1. Why is the boy both an "alien" and an "angel"? What larger symbolic role may he play in this novel? Use evidence and quotes to support your conclusions.

The boy is an alien because the world he grew up in is different from the dads. He doesnt know much. He is an angel because he is always willing to help people. "If he's not the word of God. God never spoke." (5). Even though he's seen all these horrible things he still has faith and believes in God.

2. List five other important topics that you have discussed as a group throughout your study of this novel.

     1.)  Fear-- how the dad doesnt want to show the boy that he is also scared of death.

     2.)  Motivations-- The mans motivation is the boy. Thats the only reason why he keeps on going and  surviving.

     3.)  Interactions between characters-- how the boy wants to trust and help people and the boy doesnt (differences)

     4.)  Situation-- how the author uses words to describe the situation (ash) and how this relates to the book.

     5.)  Giving up-- the wife gave up (suicide) and the bad guys gave into their hunger

3. What are the most significant quotes that you have discussed while studying this novel? List at least five and for each explain its significance in terms of character development, setting, or theme.

"You have to carry the fire."  (278)

- It shows the hope of the 'good guys' surviving. This relates to not giving up and keep moving on.

"to the boy he himself was an alien...He could not construct for the child's pleasure the world he'd lost without constructing the loss as well...he could not enkindle in the heart of the child what was ashes in his own." (pg 154)

     - it shows the divide between the man and the boy and how they can't relate to the same things.

"Nobody wants to be here and nobody wants to leave."(pg 169)

   -  it sort of shows the dilemma that all of the characters have. they have to choose to either leave or stay and there are drawbacks and unknows to either decision.

"A single round left in the revolver. you will not face the truth. You will not" (pg 68)

 - it shows the hopelessness of their situation as well as the way the man views it. This also ties in with the theme of fear. 

"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?" (pg  77)

 - This is significant because it shows that the mans only motivation to keep living is for the boy. This shows their close father and son relationship.

4. List fifteen vocabulary words that your group discovered and could use again in your own writing.

Vocab

1.) Sumptuous- Magnificent

2.) desolation-- Devastation; ruin

3.) phalanx -- any body of troops in close array

4.) Privet: shrubs or small trees of the genus Ligustrum  

5.) Soffit: the underside of a building 

6.) Gorge- a Narrown cleft with steep rocky walls 

7.) Trekked- to migrate 

8.) Gullied- a ditch or gutter 

9.) Scrim- a cotton or linen fabric 

10.) promontory -- A high ridge of land or rock jutting out into a body of water; a headland.

11.) isocline-- An anticline or syncline so tightly folded that the rock beds of the two sides are nearly parallel.

12.) Mote: an extremely small amount

13.) Chattel: any tangebile, moveable property

14.) Kilned: kilning: the heating and drying process used to make malt

15.) Chary: cautious, wary

     

 

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First Impressions pgs 1-40

- Easy to read

- Not hard to understand

- Kind of sad

- Woman mentioned in his dreams-- could have been his wife.

- We want to know what actually happened

- Seems to have happened a while ago-- he hasnt kept a calender for years

 

- The man went back to his house and saw that his house he grew up in was dystroyed-- his memories have been dytroyed

           - Makes a connection to the young boy because his life/ memories are already dystroyed

- The man is more scared than he shows because he didnt want to freak the young boy out

           - The boy is fearful of death

 

- So far there are no poeple around

 

"just remeber that the things you put in your head are there forever"(12)

"you forget what you want to remeber, and you remeber what you want to forget" (12)

 We thought that this was an important quote, and this is what the man tells the boy when they see all the dead people.

 

 

9/2/09

 

- The woman

   - thier relationship isn't happy

   - they stopped caring about each other an started caring about the boy

   - "Her cries meant nothing to him" (pg 59)

   - she's always doubting everything "we're not survivors. we're the walkign dead in a horror film" (pg 55)

   - no faith 

- What do the bad guys want?

   - seems suspicious

   - the man and the oby odn't trust him

   - they don't know who he is or what he wants

- they should have helped the guys that got struck by lightening

- they couldn't have odne anything

 

   9/8/09

 

-          - The Man is suspicious that when the boy saw the other boy that the man thought that he was a bad guy.

- 

The boy is afraid of dying but the man might think otherwise. We don’t know if the man has given up hope but he assures the boy that they will not die.

-         

He mentions “ ash” almost every page maybe to mention something about what happened to the entire world.  He might also say it to reflect the current situation. It might also relate to what  what “ Hell” is like.

-        

  The boy in the future probably won’t end up like the bad people but it what hes going through and his obstacles in the future might have a affect on him in the future.

-         

The dad doesn’t want the boy to go through the same thing that he went through although it is starting to turn out that way.

-         

The boy is more trusting to people but that might be because he is younger and he might not understand. The man is not as trusting but that might be because he has more experience.

-         

Were wondering if the bad guys actually work together or if there all different in some way.

-         

There might be a disease that lurking around because the man keeps coughing up blood.

-         

Although there objective is going South they always have obstacles blocking there goal. Example would be the climate its always cold and snowing, hiding away from the bad guys, and getting supplies for themselves. 

 

9

 

 

 

9/

 9/15/09

- Why do you think the boy wants to help others?

     - maybe he's naturally innocent and trusting because he's a kid

- Why do you think the boy won't tell the man his dreams?

     - maybe he's dreaming that the man is dead or something

- Were the three people that they saw supposed to be good guys or bad guys?

     - If they were the ones cooking the baby then yes, but if not then that means theres other poeple nearby

     - they might come back later

- Will they reach the south

     - No

- God

     -  maybe the man is confused about it

     - the boy probably beieves in god too

     - tied into motivation

- the man is "alien" to the boy

- differences betweent the old world and the new / the boy and the man

 

 

9/15

 

-          The boys dreams might relate to them on how they might end up( Death)

o   The boy is protecting his dad in a way because the dreams that he is having might be the way they end up shortly in the future.

-          As the journey continues on the boy becomes more important as a character and the man is trying to help him so that if the man dies the boy can have the abilities to survive.

-          As there objective is to get to the South it seems that it is less probably. Death seems very likely to both the boy and man. They might end up meeting the bad guys or meet people along the way.

-          The world is not going to fix itself so it would be just as hard to live.

-          The possibly of the man or boy giving up