these dreams to be the call of death beckoning him from the bleak reality of his present life. These brief passages throughout The Road only highlight the world's inertial motion towards death, a force that also seems to drive the protagonists on their journey, especially for the father.
Activity Five- Theme- Paternal Love-
Tuesday- 1 period
1.What is paternal love? What examples from other literature can you think of? Think about it and share ideas with your group- 2 minutes
2.Discuss meaning with the class
3.What examples of paternal love from the novel can you remember? 8 minutes
Write them down- try and find page numbers/quotes
Copy Down:
The theme of paternal love is ubiquitous (ever-present) given the relationship of the two protagonists. The man's thirst for survival is fuelled by the love for his son. While the man may expect his own death, he lives in order to seek life for the boy. Unlike his wife in her suicide, the man does not wish to "save" his son from civilization's destruction, rape, murder, and cannibalism by killing him pre-emptively.
The man's love for his son does drive him to ensure his son's survival. The man frequently demonstrates the strength of this love, most obviously in his unflinching decision to shoot and kill the man who threatens the boy's life. Throughout the entire journey, the man does not kill out of malice or for food. He only hurts others (the man who attacks the boy and the thief who takes their cart) when they have threatened the boy's survival.
Activity Six- Theme- Survival and Resilience Wednesday- 1 period
Do Now: Wednesday: Copy this quote and explain its significance
“He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The crushing vacuum of the universe. And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like groundfoxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it.”
Significance: Earth continuing on oblivious to the suffering of its remaining inhabitants The Earth is in its own death from whatever calamity has struck- no future, no means of survival for its survivors Hunted animals- represent the man and the boy, living in spite of the Earth’s disinterest, witnessing this wasteland
In groups, everyone draw a grid of four- Write the theme of Survival and Resilience in the centre Add in the four following questions- one in each quarter:
o To survive you must hold onto hope. Is this always true? o What makes the father survive and what does he do to survive? o Is Survival at all costs an acceptable principle to live by? Explain how this relates to the novel. o The boy’s mother gives up. Should she have fought harder to survive? OR What makes the boy survive, even after his father dies?
You have 30 minutes to complete the grid- that’s roughly 6 minutes per quarter. All questions relate to the novel- find evidence (quotes!!) to support your ideas. This is going on the wall- be neat, tidy, and create this as a revision tool for the class.
Final question (for class discussion):
o Overall, do you think the novel presents a pessimistic or optimistic message? . Think, share with your neighbour your thoughts. . Share thoughts with the class- be prepared to justify your thoughts and opinions!
Handout: Survival and resilience
To survive you must hold onto hope. Is this always true?
Within the novel, the characters must hold onto hope in order to have the mental strength to keep going.
The boy needs constant reminders of who they are, what they stand for, that they are the “good guys” and are “carrying the fire”- which are attributed to hope, seeing as this is their way reinforcing their purpose in life, and therefore remaining hopeful. “Are we still the good guys. Yes we’re still the good guys. And we always will be. Yes. We always will be” Without hope there would be no narrative drive. The father truly believes that they will find food, shelter and the “good guys,” as well as believing that when they reach the beach, everything will be “okay.” “Why do you think we’re going to die? “What would you do if I died? We don’t have anything to eat. If you died I would want to die too” We’ll find something.”
“And we’re still going south. Yes. So we’ll be warm. Yes.”
What makes the father survive and what does he do to survive?
Desperation and resilience make the father survive; desperation to not end up doing what his wife did and resilience in the face of adversity to overcome the odds, which are heavily in favour of the “bad guys,” and to continue surviving. “The dream bore the look of sacrifice but he thought differently.” The main reason for the man’s survival is the boy. The man answers all of his questions, some banal and most repetitive, but the man sees this as a way to escape his pain. By focussing on the boy, the man must forget about his own situation and pain and therefore he is able to survive for longer by forgetting about his predicament. “My job is to take of you. I was appointed to protect you by God.” “I will kill anyone who touches you. Do you understand.”
What makes the boy survive, even after his father dies?
