Review For Test:

Complete the following tasks with your group:

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.

"Alien" because he is different than anyone else who survived, he's younger which is different. Also he never experienced the world before the apocalypse which is different because they dont have the same experiences

"Angel" because he is the reason the man keeps living and surviving. He motivates him to keep going.

Both: He always wants to help the people they see along the way. This is an example of being an angel because he wants to make life better for other people but it could be alien because everyone else who survived doesnt seem like this, they are worried about themselves surviving.

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

1. life/death

2. reactions to situations/decisions made

3. character transformations

4. bad guys

5. man & motivation

 

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.

1. "You got two choices here. There was some discussion to whether to even come after you at all. You can stay here with your papa and die or you can come with me" (283). This shows the line between hope and desperation and how the boy has to decide whether to keep living, while takign a change or to just give up. It also ties into the fact that choices in life can be good or bad.

2. "I wasn't going to kill him, he said. But the boy didn't answer."..."after a while the boy said: But we did kill him"  (260). This shows how the views of the man and the boy are different. The man is only thinking of himself and the boy, and the boy is thinking of other's needs and has always wanted to help people throughout the book. The boy is the new generation and the man is the old generation. (character development)

3. "I will kill everything that touches you. Do you understand?" (77). This shows how important the boy is to the man and how he will do anything and everything to keep him alive. It is the reason why he keeps on going. (man and motivation)

4" He knew that he was placing hopes were he'd no reason to. He hoped it would be brighter where for all he knew the world grew darker daily. (213) This is what the man is thinkgin when they find supplies and he doesn't want to give the boy false hope. The man is thinking of the negatives and the future of if they are going to survive and not the now.

5. "What the boy had seen was a charred human infant headless and gutted and blackening on the plit" shows how other peoples aren't as humane when it comes to survival and they will do anything to survive. (bad guys)

 

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

 

<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.       <!--[endif]-->plundered: to rob of goods or valuables by open force, as in war, hostile raids, brigandage, etc (181

<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.       <!--[endif]-->caustic:capable of burning, corroding, or destroying living tissue. (188)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.       <!--[endif]-->incandescence: the emission of visible light by a body, caused by its high temperature, the light produced by such an emission (p47)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.       <!--[endif]-->penitent:     feeling or expressing sorrow for sin or wrongdoing and disposed to atonement and amendment; repentant; contrite.  remorseful, rueful, sorrowful. (p54)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->5.       <!--[endif]-->serpentine (pg. 6) -- sly/tempting/ resembling a serpent

<!--[if !supportLists]-->6.       <!--[endif]-->cauterized (14) --to burn or sear living tissue in order to stop bleeding

<!--[if !supportLists]-->7.       <!--[endif]-->emaciated: to make abnormally lean or thin by a gradual wasting away of flesh.(185)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->8.       <!--[endif]-->litany (31) -- a prayer consisting of petitions recited by a leader with fixed responses by the congregation

<!--[if !supportLists]-->9.       <!--[endif]-->-grotto: a cave or cavern.(189)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->10.   <!--[endif]-->coagulate: to change from a fluid into a thickened mass; curdle; congeal:(191)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->11.   <!--[endif]-->-corrugate: to draw or bend into folds or alternate furrows and ridges, to wrinkle (195)

<!--[if !supportLists]-->12.   <!--[endif]-->litany (31) -- a prayer consisting of petitions recited by a leader with fixed responses by the congregation

<!--[if !supportLists]-->13.   <!--[endif]-->mendicant (126) --a person who lives by begging

<!--[if !supportLists]-->14.   <!--[endif]-->laved (147) -- to wash, bathe

<!--[if !supportLists]-->15.   <!--[endif]-->gelid (136) --very cold; icy

 

<!--[if !supportLists]-->

 

 

September 1st Pages 1-40

 

Summarize:

- Not a lot happened in the begining, getting to know the characters and the situation that they are in (they don't have anything and they are trying to survive) They wander around but their purpose is to go south and get out of the cold.

 

Description of setting: p12 "No sign of life." Everything is destroyed, they always have to watch their back and be careful and walk around with gun for protection, years has past

 

Questions:

-Why do they have to be careful all of the time?

-Who are the other "bad" people? Why are they bad?

-What happened to make them in the situation?How did everyone die?

