I think the best way to start a discussion about the book is with some questions. I found these on Reading Group Guides:
- How is McCarthy able to make the postapocalyptic world of The Road seem so real and utterly terrifying? Which descriptive passages are especially vivid and visceral in their depiction of this blasted landscape? What do you find to be the most horrifying features of this world and the survivors who inhabit it?
The whole cannibalism thing really gave me the creeps, especially the section when the Man and the Boy find the house with the people locked in the basement. If you read this passage again, McCarthy describes just enough of the scene, so that your mind wanders. This is one of the most disturbing things I have read. What bothers me is I think this scenario is quite possible; the lawless behavior after Katrina - if a disaster were to go on and be permanent, things could become like the book described.
- McCarthy doesn't make explicit what kind of catastrophe has ruined the earth and destroyed human civilization, but what might be suggested by the many descriptions of a scorched landscape covered in ash? What is implied by the father's statement that "On this road there are no godspoke men. They are gone and I am left and they have taken with them the world" [p. 32]? I'm going to answer this question with one; what did he mean "godspoke men?" Was this an end of world event described in the Bible?
- As the father is dying, he tells his son he must go on in order to "carry the fire." When the boy asks if the fire is real, the father says, "It's inside you. It was always there. I can see it" [p. 279]. What is this fire? Why is it so crucial that they not let it die? I thought the fire represented goodness; it's in the boy and for the world to continue, goodness must prevail.
- McCarthy envisions a postapocalyptic world in which "murder was everywhere upon the land" and the earth would soon be "largely populated by men who would eat your children in front of your eyes" [p. 181]. How difficult or easy is it to imagine McCarthy's nightmare vision actually happening? Do you think people would likely behave as they do in the novel, under the same circumstances? Does it now seem that human civilization is headed toward such an end? I think it is possible for the world to become what he described. Our society functions because of law enforcement and the belief in morals; all of which can be torn apart when people are starving and no one is there to keep order. I think you would see groups of good people trying to survive and groups, like the book who do whatever it takes to survive.
- The man and the boy think of themselves as the "good guys." In what ways are they like and unlike the "bad guys" they encounter? What do you think McCarthy is suggesting in the scenes in which the boy begs his father to be merciful to the strangers they encounter on the road? How is the boy able to retain his compassion--to be, as one reviewer put it, "compassion incarnate"? The boy could be compassionate because he is young and closer to pure innocence, or he is as the father believes, someone sent from God.
- The sardonic blind man named Ely who the man and boy encounter on the road tells the father that "There is no God and we are his prophets" [p. 170]. What does he mean by this? Why does the father say about his son, later in the same conversation, "What if I said that he's a god?" [p. 172] Are we meant to see the son as a savior? I'm not sure what the blind man meant when he said, "we are his prophets?" Does he mean that because they are still alive in such a world, he believes there is no God? I believe the boy is meant to be seen as a savior, the father believes it and this is one of the reasons he refuses to give up.
- McCarthy's work often dramatizes the opposition between good and evil, with evil sometimes emerging triumphant. What does The Road ultimately suggest about good and evil? Which force seems to have greater power in the novel? It's not clear, but when the father says. "Goodness always finds the boy," I believe he is saying the evil will always be there, but so will the good.
- Why do you think McCarthy ends the novel with the image of trout in mountain streams before the end of the world: "In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery" [p. 287]. What is surprising about this ending? Does it provide closure, or does it prompt a rethinking of all that has come before? What does it suggest about what lies ahead? I kept thinking about the passage about the trout in the streams; was he talking about the fate of man, or God? The end was sad, but it fit with the rhythm of the book; to have the man and boy find a happy camp, with good people, and plenty of food would have cheapened the story. I was satisfied that the boy found goodness with the new group of people who found him.
This book may scare many people away due to it's gore and difficult topic, but then you would miss it's beauty. The horror is balanced with compassion and love. I'm glad I read it again, because the shock of the disturbing parts was gone, so I could focus on the story of the father and son. Would you recommend this book? Are you going to see the movie when it is released?
The February book is Choke by Chuck Palahniuk.
March: The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker
