Henderson: The Road

In the novel, The Road, the plot is very ambiguous and abstract, with no regards as to why or when the cataclysm has taken place, nor why the father and son were chose to survive for so long; or even to why or how God has entered the man's and son's being.

The father realizes that his son will not be able to live through another cold winter in their current location due to the great and unexplained cataclysm that has taken place. Therefore they begin a journey to sea, in hopes that they will come across some type of vegetation and warmer climate for the sake of the son's survival. In the novel, the father tells his son: “My job is to take care of you. I was appointed to do that by God. I will kill anyone who touches you.” and he does in their first encounter with another human. In the film you can see how different the father's and the son's characters are; the son has a sense of compassion and 'goodness' towards others that they come across and the father is very protective of his son and merciless.

In the end of the novel, the father and son reaches the sea but did not find the salvation that the father had hoped for and eventually the father died due to his illness leaving his son alone on the road, with the gun, and the knowledge that he can still talk to his father everyday. Three days later, a man who has said that he has been following the boy and his father, approaches the boy inviting him to joint his family. The boy asked the man if he is also one of the “good guys” and the man states that he is, along with his wife, their two children, and their dog.

Although the man states that he is a good guy in the end of the novel, the reader is still left to wonder about the boy's safety and the family's intention. On the other hand, at the end of the film, I feel like the viewer is more comfortable with the boy joining the family because the wife is portrayed as a compassionate woman who will treat the boy well, like her own.

Bonnin - The Road

McCormack’s novel “The Road” presents the struggle for survival of a man and his son in a post-apocalyptic world in which hunger and distrust has stripped men of their sense of humanity. Through his work, McCormack predicts that under such dire circumstances men will resort to cannibalism and, according to the film, it seems probable that due to both hunger and fear humans will end up exterminating each other. The film and the novel have an ambiguous ending, seeing as throughout the story the reader/viewer has been taught to distrust every other human aside form the two main characters.

At one point in the novel the man tells his son when asked what will happen to the boy they left behind that: “Goodness will find the little boy. It always has. It will again” (kindle location 3500-3507). This statement seems to allude to his own son’s fate, seeing as his son is oddly kindhearted and he also tells him that luck always finds him. And it is true, he always manages to survive every situation, even if it was because he had his father’s protection. However, what I think was even more important is the fact that he never lost his goodness in his struggle to live. He never killed or hurt anyone, and I believe that that’s what his father referred to when he would tell him that he carried the fire. He represented hope for humanity.

When the boy encounters the man he will join after his father’s death it is hard for the reader to trust him. The fact that he lets him keep the pistol, even after he offers to hand it over, and actually covers his father’s corpse with a blanket to me were indicators that he was well intentioned. The movie does an even better job of ending the story in a positive note, seeing as one is able to see how the woman is very happy to see him and seems genuinely interested in him as a person (and not as food). Also the novel mentions their having children, but the reader doesn’t know if he is lying to lure the boy in, while the film actually shows one the children and the dog. The children and the dog are symbol of hope, of a future rather than of death. If they haven’t even eaten the dog it is safe to assume they will not eat the boy.

Baker - The Road

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, is a phenomenal book based on a post apocalyptic world in which a man and his son are trying to survive in their quest for a southern land that is believed to be untouched by the bitter cold, vast destruction, and utter chaos that dominates their northern world. The book, as usual, is an overall better experience than the movie, perhaps because of the many details and emotions that are emitted from the film. In a novel, the author can spend pages and pages capturing the emotions and thoughts of the characters during certain scenes – in this regard, McCarthy’s novel fails twice. On the contrary, the ending of the film truly encapsulates the intense feelings of death and hope. So as an overall journey, the novel is better, but the film’s ending blows the novel’s ending out of the water.

In the scene when the boy’s father dies, McCarthy fails to capture the pain and anguish that the child displays in the film. The dialogues are nearly identical, yet the book never portrays the emotions that the movie exhibited. In the movie, the man and his son seem much more effected by his departure. The boy is crying, and his father is fighting back tears. Maybe it is unfair to request McCarthy to replicate these emotions in the novel, but nonetheless, he does not. As a result, the novel’s ending suffers while the film’s ending thrives.