The boy’s father mostly makes the boy survive. Through reinforcement of the positives and the suppression of the negatives, the father pushes the boy and effectively forces him to survive. “I wish I was with my mom. “We’re going to be okay arent we Papa… You mean you wish you were dead because we’re carrying the fire. Yes Yes…Because we’re carrying the fire.” You musn’t say that… It’s a bad thing to say” Through this reinforcement, the boy knows almost instinctively what to do, and what sort of people he should be looking for, upon his father’s passing. The boy has also transitioned from the boy to father role, in the sense that at the end of the novel, he takes care of the father, instead of vice versa
Is Survival at all costs an acceptable principle to live by? Explain how this relates to the novel.
What the novel details is a new world, a new way of life with very few rules and no- one to enforce them. Any belief in the metaphysical are now gone, and as such the reader is left wondering what constitutes an ‘acceptable principle’ in this new world. It is clear that it is not what we would define as acceptable, but we have had millennia of (religious) beliefs from which our moral sense of nearly everything stems from. Therefore, in our world, no, survival at all costs is not an acceptable principal to live by, with regards to cannibalism and murder. However, in this new world, it is accepted as being the only way to survive, meaning it is an acceptable principal to live by. “They are going to rape us and kill us and eat us.”
The boy’s mother gives up. Should she have fought harder to survive?
This could go either way, depending on what your personal beliefs regarding suicide are, but here are the facts:
In the novel, when the mother kills herself, she leaves behind the father and son. This means that the father must assume the role of both mother and father to the child, as well as having the difficult task of educating the boy on what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong.’ In a sense, the mother killing herself opens up the door for the rest of the novel to be about the relationship between the father and son; the father choosing the son over death. Also, without the mother, it is one less mouth to feed and one less person to worry about within the group. On the flip side, the mother killing herself could be seen as a selfish act, done solely for her own benefit and with a total disregard for the father or the son. She talks about how “[her] heart was ripped out of [her] the night [the boy] was born,” which could be a link to depression of some kind. She also tells the father she hopes “for eternal nothingness,” and that she does not wish to see the boy before she dies. Some could see this as selfish and that the suicide was done under the guise of sacrifice, but was just an easy way out for her. Interpret how you want: “The dream bore the look of sacrifice but he thought differently.”
Overall, do you think the novel presents a pessimistic or optimistic message?
Once again, this all depends on what you define as pessimistic and optimistic, so here is one view of each:
In the face of certain doom, the man and boy overcome adversity and the “bad guys” and hold onto hope. They hold onto their good morals and keep their position within the novel as the “good guys.” This then carries an optimistic message because they never give up, never lose hope or faith in one another
This could be a pessimistic message, because the novel is more about the journey than the outcome. They reach the beach and realise that it is neither what they were expecting nor hoping for, so they continue walking because that has been what’s carried them thus far. In this sense, it is inconsequential that the father dies at the end, because the journey has led them to this point. This is symbolic of the new world as it shows how there are no traditional happy endings anymore- hence the father must die in order to keep within the bounds of the story. This is therefore a pessimistic message because it holds a doom and gloom future for the fate of humanity.
“Because we’re the good guys “Im sorry son its not blue” Yes. Because we’re the good guys.”
“You’re the best guy. You always were.”
Activity Seven- Theme- Faith and Doubt, Trust, Good vs Evil Thursday/Friday- 2 periods
Copy this quote and explain its significance “You wanted to know what the bad guys looked like. Now you know. It may happen again. My job is to take care of you. I was appointed to do that by God. I will kill anyone who touches you. Do you understand? Yes. He sat there cowled in the blanket. After a while he looked up. Are we still the good guys? he said. Yes. We’re still the good guys.”
Significance:
Shows the depth of the man’s love for the boy Shows son’s growing concerns Shows difference morality between the two. To the man his killing is justified because it was committed to the act of saving his son. Meanwhile his son is worried that they may be turning bad.
o In your group decide on one of the following theme: Faith and Doubt Trust Good vs. Evil o Your group is to create notes on your chosen theme on the A4 paper provided (your group may have several pieces if you need them- you must fill at least one sheet) o Things to add:
. How your theme is shown in the novel?