Feelings of Characters:

-Weird that they don't have names, don't adress people by names, they are known as "boy" and "man"

-It makes it seem like they aren't personal, and they don't have much personality.

-Conversation is very straight forward, not as much emotion.Quick fast.

-The use of okay--lots of conversation ends with okay..significance? Reasurring (it is all going to be "okay")?

 

Boy= younger because he is always scared, will have learned things faster because he is forced to in the situation that he is in, old for his years because of what he had to struggle through, had to adapt

 

Way of Writing

-Short verses of narration

-Didn't like it at first, not personal or emotional, random information

-Short to the point, simplistic, but still education

-Very vague and gray kind of like the setting

-Writing this way makes the tone of the entire book reflect the setting

 

Connections:

-The Day After Tomorrow: setting seems to be the same, everything is being destroyed

 

 9-02-09

Things that happened- Found a man struck by lightning. Ran into a truck full of people. Flashback- Wife decided to kill herself. Seemed to show emotion more than previously in the book. Debated about what to do with the boy. Flashback- the point that things shut down.

Page 57- "I've taken a new lover. He can give me what you cannot.

Death is not a lover."

 

"But there's not any more states?

No.

What happened to them?

I don't know exactly. That's a good question."

There are no more major organizations. Almost everyone is gone.

"Where are we going?

We're going south.

Okay."

Repetitive use of this question and answer has been seen.

The woman's choice to kill herself shows a different perspective and reaction to the events.

"They say that women dream of dangers to those in their care and men of danger to themselves. But I don't dream at all."

 

The woman wants to end it. She doesn't want to try to live through it, she just wants the nightmare to end.

When the man grabs the boy, the main character doesn't hesitate, he just shoots.

predictions- Will there be more encounters with the 'bad people?' Are they going to go a different route due to the 'bad people' being on the same path? Are the flashbacks going to give more information on how and why?

September 8, 2009

70-100

 

Summary:

-ran into bad guys alot

-see the little boy -- boy wants to see the other little boy

"I just wanted to see him Papa, I just wanted to see him" - the boy (84)-- shows that he isnt used to seeing other people his age.

"Do you want to die?

I dont care" (85) --the boy doesnt care anymore; he's exhausted, upset, given up.

 

Characters Now:

Boy:

getting more tired, weaker

giving up

very scared all the time of other people; makes him very cautious 

alert to traces of other people (noticed smoke off in the distance)

--we liked how he reacted to seeing another person his own age; how excited he was; shows that he is still a little boy

Man:

always pushing the boy to keep moving; has to be the 'leader of the pack'

very protective of boy still "I will kill anyone who touches you. Do you understand? (77)

worried about boy -- doesnt know how much longer he can go

sick -- coughing up blood; from the ash?

 

The Bad Guys:

"He was sure he was being watched but he saw noone" --The man is always thinking about the bad guys; they are always on the look-out for other people; they are always hiding

Quote:  "I dont know, they're on the move Its not a good sign.

Why isnt it a good sign?

It just isnt" (83) --the man is vague when telling the boy about whats happening; something they dont like to talk about

 

Death:

--becoming more prominent in the story

--lost alot of their stuff from the run-in with the bad guys; since they dont have as much they are more likely to worry, think about death, give up 

--getting colder; making it harder to move around and to get to new places

Quote: "It was harder going even than he would have guessed. In an hour they'd made perhaps a mile" -- shows how hard it is to move after the snow

Quote: "He tried to think of something to sy but he could not. He's had this feeling before, beyond the numbness and the dull despair" (88) --shows how its becoming more dull, tiring, repetitive. Both are weakening and are getting sick of doing the same thing every day.

 

Predictions/Questions:

-more human interactions -- bad guys? good guys?

-what will their next food source be?

-will they have to make alliances with other people to survive?

-are they going to have to stop and bunker down for the winter? will they be strong enough to keep going?

 

Connections

-- we know that snow can make things much harder 

-- can relate to the man and how he loves the boy and doesnt want any harm to come to him (sort of like little brothers/sisters)

--can relate to being tired and wanting to give up but not actually doing it -- different because its their life depending on not giving up

 

 

 9-15-09

What happened?