Furthermore, the final scene between the boy and the mother of the family that he meets is much more heartfelt in the movie than it is in the book. In the book, the scene is brief, and the woman tells the child that their family has been following him and his father, and she exclaims that she has been praying for him. In the movie, however, the woman immediately behaves as if she is the boy’s mother. The offers him a warm embrace, and she gives him a true feeling of hope. The boy appears to be truly happy in the movie when he sees the two children and the family dog, and in general, there is a greater feeling of hope at the end of the movie than there is at the end of the novel.

Such is the way with books compared to movies... In general, novels provide the details, and films offer the emotion. The Road was a very well-written novel (including the ending), but it lacked emotion – which is why I am glad that I watched the movie.

Hubbard: The Road

Cormac McCarthy's novel "The Road", is a tale like no other. It is was of the best post-apocalyptic stories I ever read. Usually novels of this genre are not that enjoyable and the thought of humanity coming to an end is mind bothering. The novel is about a father and his son after fighting for survival after a cataclysm destroyed most of the civilization and almost all life on earth. They embark on a journey to travel south to find a warmer climate because they are not physically able to face another winter. While on the journey that was literary a fight for humanity and life, they hoped to find more "civilized" humans like themselves. It's not easy to remain hopeful when all is lost and you're at a standstill in a dark cold place where land is devoid.

While reading the novel, I was able to imagine and visualize what was occurring throughout the story. The thought of being hunted by cannibals, having hardly any food or water and being two of the few normal humans left. I read in the novel how they had to witness a horrific scene of an infant cooked. People may think times are hard due to a recession but this situation was beyond hard. Some humans became so desperate, that they formed cannibalistic tribes and hunted other humans so they could feed of them in order to survive. They spared no mercy and had no sympathy for woman and children. Children are actually easier targets because they weren't able defend themselves. Reading all of this really disturbed me but watching the film really had me on the verge of pressing stop. Seeing films for novels tend to allow me to have a better understanding of what is taking place.

At the end of the film, the father dies after suffering from a wound and leaves the boy to fend for himself. Fortunately, they were being followed by another family that offered to take him in and ensure him that they were good people. I was hoping that it didn't end with them turning on the boy. I think in the end the family took the boy in and overtime they eventually found civilization where they could survive and start over. I think that the book sort of ends on the same note as well.

Celestine: The Road

The Road by Cormac McCarthy portrayed the relationship of a father and son during a rough time in life. The connection between the father and son is seen clearly at the beginning of the novel but as the novel progresses the difference in their personality is seen through how they tolerate their journey. The father constantly refers to him and his son as the “good people”. He believes they are the only good ones left in their area since the people they have encountered has started murdering people and eating them. The son does not understand the impact of their new life and does not agree with how his father takes care of them. At some point in the novel McCarthy says that the son and his father’s relationship would be torn apart if they were not going through this traumatic experience together. Unlike the father the son has a love for humanity and if he has the sources to help someone he would do so. This is first seen when the son notices a little boy and wants to take him with them and the father says no because no one can be trusted. The action of the father truly upsets the son and that causes him not to speak to his father for a while. The characters Ely and the African American man, the thief, also portray the difference in the way the father and son view people. This can be attributed to the maturity difference and life experience but as the novel continues the reader realizes the father is preparing his son for living a life with out him.

As they travel more south in their journey the father constantly reminds the son to “carry the fire”. He says this because he knows that he is getting sick and that eventually the son will have to continue living without him. The father needs to reassure the son that he should not give up and not just accept everyone though they seem approachable. The father is aware that his son appreciates humanity and cannot stay angry with him about his trust and willingness to help everyone because the son is innocent and has some glimmer of hope that life will get better. The reader notices the father getting ill and it concerns the reader because a love for the son has developed and the reader does not want the boy to be harmed in anyway.