. Examples and evidence- quotes? . What was McCarthy trying to show by adding this theme/using it?
. Any other important pieces of information you can think of. You will need to present your information to the class- a 5-10 minute presentation. o Time:
This period to prepare
Next period to share o Note: Your posters will be photocopied and used as class notes.
Activity Eight- Character Friday/Monday- 2 periods
Do now: Monday: Copy this quote and explain why you think it is significant. “The world shrinking down about a core or parsible entities. The names of things slowly following those things into oblivion. Colors. Then names of birds. Things to eat. Finally the names of things one believed to be true. More fragile that he would have thought. How much was gone already?”
Significance:
Post-apocalyptic world reduced to basic elements Names of things slowly being forgotten by the remaining humans, following the things themselves into oblivion (colours, food, birds…)
Eventually the capacity to feel hope, empathy, love, emotion…
While in the absence of naming, memory, and narration- the object/concept no longer exists in a meaningful way.
Use two pages in your English Books for each character – The Man and the Boy
Rule up two charts like this (one chart will take two pages)
Appearanc e
Dialogue
Interaction between characters
Emotions/r eactions to events/peo ple
Actions
Thoughts Language techniques imagery/ symbolism
Handout: Character in The Road - The Man Appear Dressed in many layers of clothing. ance Physically strong due to walking long distances, but slowly dying of lung disease probably from the ash or radiation.
“He looked at the boy out of his sunken haggard eyes. Some new distance lay between them. He could feel it.” Dialogu Reassures the boy frequently. Their dialogue is marked by a rhythmic formula, with the boy repeating e his father’s phrasing, and ending in most cases with an exchange of “okays”.
“He wiped the blood from his face and held him. It’s okay, he said. It’s okay.” “This is my child, he said. I wash a dead man’s brains out of his hair. That is my job.”
“My job is to take care of you. I was appointed to do that by God. I will kill anyone who touches you. Do you understand? Interact While the man’s role is that of protector, it is the boy’s survival that keeps the man going. They need ion each other equally, but in different ways. In the latter stages of the book, when the man is the most betwee discouraged in himself, he is the most encouraging of n the boy. charact ers “When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he’d reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him.”
“What would you do if I died? If you died I would want to die too. So you could be with me? Yes. So I could be with you. Okay.”
“He watched the boy sleeping. Can you do it? When the time comes? Can you?”
“This what the good guys do. They keep trying. They don’t give up. Okay.” Emotio The man sees every other person as a threat, with justification. He doesn’t allow pity to cloud his ns/reac judgement. As a result, his son begins to doubt their status as ‘the good guys’. tions to events/ When the man visits his derelict childhood home he is overtaken by memories and emotions from a people world that no longer exists. “He felt with his thumb… the pinholes from tacks that had held stockings forty years ago.” “The boy watched him. Watched shapes claiming him he could not see. We should go, Papa, he said. Yes, the man said. But he didn’t.” Actions The man is incredibly resourceful – using dregs from oil cans to run lamps and using a motorcycle mirror on a shopping cart to watch the road behind them, for example.
He shoots and kills a road agent who holds the boy hostage. “The man fell back instantly and lay with blood bubbling from the hole in his forehead.”
He is persistent in his drive to keep the two of them moving, in the hope of keeping his son alive. “What’s the bravest thing you ever did? He spat into the road a bloody phlegm. Getting up this morning, he said. Though In the early stages of the book the man frequently dreams of the world that has passed; his wife, ts colourful scenes. He sees this as a dangerous thing, that it makes death attractive and he needs to stay focussed on his role as protector of the boy.
“Are you there? he whispered. Will I see you at the last? Have you a neck by which to throttle you? Have you a heart? Damn you eternally have you a soul? Oh God, he whispered. Oh God.”
“Mostly he worried about their shoes. That and food. Always food.”