They started in the bunker, preparing to leave. They left, and eventually met an old man. They gave him some food, and left him. Seemed like time lapsed. Men with lead pipes appeared at one point, but they were scared off by the man's gun. The man became sick, and they had to rest for a while. Along the way, they found a group with a pregnant woman, they found people melted into the road, and they found a cooked baby over a fire. The boy seems to be growing up and gaining more strength, while the man is weakening. Okay seems more final.

What did you think of the choice to give food to the old man?

It seems to show the difference between the boy and the man. The boy wants to see people, but the man has seen enough.

"You should thank him you know, the man said. I wouldnt have given you anything.

Maybe I should and maybe I shouldnt.

Why wouldnt you?

I wouldnt have given him mine.

You dont care if it hurts his feelings?
Will it hurt his feelings?

No. Thats not why he did it.

Why did he do it?

He looked over at the boy and he loked at the old man. You wouldnt understand, he said. I'm not sure I do."

The care for others may be a generational kind of thing. The old men will give nothing, but the child would give more.

 

"People were always getting ready for tomorrow. I didnt believe in that. Tomorrow wasn't getting ready for them. It didnt even know they were there." (168).

What do you think of the baby that was cooked and the people melted in the road?

The baby seems to stick out more. It may have been that the cooker didn't want the baby to be forced to survive, and decided that it's best to eat what you can. It may have been otherwise.

 

185- "I always believe you.

I don't think so.

Yes I do. I have to."

The boy has to rely on the man for everything. He can't learn any other way, so he has to get everything from the man.

 

Do you think the decision to leave the bunker was a good idea?

All around, it is agreed that it felt bad to stay in the bunker. A constant feeling of worry that someone would attack them.

 

156- "200 miles from the coast, as the crow flies."

 

9-17-09 -- LAST DAY! 201-250

Summary:

--the boy finds a house in the distance -- stay in the house for 4 days -- lots of food/water

--set out again -- make it to the coast -- stay on the beach

--find a wrecked boat -- find supplies on the boat -- flare gun/clothes/food/sextant

--the boy got sick--very sick -- man is still coughing up blood

      "Everyday is a lie he said. But you are dying. That is not a lie." -- constant idea of death being brought up in this section -- realizing and accepting death is imminent

 

The Coast

-- the ocean wasn't blue

--was a happier time despite everything that has happened

--pg. 219 -- "when he meant back to the fire he knlt and smoother her hair as she slept and he said if he were God he would have made the world just so and no different" -- man is remembering happier times on the beach with the woman

--some were expecting a climactic scene some werent -- ended up being anti-climactic

--boy got to go swimming :)

--weren't expecting people -- Josh has no hope for the man and boy

 

Effect of Depressing Coast

-- BOY: made him sad; he was hoping for a blue ocean and it wasnt

    -- boy is still scared all the time

    -- doesnt really care anymore -- man doesnt listen to him

--MAN:sadder because he remembers when it was happier and he cant share it with the boy

--hoping it was something more; would be something new; but it wasnt

 

Flare Gun

-- shot because the boy was excited for it -- new//different

-- little things dont matter anymore -- wants to make the boy as happy as possible

--not as worried about protection...

 

Education isnt as important as it once was; the only goal is to survive and keep living

"We dont work on your lessons anymore" (245). 

 

Man//Boy Opinions

-- Josh: indifferent

-- Colleen: man is giving up; more pessimistic

-- man doesnt even want to live without the boy; he is his EVERYTHING

"I will do what i promised, he whispered. No matter what. I will not send you into the darkness alone" -- kill himself if th boy died

--man is losing hope

"He knew he was placing hopes were he'd no reason to. He hoped it would be brigher where for all he knew the world grew darker daily" (213).

 

----Boy getting sick shows his effect on the man and how important the boy is to him.

 

The Boat

--worried that someone was going to be there and then they would come back

--people could have been nearby

 

Predictions

-- meet good people

--man will die//boy will survive 

-- depressing ending

-- its just going to happen and its going to be left for you to decide what happens next.

--twist?

 

Confused: "I think maybe they are watching, he said. They are watching for a think that even death cannot undo and if they do not see it they will turn away from us and they will not come back" -- Man (210)

-- where are they in relation to US!??!?

 

Vocab:

stanchions- 222- an upright bar, post or support

Transom- 223- In naval architecture, a transom is the surface that forms the stern of a vessel.

 

valise- 226- suitcase

sextant- 227- an device that measures for latitude and longitude. Makes Angular measurements.