While watching the film and being able to witness the scene of the new world and the filth the father and son live in everyday brings sadness because the only thing left to do is die. It seems as if death is unavoidable. The film intensifies emotions and opens up the readers’ eyes to what the father and son had to go through to survive. The scene that was most impacting was when the father forced the thief to take off all his clothes because he wanted him to feel how they felt when he took their things. The thief cried and the only thing that saved him from death was the son. The father is angry that the son wanted the thief to live though he left them with nothing. As the film and novel nears an end the father is getting sicker and death finally takes over him. This is very traumatic because now the reader wonders what will happen to the son. Well unbeknown to the son and the reader a family was following them the entire time and wants to take him in and after asking if they are the good people he goes with them. The reader is worried because how can one be sure this man is actually telling the truth but once the mans family approaches and the reader sees the man has a wife and children and the son is the child the boy saw previously the reader can assume that the son will be safe and continue to carry the fire like his father requested. In concluding the end of the novel and the film is the same accept that the film allows the reader to see the fear in the son and reassurance that he is doing the right thing by going with them.

Vitanza - The Road

The novel as well as the film describes an uninhabitable world in which humankind remains as the last species standing. It is a tragic story about a father and son surviving the lasts days, as in the Bible. It is an interesting perspective from the author, Cormack McCarthy, on how the infamous Apocalypse will be for the human race. For the author to focus on a father and son through this setting made the story even more tragic; hiding, avoiding large groups of people (possible cannibals), constantly searching for food, hoping that everything will be ok, are just a few of the tasks these two face on an every day basis.

The son plays the most important part in the film, as well as the novel. Since the son believes there is still hope for him and his father, his heart and compassion remains unaltered, given the circumstances. Hence, when they encounter the old man, and the thief the son tells his father not to kill them, instead help them out. These actions, thought they infuriate the father, remind him of that lost sense of humanity that he once knew.

The ending of the book is very much alike from that of the film. The fact that the boy goes unto living with a group of strangers did seem suspicious at first. Yes, they had encounter this group of people before, but given the setting in which the story takes place one can only hope the boy makes it through. The goodbye scene between the father and son accentuate the relationship between both. The son looked up to his father like a superhero; being the only person who ever did take care of him, having no mother and then going on with a group of strangers, come to think of it the son handled the situation pretty well. He was obviously aware they were going to die, and he had prepared for the day in which he was to be left alone.

Campbell-The Road

In The Road, the reader is given a graphic description of despair that the man in boy ore living during some undefined apocalyptic event that has rendered the world’s landscape a barren land of ash.  This landscape of waste is equally depicted in the film as well.  As the reader and viewer progress through the book as well as the film the overwhelming since hopelessness and despair that surround the man and boy, is tempered by the man’s sense of duty to his son and his will to survive and hope against all hope. This hope against all hope theme were defined by the man’s constant mention of “The Fire Inside” as well as “The Good Guys”. The man and boy had a goal of reaching the coast and sea. Perhaps this was a metaphor for rebirth or baptism where the water of the sea would wash away the sins of man and bring new hope. In any case, this was the driving force for the man and boy to continue on when weaker souls would have and were ending their own lives for fear of meeting a horrible death and being the served as a meal.  The cannibalism described in the book and movie represented the moral corruption of man in the face of un-paralleled hardship. One particular and disturbing section of the book that was not depicted in the movie was when the man and boy saw a group of people that had been trailing them. The group included three men and a pregnant woman. The man and boy positioned themselves in a manner such that the group would pass them while they observed them. Eventually the group passed and the man and boy waited a bit before continuing on. Eventually the man and boy came upon a camp site which had been left by the group in which the charred remains of an infant were left. Eventually the man and boy arrive at the coast, while it was not as they envisioned, it did offer a brief spark until eventually the man’s failing health caught with them and he died. Perhaps he had lost the will to fight off the impending death feeling that he had giving his son a chance at better life once they reached the coast. While the death of the man was expected, it seemed to dash all chance of hope that is until the boy was approached by the man on the beach. In the end hope was once again restored when the man revealed he had two children and his wife with him in the book and the addition of a dog in the movie. In the book the woman was more vocal than in the movie and she spoke of God and there seemed to be some time that had passed since his father’s death, where as in the movie she provide the sense of hope and warmth by saying she was glad to see him. It is hard to say what happened to the boy after that, the optimist would hope that he made it further south and the he and his new companions found “The Good Guys”  in a place were some sense of humanity was restored and the world begins to heal itself.