The Road Warrior Readers
· 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.
o Alien because he doesn’t know anything about the original world
§ P180 “He made train noises and diesel horn noises but he wasn’t sure what these may mean to the boy.”
o Angel because he was born into this and maybe he was born into it for a reason and he wants to help people
§ P172 “When I saw that boy I thought that I had died. You thought he was an angel? I didn’t know what he was.I never thought to see a child again. I didn’t know that would happen.”
o When Jesus came to save people he wasn’t afraid people were going to harm him à the boy is worried about doing the right thing not physical danger
o Symbolic role: perseverance, hope, innocence
· List five other important topics that you have discussed as a group throughout your study of this novel.
o Cannibalism/ humanity
o The bullet
o Dad’s protection of the son
o Helping others
o Giving up/ hope
· 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.
"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 thinking when they find supplies and he doesn't want to give the boy false hope. The man knows there danger of being harmed and the man is focusing on the danger more than how he hoped it would be. "Do you think that your fathers are watching? That they weigh you in their ledgerbook? Against what? There is no book and your fathers are dead in the ground." (197) Cormac McCarthy suggest that our deeds are being watched by the unknown (GOD) Everybody wants to have more good deeds than bad, so in times of desperation watch what you do. You don’t want to have eating humans, or killing your self in your book. But also he suggests that people don’t make decisions because of people watching them, its something else. “He held the boy so close to him. So thin. My heart, he said, my heart. But he knew that if he were a good father still it might be as she had said. That the boy was all that stood between him and death.” (29) This symbolizes the boy and father's relationship, how the rely on each other to get through the day and that they are each other's WORLD. The mom knew this and was perhaps why she spared her son when she killed herself early in the apocalyptic world. "I have found a new lover. He can give me what you cannot. Death is not a lover" (57) This is a flashback passage where they are talking about whether or not they should commit suicide to get out of the horror of the world. The woman is arguing for it and the man against. This quote shows one of the choices people make when they decide to give up. Committing suicide you lose your personality as well as your morals. “I want to be with you. You cant. Please. You cant. You have to carry the fire.” (278)The man didn’t have any hope the only reason he was alive was to keep the boy alive. He tells the boy to keep his hope alive of rebuilding society and interacting with people.
· List fifteen vocabulary words that your group discovered and could use again in your own writing
Barren: unproductive; unfruitful: barren land
Immolate: to sacrifice.
Litany: a ceremonial or liturgical form of prayer consisting of a series of invocations or supplications with responses that are the same for a number in succession.
Thespian: pertaining to tragedy or to the dramatic art in general.
Chifforobe: a piece of furniture having both drawers and space for hanging clothes.
Effigies: a crude representation of someone disliked, used for purposes of ridicule
Cistern- reservoir, tank, or container for storing or holding water or other liquid.
Trellis- a frame or structure of latticework; lattice.
Palisade: defensive fence
Siwash: to camp without supplies
Rachitic: an adjective version of “a disease of childhood, characterized by softening of the bones as a result of inadequate intake of vitamin D and insufficient exposure to sunlight, also associated with impaired calcium and phosphorus metabolism”: the disease is called ricketsstanchions- 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.
How to do you feel about their situation?
· Sad
· No hope
· Father- son relationship
o Connection between now and the story’s time
o How old is the boy?
o We don’t even know their names
o We don’t know where they are
o We really know how they feel about each other
· Fear
o they may not live very long
o they may not get south
o they may be chased by road agents or marauders
What would you do if you were in this situation?
Would you be as optimistic as they are?
What is happening right now? Where are they going?
Was there anything in pgs 1-40 that confused you?
Was there something that was unclear that will probably be explained later?
What do you think has happened for them to be in this situation?
Can you relate to the characters?
· No
What happened to his “bride”?
· Maybe dead?
· Recently?
· Before the accident
The boy has never had a Coke; do you think he was just a baby when this disaster took place?
· Either just a baby or born after
Why have they survived out of everyone on earth?
· Got lucky
· Man had made the wheel for the cart, crafty
Are there other survivors? How many?
Day 2: ·
The kid and the man were talking about the states and the man was saying that there were no more states
o Everyone has given up as a society
o Everyone cares only for themselves
· The truck with the dead bodies in it
o Why were they there?
o Were they running away or were they put there?
