Favourite Quote

My favourite qoute so far in the novel is actually rather early in the novel, it was filled with emotion and compassion when I read it.

"Everything uncoupled from its shortening. Unsupported in the ashen air.Sustained by a breath, trembling and brief. If only my heart were stone." (McCarthy 11.2)

The reason that this quotation is my favourite is because it goes to show that even in the times of hardship people still care for others, and they begin to question what is right. They stop wishing they cared so much but know that no matter what they wont be able too. I believe that the term "heart of stone" is meant to be taken metaphorically, because if the character wanted there heart to be stone he would be giving up everything, and wouldnt be able to take care of his son anymore. He is grieving over the loss of his wife, and wishing she did not pass away, and wishing that he could stop caring for their son. But he cant because his son is all he has left and the only reason he has to live.

Who can be trusted?

One of the main characters, is the Man. I do not trust him or his health. The Man seems rather aggressive and paraniod that everyone is following him and his son, as they are trying to survive the barron wasteland that they now call the world. As they travel they come across other people that are just trying to find supplies and eat. The Man begins to agressively question them as to how long they had been following him and his son, and why. This leaves me with reason to believe that he may become untrusting of his son aswell. My reasoning for not trusting his health is because he continuously speaks to god about meeting him at last, and asks him if he has a heart or soul. I believe he asks these things because he is very ill and wants to know how much time he has left with his son before the sickness finally takes his life.

Powerful Quotes

He pushed away the plastic tarpaulin and raised himself in the stinking robes and blankets and looked toward the east for any light but there was none. In the dream from which he'd wakened he had wandered in a cave where the child led him by the hand. Their light playing over the wet flowstone walls. Like pilgrims in a fable swallowed up and lost among the inward parts of some granitic beast. (McCarthy 1.1)


    I believe that this quote refers to the story of Jonah and the Whale. Jonah was a good man, as well as a prophet. He was supposed to travel to Nineveh and inform the people that they need to repent. He ended up being swallowed by the whale because he failed to inform the people. In my mind the man and the boy are like Jonah and the world has become the belly of the whale. They wander the world of desperate hunger, a world so terrible it would discourage anyone, but they do not give in.




"When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he'd reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him." (McCarthy 1.1) 


       Based on what I have read thus far, The Road is extremely violent. McCarthy begins the book very tenderly by showing the love between the father and son. Writers say that it should take the entire first paragraph to present the entire novel. McCarthy explains the book in the first line. To sum it up: Its dark, cold, and bitter outside, but no matter the conditions, no matter the hardship the characters still love each other.