THE ROADIntroduction & Section 1

Cormac McCarthy

• The Road (2006)• No Country for Old Men (2005)• The Crossing (1994)• All the Pretty Horses (1992)• Blood Meridian (1985)

Humans struggling to survive extinction in order for life to reemerge.

Living a good and altruistic life despite the harshness of the world.

Intentionally withholding information to protect others.

Man’s attempt to overcome nature’s obstacles.

The sacrificial demands of a father’s love.

Themes

The Apocalypse Genre

Can we maintain humanity in a post-apocalyptic world?

What matters most when the world ends?

How does an author’s choices affect our mood as we read?

How do literary devices help us understand how a novel’s theme develops?

Essential Questions

• Similes/Metaphors

• Tone/Mood

• Allusion

• Syntax (sentence structure)

• Diction (word choice)

Literary Devices

And now to The Road…turn to page 3 and

read.

The cave creature… what movie or literary character(s) do you think of?

SIMILES

A comparison made between two things using the words “like” or “as.”

Ex. “Like the onset of some cold glaucoma dimming away the world.” (pg. 3)

FINDING SIMILES

-“Like pilgrims in a fable swallowed up and lost” (p.3) THE MAN & BOY

-“and sightless as the eggs of spiders” (p.3-4) THE CREATURE’S EYES

AMBIGUITY

Something that does not have a single clear meaning; ambiguous.

Ex. “The teacher’s ambiguous instructions made it difficult to complete the assignment.”

What do I know? What do I want to know?

Why does McCarthy write ambiguously

here? 

EXAMPLE: The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where very few humans have survived. 

How and when did the apocalyptic event take place?

I think he wants to capture our attention and imaginations as readers—let us paint the picture.

FINDING AMBIGUITY

What do I know? 

What do I want to know?

Why does McCarthy write ambiguously here?

 1) “He thought the month was October but he wasn’t sure.” (p.4)    

What gave the man this impression…

I think McCarthy…

YOUR TURN!

-“like a charcoal drawing sketched across the waste” (p.8) THE CITY

-“vanished in night’s onset like an apparition” (p.9) THE CITY

-“streaked with black from the rain like some old world thespian” (p.10) THE BOY

-“like the great pendulum in its rotunda” (p.15) THE MAN/MOVEMENTS

-“watched it expire there like the last host of christendom” (p.16) THE SNOWFLAKE

-“stood on the rear rail like a dogmusher” (p.18) THE MAN & BOY

-“They stood in the rain like farm animals” (p.20) THE MAN & BOY

Watch for the clue on page 21 hinting at where they are currently traveling in America!

Stop reading at page 25.