Starting A New Road

Being it the beginning of a new year, and the end of summer reading, we started a new book. We are now reading the famous 2006 The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, which has been turned into a major motion picture. The Road is about a man and his son moving along the post-apocalyptic United States.

Until now, it has been a bit repetitive, as the man wakes up every morning, looks at his child, takes a blanket and some food from his cart, prepares a meal, and eats with his child. They then start moving along the road towards an unknown location, supporting each other and talking a little along the way. Not much detail is revealed about the two main characters, except the fact that they are child and father, and that the child is young, based on his constant fear of the outside world. Anyway, the relationship between the boy and his dad is very good, and you as a reader can distinguish the confidence that the child has bestowed upon his father.

About the context of the story, we know that some buildings and structures are still standing, but there has been no contact with any other human yet. We know there might be other humans, but judging from the man's constant worry of being followed in the road, they might not be on their side. McCarthy gives us a mental image of the setting somewhat like this:

Yeah... Not very exciting.

With all the boredom and the monotonousness that the author so vividly describes through his writing, the man can't help but think of his old life, when there were more people. He remembers a summer with his cousins, getting wet in a lake and having fun. In a specific scene, the boy and the man go into an old house, which used to be the man's childhood home, but the boy is so scared that he pleads until his dad accepts to get out.

The man has to be strong for his child, but readers can definitely see how he is scared and doubtful about his future too. The child has already asked if they are going to die, and the father answers reassuringly, but inside he was worrying too. "Mostly he worried about their shoes. That and food. Always food." (p. 9)

One of the moments I liked the most was when the man gave a Coca Cola to his son for the first time. "He leaned his nose to the slight fizz coming from the can and then handed it to the boy." (p. 11) I think it was a more important moment for the man himself than for the boy, as it probably reminded his of happier days. Also, I don't know much of the preservation of soda on a can, but I think that if it still has air bubbles, it can't be that old, meaning that the apocalypse didn't happen that long ago.


The last thing I read was about the earthquake that occurred one night, and the boy was so scared, he cried against his chest. Even though the beginning of the book could be considered monotonous, there is a certain curiosity that leads the reader to keep on reading, because what happens after and apocalypse will always be a mystery to us. Or at least that's what we think.