MBA


 * Do you think that McCarthy is successful in his character development in the book so far?
 * Did a good job of giving us what we needed to know, but still keeping an air of mystery.
 * You learn a little bit about his past from the dream, but then you are forced to think about his present when he starts to cough up blood
 * The son gives off the illusion that he is only between seven and 10.
 * Makes you wonder how long they have been living like this.
 * What do you think was the hook in the book? At which point did you get hooked?
 * very beginning, you realize they are alone in the woods, want to find out why
 * The very begining when they are alone in the woods and you are not sure why the world became undone
 * In your opinion do you think that McCarthy had an effective beginning to this novel?
 * In your opinion do you think that McCarthy had an effective beginning to this novel?
 * If you enjoy this type of literature then you will enjoy the beginning
 * Do you think that on page 12 McCarthy made them walk through the city to show the sheer and utter destruction of something that is so symbolic within America? If not then what do you think is the symbolism for showing a destructed city?
 * It is just to show the destruction and what has happened to the rest of the world.
 * On page 20 do why do you think McCarthy compares them to farm animals?
 * Its kind of what they have become. There is no difference between the way that they are living and they way a farm animal used to live.
 * What do you think about the lack of quotes around the dialog?
 * It is a bit confusing because it is hard to tell who is talking
 * Possibly just to make the book more interesting
 * Connections:
 * The dad reminds us of MacGyver
 * The relationship between the father and son reminds us of Taken
 * It is interesting that their only means of survival is to stick close to the road

When is it all about taking care of yourself and when is it about taking care of each other?
 * **Skeins** - "They crossed a river by a concrete bridge where skeins of ash and slurry moved slowly in the current (51)."
 * a length of thread or yarn, loosely coiled and knotted


 * **Gyrus** - "To hear it you will need a frontal lobe and things with names like colliculus and temporal gyrus and you won't have them anymore (64)."
 * a ridge or fold between two clefts on the cerebral surface in the brain


 * **Colliculus** - "To hear it you will need a frontal lobe and things with names like colliculus and temporal gyrus and you won't have them anymore (64)."
 * a small protuberance, esp. one of two pairs in the roof of the midbrain, involved respectively in vision and hearing

=**Discussion 2**=
 * Would you have sided with the father or the wife? Do you think the dad made the right decision?
 * Agreed with the mom because it would be better if the boy didn't know what was going on.
 * Agreed with the dad because its your child and he loves the boy. If there is any hope in living through it, I would want to do it with y whole family
 * When the pair passed an man struck by lightning, they reacted very different from each other. What were their reactions and what do their reactions say about them?
 * The boy wanted to help the man which shows how naive he is because he doesn't know what the man could do to them.
 * The dad was very weary about the man. He didn't want to help the man because he could afford to help him.
 * Go to page 51. Read the middle passage? What was the father doing? Do you think he did the right thing, for himself and for his son?
 * Its symbolically letting the mom go. Not necessarily hating her but getting over her death.
 * He did the right thing for the boy.
 * The son frequently asks his dad questions. What does this show about him? His education? Based on our knowledge so far, do you think the son could survive on his own?
 * The questions show that he had no formal education but it also shows that he is very curious. He couldn't survive on his own. He would die from emotional confusion and pain.
 * Dad any have some type of medical background from before all of this madness.
 * When do you think the apocalypse happened?
 * Before the boy was born but during the mom's pregnancy.
 * At what point did they decide to leave? What made it so dangerous for them to leave their house?