“…it might well be as she had said. That the boy was all that stood between him and death.” Langua The man comes to realise that he has no place in this new world – he is physically and mentally ge deteriorating and also sees that techniq the memories and understandings he has from the old world is largely irrelevant in the new. ues imager “Maybe he understood for the first time that to the boy he was himself an alien. A being from a planet that no y/ longer existed.” symboli sm The Boy Appearance The boy is under-sized and loses weight when he gets sick partway through the novel. He is blonde and ‘angelic’ and fragile. “See[s] into the boys face … he very much feared that something was gone that could not be put right again.”
“The razorous shoulder blades sawing under the pale skin. Running naked and leaping and screaming into the slow roll of the surf.” Dialogue The boy’s need for reassurance translates into a litany. He needs to repeatedly hear what it is they stand for in order to hold on to something he has never seen or experienced for himself (the essence of faith?) Are we still the good guys? Yes. We’re still the good guys. “And we always will be. Yes. We always will be. Okay.”
“I always believe you. I don’t think so. Yes I do. I have to.” Interaction As the novel progresses the boy begins to see his father through ‘older’ eyes, recognising him for between the flawed human he is characters yet still needing the relationship. “I have to watch you all the time, the boy said. I know. If you break little promises you’ll break big ones. That’s what you said. I know. But I wont.”
“The boy watched him. In some other world the child would already have begun to vacate him from his life. But he had no life other.” Emotions/re The boy has internalised the values of his father’s teachings and expects them both to manifest actions to them, but the man knows events/peop the world they now live in doesn’t provide the luxury of caring for others. le “He was crying again. What about the little boy he sobbed. What about the little boy?”
“What you put in your head is there forever? Yes. It’s okay Papa. It’s okay? They’re already there. I dont want you to look. They’ll still be there.”
“And they set along the road south, with the boy crying and looking back at the nude and slatlike creature standing there in the road shivering and hugging himself.” Actions After an initial obedient acceptance the boy begins to develop his own ideas. This change is demonstrated in small rebellions and a withdrawal.
Throws his flute away. Waits on the road once his father dies. Thoughts The boy has come to realise his role as survivor; that he has to take on the responsibility of living in this new world. In a sense he becomes his father’s (and humanity’s) legacy for the future.
“You’re not the one who has to worry about everything. The boy said something but he couldnt understand him. What? he said. He looked up, his wet and grimy face. Yes I am, he said. I am the one.” Language The boy is presented as the vessel in which all that was good in humankind has been preserved. techniques/ He is a receptacle for imagery/ values that no longer guide interactions between people. This is the man’s vision of the boy, and symbolism he teaches the boy his responsibility. “Golden chalice, good to house a god. Please don’t tell me how the story ends.”
“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. Because we’re carrying the fire. Yes. because we’re carrying the fire.”
Activity Nine: Genre
Wednesday- 1 period Do Now: Copy this quote and explain its significance
“Maybe he understood for the first time that to the boy himself he was an alien. A being from a planet that no longer existed. The tales of which were suspect. He could not construct for the child’s pleasure the world he’d lost without constructing the loss as well and he thought perhaps the child had known this better than he.”
Significance: Tells of the power of storytelling to create realities Father tells son “tales” about life before Tales are hard to believe as they are so unlike what is current reality Pre-apocalyptic world thus alien to the son, who only knows life after the disaster
Complete Genre Worksheet
The Road
Definition Modern post-apocalyptic literature is generally considered to be a form of science-fiction as it must necessarily create an imagined ‘other’ or future world where the current forms of technology, society and survival no longer exist. This is usually the result of a plague/pandemic, nuclear war, extra-terrestrial attack or some natural event that has rid the world of its population and the associated technology and social structures. There are usually a small number of survivors, and their efforts at building a new life are the focus of the literature. E.g. The Day of the Triffids
Some post-apocalyptic fiction is also dystopian, sharing a negative vision of “dangerous and alienating future societies”. Human life suffers from deprivation, oppression or terror. There is usually a controlling government in place to ‘protect the people’ from the mistakes of the past. There is often a hero who stands against the prevailing system (usually governmental) and who can be either successful or not. Dystopian writing often contains explicit warnings for the reader about the direction society is heading in, either environmentally or socially. E.g. 1984, V for Vendetta
Another subset of post-apocalyptic fiction is the dying earth genre. This literature focuses on a world that has either been mistreated by its inhabitants, causing it to no longer sustain either its people or itself, or a world whose sun is fading, leaving the earth in darkness and extinction. Like dystopian writing, dying earth literature often contains a warning for humanity, either in regard to our use of resources or a sense of time running out. E.g. The Time Machine
History of genre
Literature and mythology dealing with the end of the world and of human society has been around for a very long time.
