The Road Cormac McCarthy

Journey into the Void

How do a father and son survive in a world that no longer exists? How does one avoid becoming evil when that is all that is left? Where do you find hope when all hope is lost?

In The Road a boy and his father lurch across the cold, wretched, wet, corpse-strewn, ashen landscape of a post-apocalyptic world with only a shopping cart full of the bare necessities and each other.

As you read the first twenty-five pages of the novel, keep track of those physical items (tangible) the father and son carry with them as well as those items you can not see (intangible) such as fear and hope. For each item you list explain how this item will help them on their journey or hurt them on their journey.

Tangible Items: physical items Intangible: non-physical Explain how EACH item could help or Explain how these feelings, emotions, possibly hurt them on their journey. dreams, morals/values could help or possibly hurt them on their journey. 1. Shopping Cart: this is how the boy and their father Worry: the father is burden by this feeling constantly. He transport all their possessions. It is a convenient method as must worry about whether or not the food will last and if long as they stay on the main road, but what happens when there is any place or anyone out there to build a life with. they go across a field. Also, it is something else they have to This is helpful because it keeps him motivated to move worry about hiding and protecting so it is definitely a burden forward, but is also harmful because it keeps his spirits down as well. and transfers to his son who worries about his father.