· Why does the man wish he still has his wife in his life?
o He wants his kid to be happy
o P54-58 talking about the wife killing herself
o “…he thought he should have tried to keep her in their lives somehow but he didn’t know how.”
· The wife says “Sooner or later they will catch us and kill us” Do you think the man and his son have been running from the same people? Was this group of people a known threat to all survivors?
o They are running from the cannibals
o Road agents and marauders
· What do you think the man means when he says “My heart was ripped out of me the night he was born”
o She doesn’t want to bring a child into this bad world
Vocabulary
pgs. 40-79
palisade- a fence of pales or stakes set firmly in the ground as for enclosure or defense
emaciation- abnormal thinness caused by lack of nutrition or by disease
ropy- resemblng a rope or ropes
macadam- pavement made of layers of compacted broken stone, now usually bound with tar or ashpalt
Death is becoming a bigger part of the story, how do you feel about this?
-Blood is starting to stick out to us. Dead human limbs or tree limbs? It’s leading up to something big. A death of someone perhaps?
Have you learned anything more about the characters?
-The boy wants friends. The dad feels bad for the kid b/c he’s all by himself. The dad is a lot more reasonable. The boy keeps getting side tracked b/c of the little boy they saw.
-Maybe they used the bullet for killing their dog. (pg. 87).
Do you have any predictions/questions?
-What’s the road? Does it represent the journey? Is it even important?
9/10/09
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They are desperate and don't have any food and water.
also- draggind dead limbs- is this tree limbs or arms?
Probably tree limbs, but there is a possibilty of both.
pg. 103- someone had passed them when they were asleep but didnt come close. maybe they thought they were cannabils? are there other 'good people"? on page 104 the boys says- will they know what we are?
They don't know, for all they know they could be just like them; struggling to survive.
when the dad was going through the house do you think other people like them or canniblas also went through the house? what kind of family used to live there? what happened to them?
Most likely yes, but for all we know it could have been a normal family who were very unluckily devastated.
pg. 129 they are talking about how they are the good guys and they are carrying the fire. is this maybe not a physical thing but like a thing you hold on to and then pass on to someone else. "passing the torch" also, fire as in living and burning. but what happens when the fire burns out?
They are talking about how they may be the only normal people left, when the fire burns out, that basically means that they have failed to survive.
pg. 131- the faded letters?? what are they?
They are warning signals, from people who could have been captured prisoner, or could have been eaten. For example BEWARE signs or KEEP OUT signs.
pg. 132- the man is afraid of his own reflextion. why?
BEcause he hasn't seen himself in a while due to the fact that they could not stop moving. He looks a lot more dirtier than usual, and is extremely skinny. Probably he has a grown out beard from not being able to shave.
pg. 137- the boy is afriad of the gun
pg. 143- he couldnt find a gun. do you think the other people used it or brought it with them to leave? why didnt they stay?
They didn't stay cause they either left for the fate of survival, or they were just killed off by whatever ever caused this post-apocolyptic wasteland. When they left they must have taken guns with them.
BEDLAM: a place or situation full of noise, frenzied activity, and confusion
KERF: a cut or the width of a cut made by an ax, saw, or cutting tool
TABLEAU: a vivid and wide-ranging description or display
EMBANKMENT: a ridge or raised platform built of earth or stone to confine a waterway or support a road or
railroad line
GAIT: a way of walking, running, or moving along on foot
Class notes...Kahlil 9/17/09...taking the notes is not easy
Pg 206 “You can’t see the house from the road. We saw it. You saw it.” Why hasn’t someone found the house?
- People are so focus on the road the don’t see the house
- The man wasn’t afraid to stay in the house but the boy was afraid
- Maybe the boy is losing his will to live?
Their will to live is the only reason they are surviving. Since they keep moving they stumble across resources they need
- On pg 213 they enter the beach and its disappointing that it wasn’t a brighter place
Quote that correlates with the answer “many had died in cholera ...”
- The boy is starting to feel there isn’t a point to live and the man is trying to keep his will alive
- The boy with the flare is trying to show god that they still have the will to live
The man shows he would do anything for the boy Pg247-. “No matter what. I will not send you into the darkness alone
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