Judaic, Mesopotamian: Noah’s ark Judaic: The Book of Daniel (Old Testament of the Bible) Christian: The Book of Revelation and some apocryphal prophetic writings Some medieval writings
The first work of modern apocalyptic fiction may be Mary Shelley's 1826 novel The Last Man, which finishes with a post-plague world. Since 1900 there has been an increase of books and films with the development of the Cold War, the use of atomic weapons and the threat of nuclear attack and biological warfare.
Task
1.Think about The Road in terms of genre. Draw a table similar to the one below and record what elements in the novel fit the various genres and sub-genres. Some will have more entries than others.
Genre Features from the novel Post-apocalyptic fiction Dystopian fiction Dying Earth fiction
2.Does The Road contain warnings for us? Explain, giving evidence from the text.
3.Do you think McCarthy’s focus is more on humanity’s fate (the environment, war) or humanity’s character (how we treat each other, our values)? Discuss, giving evidence from the text.
Activity Ten: Colour Symbolism Friday- 1 period
Do Now: Copy this quote and explain its significance
“Do you think that your fathers are watching? That they weigh you in their ledgerbook? Against what? There is no book and your fathers are dead in the ground.”
Significance: Questions the existence of a higher power or afterlife Idea that a person is the final judge of their own actions Utter rejection of religious belief- moves novel further into the world of evil and violence?
Colours in The Road Choose two of the following colours: o Grey o Black o Blue o Red/orange o Yellow
You have 20 minutes to find as many examples of your colours as you can- write the examples and the page numbers down. What do your colours represent? What do they mean?
10 minutes to share
10 minutes to discuss handout
Homework: Read the handout properly
Handout: Colour Imagery in The Road
Grey Examples Ash, snow, dawn, afternoon, light, sea/river foam, mist, sea.
Quotes “Nights dark beyond darkness and the days more gray each one than what had gone before. Like the onset of some cold glaucoma dimming away the world.”
“The shape of a city stood in the greyness like a charcoal drawing sketched across the waste.”
“He looked at the sky. A single grey flake sifting down.”
“The wet grey flakes … grey slush by the roadside.”
“…the stark grey world appeared again and again out of the night.”
“The chary dawn, the cold illucid world … A colourless world of wire and crepe.” “The man squatted and looked at the grey and wasted figure under the tilted sheet of plywood.”
Symbolism Lifelessness, barrenness, corruption of the pure (snow), inevitability, monotony.
Black Examples Water, blacktop (asphalt), dead trees, road, ice, stones, diesel smoke, burned effigies
Quotes “The blackness he woke to on those nights was sightless and impenetrable. A blackness to hurt your ears with listening… No sound but the wind in those bare and blackened trees… that cold autistic dark.”
“The black water running from under the sodden drifts of ash.”
“The fire was dead and black on the ground.”
“Dark of the invisible moon, the nights only slightly less black.”
“The thin black trees.” “The hot black mastic sucking at their shoes.”
“Sketched upon the pall of soot downstream the outline of a burnt city like a black paper scrim.”
“The soft black talc blew through the streets like squid ink uncoiling along a sea floor.”
“Everything melted and black… Figures half mired in the blacktop, clutching themselves, mouths howling.”
Symbolism Death, isolation, stasis, invisibility, corruption, fear, a hostile world.
Blue Examples Tarpaulin, sky (in dreams), “frail blue flame” of the lighter
Quotes “Sited there in the darkness the frail blue shape of it looked like the pitch of some last venture at the end of the world.”
“And the child and the sky was aching blue but he was learning how to wake himself from just such siren worlds.”
