ELIT 48C CLASS 40

LoathVersus Loathe

Loathe is a verb meaning to dislike greatly; to abhor; to feel disgust for. For example, if you have a mean instructor, you might say that you loathe her.

Loath is an adjective meaning unwilling or reluctant. For example, you might say that you are loath to to spend time with your mean instructor outside work.

Loathe versus Loath

 “Poets are the

unacknowledged legislators of the world.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley

CHAIR POET?

The RoadConceptsSymbolsQHQ

AGENDA

Five minutes!

DISCUSS

Is innocence the absence of experience, or a certain disposition? If it’s the absence of—that the innocent haven’t yet been exposed to the horrors of the world—‘innocence of a child’—such a word can hardly define a child born in a world near entirely made of the horrors.

But, what is really naive about him is his optimism. He still believes in God in a land that seems to have lost its morals.

Each time the father and son find water, the boy is washed by his father without resistance. When the two found the waterfall pool, the father floats the boy around. The need to be cared for without pulling away is innocence. The son, wise beyond his years, only knows devastation and yet he seeks care.

The way that McCarthy structures the dialogue sections, it sometimes is hard to tell who is saying what. In these instances, at times it seems that the father is less mature, more innocent than the son.

ANALYZE THE SYMBOL OF INNOCENCE AND HOW IT PERTAINS TO THE SON IN THE ROAD .

The father clearly trusts no one but his son. His son on the other hand wants to help people so he has a little more trust in humanity. The reason that the father doesn’t trust anyone, is because knows more about their situation than the boy does.

In the conversations between the father and son, the boy constantly points out when the father is “lying” to him, although the father does it for the boy’s benefi t.

While on the road they encounter an old man and the father is immediately suspicious, “He looked up the road and down. If this is an ambush he goes fi rst” (162). This shows that the father does not trust anyone but himself and his son.

Before “securing the area” the boy continually asks his father questions for security, “Why is the door open?…We don’t have to stay in the house do we?…We don’t have to go upstairs do we?…After we secure the area?…”(67).

EXAMINE THE CONCEPT OF TRUST AND MISTRUST IN THE THE ROAD.

The roadFireLife and deathDestructionGod and Faith

INTRODUCE ANOTHER CONCEPT OR SYMBOL

Why are there no names used in “The Road”?So if no one trusts each other, how are

refugees supposed to band together and survive?

Why does the man continue living even though he is not optimistic about the world‘s future?

So, will the boy’s life be worth living if his father dies?

What does the child’s behavior say about the future of humanity?

QHQ

Wednesday: The Road: Postmodernism; Critical Theory; The American Dream; Introduce Essay #2

Thursday: The quarter in review; Self-Assessment; Discuss Exam #3

Monday: Optional Class: Make-up Exam #1 or #2 8:30 am showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Thursday, June 27: Final: 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Exam #3 Due electronically before class:

Essay #2 Essay revision Honors project

End of Days

Read The Road: finish the novelPost #: 39 (The last one)

Discuss the novel as a postmodern workUse a critical lens to start a discussionDiscuss the American Dream as it manifests in The Road

Start thinking about your next essay. Some possible prompts are posted. Remember, you can pursue any topic you would like as long as it concerns a text or texts from the second half of the quarter.

HOMEWORK