=Discussion 3=

>> the people who kept prisoners in the basement to be eaten > =Discussion 4:= =Example of Integrity/ Honesty:= = Vocabulary: =
 * **Why do you think the boy keeps bringing up the question, "Are we still the good guys?"**
 * because the son doesn't know if they are still doing the right things, and he wonders what point that their survival becomes more important than their morals, when survival becomes more important than other people lives
 * **Who are "the marchers"?**
 * ** Would the father be able to kill his son if he needed to? What about the son? **
 * we don't think, that when it comes down to it, the father couldn't actually kill his son, he wouldn't be able to handle the guilt
 * the son couldn't kill his father, he doesn't have the mindset or the strength to
 * **What does the father think about their future in the world? Does he think they will survive or die?**
 * the father is willing to contemplate killing his son at any point that it gets to bad because he doesn't want to son to suffer if there is truly, absolutely no hope
 * =**Connections**=
 * Radioactive- page 88, the world is a terrible place but there is still hope
 * Demons- when the boy says he is scared, it reminded us of how parents try to shield their kids and protect them from the world
 * pg 93, discussion on how he stopped talking, how some people become mute and withdrawn as a way to cope when they go through traumatic experiences
 * =Quotes=
 * "Take it [the pistol]... If they find you you are going to have to do it. Do you understand? Shh. No crying... Do you understand?. I think so. No. Do you understand Yes. Say yes I do Papa. Yes I do Papa. He looked down at him. All he saw was terror. He took the gun from him. No you don't, he said" (113)
 * shows whether the father and son would actually give up and die if it got really hopeless, the father is trying to make sure the son and do what needed to be done in case he dies
 * "It was desperation that had led him to such carelessness and he knew that he could not do that again. No matter what" (117).
 * the father can't let his desperation overtake his planning because it leads them to danger, he needs to keep a clear mind in order to keep his son and himself alive
 * "There were times when he sat watching the boy sleep that he would begin to sob uncontrollably but it wasn't about death. He wasn't sure what it was about but he thought it was about beauty or about goodness. Things that he'd no longer any way to think about at all" (129).
 * he sees his son as the last good thing he has, without him the father wouldn't have a reason to survive, the son represents things like goodness and innocence and he doesn't want to see that be destroyed but as the book goes on it slows starts to disappear, only so much he could hide from his son and the more the boy sees the less innocent he stays, there is no going back from that
 * he sees his son as the last good thing he has, without him the father wouldn't have a reason to survive, the son represents things like goodness and innocence and he doesn't want to see that be destroyed but as the book goes on it slows starts to disappear, only so much he could hide from his son and the more the boy sees the less innocent he stays, there is no going back from that
 * Do agree with the fathers statement on page 137? When he says "This is what the good guys do. They keep trying. They don't give up"(137). At what point does the not giving up and doing whatever you can to survive go too far?
 * We agree with what the father said because in every hero book the hero never gives up. When it comes to the never giving up in the dads case he is focusing everything on the son and not really taking care of himself.
 * It goes a bit too extreme. In the fathers case he is not really looking out for the boys future.
 * Sometimes the good guys are so focused on the end goal they they dont see the whole picture.
 * Is it worth saving the son?
 * Why do you think that the boy almost always says that he is okay?
 * He notices that the father isn't doing well so to ensure that the father thinks that he is okay.
 * Might be a way to convince himself that he is okay
 * How did you feel/react when they found the bunker?
 * We were happy for them.
 * They actually had enough food and they were able to not have to worry for a bit.
 * Do you think that they should have stayed at the bunker longer?
 * Yes they should have
 * It obviously hadn't been used. Since it had been there for nine years and no one found it then the odds of someone else finding it were very low.
 * It was fairly secluded
 * What do you think of the boys insistence of thanking the people who left the food in the bunker? What do you think that reveals about the boy and his character?
 * It shows that he really is a compassionate and good hearted kid.
 * He just thought that it was the right thing to do.
 * It was adorable.
 * He has so much hope for someone who has never seen good.
 * Shows how children are naturally good.
 * What do you think of the fathers dream that he has where he is visited by creatures of another species? What do you think he was being visited by or what do you imagine they look like? What do you think about the comparison of the boy to some alien species?
 * The comparison of the boy to an alien is accurate because in this world he kind of is because he is good hearted and kind.
 * Do you think that they did the right thing by inviting the old man to eat with them? and what do you think of the old man overall and his moral character. Do you think he is one of the good guys?
 * If you have to decide between good and bad guys then he would be considered a good guy, but he is more ambivalent.
 * He is more just there.
 * What do you think the beach will be like? Do you think it will be even remotely like they imagined?
 * I don't think that it will be like what the father imagines.
 * What do you think of the boys nightmare? p. 183 is it foreshadowing something?
 * It shows that the boy knows that the dad is dying.
 * Do you think that there are other good guys?
 * Yes
 * I would be ignorant to think that they were the only good guys to survive.
 * Yes
 * I would be ignorant to think that they were the only good guys to survive.
 * Integrity: They refuse to eat people. The father said that no matter how bad it gets they will not turn to cannibalism
 * Dishonest: When the dad hands him the gun and says that if they get you you have to do it and the boy says that he knows even though he really doesn't.
 * Grommet: any of various rings or eyelets of metal or the like; a washer or packing for sealing joints between sections of pipe
 * "When the cart was loaded with all that it could hold he tied a plastic tarp down over it and fastened the grommets to the wire with short bungee cords..." (155).
 * bivouacked- to rest or assemble in such an area; encamp.
 * "They bivouacked in the woods much nearer to the road than he would have liked"(168).


 * **cairns**- a heap of stones set up as a landmark, monument, tombstone, etc.
 * "They began to come upon from time to time small cairns of rock by the roadside" (180).

=Connections:= =Discussion 5=
 * The shed and the bunker reminded us of the Hunger Games.
 * Of course in the hunger games they still had to gather food. They both found a safety place where they were safe and could rest until healthy again.
 * Father could be like Katniss and the the son like Peta
 * When the father started to have good dreams about his wife it reminded us of inception.
 * Because Cobb and the father lost their wives to suicide and throughout the movie and the book they both have good thoughts about their wives.