“Is it blue? ... The sea? I don’t know. It used to be.”
“I’m sorry it’s not blue, he said. That’s okay, said the boy.”
“He kept asking him about his shoulder, blue and discoloured from where he’d slammed it against the hatch door. It’s all right, the man said. It doesn’t hurt. We got lots of stuff.”
“…turned and lay holding the child, watching the blue flames through the plastic.”
Symbolism Hope, survival, safety.
Red/ Examples orange Blood spray (coughing), scarves/clothing of marauders, balefires, forest-fires, snow in firelight, the boy’s birth (memory), lines on the map
Quotes “…stark and gray and a raw red mudbank where a roadworks lay abandoned.”
“There fires burning high in the mountains and at night they could see the light from them deep orange in the soot-fall.”
“All wearing red scarves at their neck, red or orange, as close to red as they could find.”
“On the grey snow a fine mist of blood.”
“The snow orange and quivering. The colour in it moved something in him long forgotten.”
“He held aloft the scrawny red body so raw and naked…”
“… this tiny paradise trembling in the orange light from the heater and then he fell asleep.”
Symbolism Obstacles to be overcome, the scarred earth, danger, comfort, the journey.
Yellow Examples The boy’s hair, toy truck, brick hearth in father’s old home, gold scrollwork in memory of theatre visit with wife, items from the boat, the new man in the yellow parka at the end.
Quotes “He sat beside him and stroked his pale and tangled hair. Golden chalice, good to house a god.”
“They walked through the dining room where the firebrick in the hearth was as yellow as the day it was laid because his mother could not bear to see it blackened.”
“The boy found toys he’d forgot he had. He kept out a yellow truck and they went on with it sitting on top of the tarp.”
“He found a pair of yellow rubber seaboots… and pulled on the stiff yellow breeches.”
“Inside was a yellow plastic flashlight… a yellow plastic EPIRB…”
“The man that hove into view and stood there looking at him was dressed in a gray and yellow ski parka.”
Symbolism Rescue, hope for mankind, salvation, and some items represent a golden world that has gone and the redundancy of those items in this new world. Activity Eleven: Colour Revision, Creation of a revision poster Monday- 1 period
Do Now: Tuesday: Copy this quote and explain its significance
“You’re not the one who has to worry about everything. The boy said something but he couldnt understand him. What? he said. He looked up, his wet and grimy face. Yes I am, he said. I am the one.”
Significance: Man thinking of his son as a godly product- mission to protect the boy carried out in religious terms and with religious fervor Perhaps the boy doesn’t realize the world’s survivor could depend on his own survival? Since he metaphorically carries the fire (in Greek Mythology, Prometheus steals the fire and brings it to mankind) Boy the representative of the remnants of society- the new generation that might lead to new, peaceful civilisation
Creation of a revision poster This activity is for your own personal use- you may create it how you wish. On your A4 poster you have this period to create a revision tool for The Road. Things you may wish to add: o Character notes o Important quotes you want to remember o Theme notes o Link to the outside world- beyond the text- what was McCarthy trying to get us to think about? o Drawings, colour, texture… Activity Twelve: Film Viewing Tuesday/Thursday/Friday- 3 periods
Do Now: Wednesday: Copy this quote and explain its significance
“You have to carry the fire. I don’t know how to. Yes you do. Is it real? The fire? Yes it is. Where is it? I don’t know where it is. Yes you do. It’s inside you. It was always there. I can see it.”
Significance:
Fire= symbol of everlasting hope and human resilience. Instead of succumbing to evil, the boy carries the fire and does not compromise his morality.
Watching the film- 113 minutes- Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
FRIDAY: Give 2.1 essay questions In class essay: Wednesday 6 th June period 2 After viewing the film answer this question in your English book:
In your opinion- how does the film represent the novel? Answer independently then share with the class.
Activity Thirteen: Preparation for the essay Monday/Tuesday/Tuesday- 3 periods
Colour revision: From the colour handout what colour do you remember the most about? Choose a colour and write down at least two ways it is mentioned in the novel? What does your chosen colour represent?