How do you feel about the reading so far? Was there anything special that you liked about it? 

How does the man feel about the boy? 

Do you think "the road" is deserted? 

Imagine if you had to switch shoes with the man or the boy how would you react to the current situation? 

If you were to traveling on the road what would you look out for? 

The Man goes back to his home to find it in ruins imagine if you switched places with him what would you do? 

What would your concerns be in general for both the man of boy? 

Vocabulary Enricher 

gorge- a Narrown cleft with steep rocky walls 

coannonading- A continued discharge of cannon 

Stark- harsh, grim 

Skeins- anything wound in or resembling a coil 

Feral- having reverted to the wild state 

Lacquered- A protectice coating consisting of a resin 

Good work so far, Eric. You came up with some very interesting discussion questions. Even if you didn't cover them all the first time, you may be able to bring them up in later discussions. For vocabulary, it's also helpful to put the page numbers so that you can share the context of the word with your group to help with understanding. Mrs. Clark Evans

Quotes 

This is my child, he said. I wash a dead mans brains out of his hair. That is my Job. Then he wrapped him in the blanket and carried him to the fire(pg 75) 

- I am not sure what it exactly referrs to but all I can say is it shows the connection between the man and boy 

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) 

- Shows again the devotion that man has to the boy 

The boy would stop crying and he would not stop looking back. Come on the man said Weve got to go. I want to see him, Papa. Theres no one to see. Do you want to die? Is that what you want? I don't care the boy said, sobbing. I don't care. The man stopped. He stopped and squatted and held him. I'm sorry he said. Don't say that. You musnt say that. (pg 85)

- The boy sees another boy and is curious while his father tells him what he saw was nothing. When the boy tells his father about not caring about dying the father stops. This could represent his past experiences with death itself, and not wanting the boy to go through what he had went through.

Discussion 

What did you think of the reading? 

Did you have a favorite part in the reading? 

What would be your first impression on seeing the victims in the bunker? 

They find another bunker where it was loaded with food and supplies but soon left would you have stayed despite being potentioally found by bad guys? 

Food seems to be a constant problem how would you attain food considering that almost everything is extinct or posioned. 

It seems that as the story progresses the boy becomes more scared and frantic why might this be? 

Vocab 

( 151) sumptuous- magnificent 

(159) balustrade- a railing with support 

(159) scrim- a cotton or linen fabric 

(162) wilt- to become limp and drooping 

( 167) bivouacked- a place used for an encampment 

( 176) Trekked- to migrate 

(177) gullied- a ditch or gutter 

(177) Kudzu- japanese climbing wine 

(185) culvert- a drain or channel under a road 

(188) bolus- a round mass of or lump 

Quotes 

(203) No sign of life anywhere. it was no country that he knew. The names of the towns or the rivers. 

- It reminds him of the New world rather than the world he used to live in. 

( 213) Like a an waking in a grave. Like those disinterred dead from his childhood that had been relocated to accommodate a highway

- He states that alot of people died in a cholera epidemic and whats left of them makes " the road". 

(229) It occured to him that he took this windfall in a fashion dangerously close matter of fact but still he said what he said before. That goodluck might be no such thing 

- It might show his divine intervention in God and bases alot of what happens on religon or using his survival skills 

( 238) He set the empty tin between his feet. Everyday is a lie, he said. But you are dying. That is not a lie 

- The man is growing weaker and it becomes obvious and so the boy must soon learn to fend for himself 

(246) If you wanted to show where you were. You mean like to the good guys? Yes. Or anybody that you wanted them to know where you were. Like Who? I don't know. Like God. Yeah. Maybe something like that. 

- Brings up god again to keep him going