1. The father and son finally reached the beach. Is it what you expected? Do you think its what they expected? i. it was what Brae expected, but not what the boy expected sine he thought the ocean would be blue 2. Do you think the boy is still optimistic, or do you think he is slowly losing some of the hope? (think about events like the burned baby, arriving at the beach, etc.) i. still hopeful but slowly losing some since everything is getting worse and it won't get better because it actually can't, he is stuck and can't get out, trying to keep hope but very little to hold onto, situation is so bad because his father is different and notices he is sick, pas the point of no return 3. Review the scene on page 228 when the father finds the sextant. What do you think this says about the father? Does he still have hope? i. father is trying to keep hope for his son but really he isn't optimistic, he was very hopeless in the beginning but now you see how maybe he has a little bit of hope since this was one of the first times he sees something he thinks is beautiful (other than son), nostalgic feeling that maybe some day it could get better 4. Lately, the man has been asking the boy what he thinks they should do. Why do you think he is doing that? Is it some sort of foreshadowing? i. shows how the dad wants to get eh boy ready to make the decisions since he is dying and eventually the son will be on his own, death is always approaching (even if he wasn't sick), the dad will be gone and the boy needs to be use to being alone

Literary Luminary

 * "'Can I go swimming?' 'Swimming?' 'Yes.' 'You'll freeze your tokus off.' 'I know.' 'It will be really cold. Worse than you think.' 'I know"' (217).
 * This shows how even though they didn't see what they were expecting, the boy is insistent on trying to make the best out of their situation.
 * want sto do some things that the boy thinks are "normal"


 * "What they had seen was a charred human infant headless and gutted and blackened on the spit" (199).
 * This just shows how far people will go to survive. It also makes me wonder if they had the baby just so they could eat it. Yes, its a long wait but that justifies my point

Vocabulary Miser:
1. p. 188: Bolus- a small rounded mass of a substance, esp. of chewed food at the moment of swallowing. Watching while they opened up the rocky hillside ground with pick and mattock and brought to light a great bolus of serpents perhaps a hundred in number"(188). 2. p. 190: Jackstraw- a thin strip of wood used in playing the game of jackstraws  "A blackened jackstraw land"(190).  3. p. 213: disinterred- dug up (something that has been buried, esp. a corpse).  "Like those disinterred dead from his childhood that had been relocated to accommodate a highway"(213).

Woudl you rather be the boy or the dad? i. boy, because in some ways he is ignorant which makes it easier for him to be happy and hopeful but he is also constantly let down because fo his expectations and sometimes by his dad i. the dad still has happy emeories, though, which is good and bad

=**Discussion 6**=
 * 1) What was your initial reaction when you finished the book?
 * not a necessarily happy ending but happier than we thought. Expected the boy to die with the father. In no means is it a happy ending.
 * 1) What do you think the last few sentences of the book mean? Are they foreshadowing? Does the future seem positive or negative?
 * Its talking about how everything has a place in the world and once that has changed or been taken away, you can't do much anymore. Everything happens for a reason. The world will never go back to what it was but that doesn't mean that it can;t get better.
 * 1) Before, when the father and son were approached by a stranger, the boy would be open to them and want them to stick around if they didn't look like a bad guy. Why do you think the boy was hesitant to join the man at first? Do you think it has anything to do with the father dying?
 * Definitely has to do with his father dying. The boy was trying to be like his father because he didn't have him to sense whether he was a bad guy or not. Trying to put his father's rules into play.


 * Connections**

__The Cay-__ when the son lost the father, it reminded me of when Philip lost Timothy. They were each the other's only companion and they deeply depended on each other, just like the son and the father did. And when the son and Philip lost their companion, they were naturally very sad but also lost hope for a while. __Through a Window-__ This is a book written by Jane Goodall about her observations of chimpanzees in Africa. One mother chimp dies and leaves behind and infant chimp named Flame. Just like the son in The Road, he remained by her dead body for days until he wandered off and most likely died soon after. The son was discovered by another family and presumably lived after that which was a happier ending than the one for Flame, but both weren't sure of what to do after their leader died and remained by their body for some semblance of direction and comfort.


 * Literary Luminary**


 * "He thought about his life but there was no life to think about and after a while he walked back"(237).
 * What do you think this quote means now that you have read the end of the book?
 * "How many people do you think are alive?"(242)
 * What does this show you about the boy? Do you think there are a lot of people alive? If so why do you think that they have not banded together to try to create something better?
 * to big of a risk to try and find other people because you may find bad guys. Would be better though if they did get together.
 * "I will not send you off into the darkness alone"(248)
 * What do you think of this quote? Since it is his promise to kill himself once his son dies why do you think he doesn't want his son to kill himself once he dies?
 * The dad wants the boy to go on for as long as he can.
 * "I'm Scared, he said. Do you understand? I'm scared"(259)
 * This is the first time that the father admitted to his son that he is scared of what is out there.
 * "But we did kill him"(260).
 * What do you think of the boys guilt? Is it warranted considering the fact that the father would have caused the mans death?
 * Finds the dad responsible but not guilty. He isn't really angry.
 * "Just take me with you. Please"(279).
 * What do you think of the boys plea for the father to take him with him, which would involve the father killing him or the boy killing himself?
 * Neither the father nor the son would be able to take the son's life.

What do you think the book overall now that you've finished it?
 * It was well written but it sucked because it was so sad
 * If I decided to read it on my own, I would've stopped really soon
 * Might have tried to make a "happy ever after" for the boy but definitely not for the father.
 * Wrote it for his son but not in a bad way. Maybe to show how much he really loves him..