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=//The Road// by Cormac McCarthy= an investigation

Our Class Goals

 * Share, discover, and learn the significant features of this piece of American literature.
 * Examine what you and your group deems important.
 * Examine the literary features that McCarthy uses to tell his story.
 * lack of punctuation
 * abrupt sentences
 * repetition of 'gray' and 'ashes'
 * What thematic and literary concepts can you apply in your own life (as a person and as a writer)?
 * father and son vs. world
 * 'ashy' and 'gray' defines their world - ash is even inside their body
 * why isn't is black? gray is mystifying and dull
 * He only has one bullet
 * He must choose between killing himself and his son
 * if he kills himself, the boy will not survive
 * where are they? southeast
 * we don't know there names
 * this creates mystery
 * its just the two of them - they don't need names
 * so we don't get too emotionally connected to them
 * its not about the past or the present - its all about the moment that they are in

We wonder:
 * how much time has passed? (Coca Cola, states)
 * what is the event?
 * why no names?
 * will they make it safely to the South?
 * what will the dreams lead up to?

We know:
 * not much
 * used to have a wife/mom
 * moving South
 * setting: winter, snow
 * survival is tentative
 * the man would not want to live on if the boy died - they depend on each other
 * "..God's own fire drake" (31).
 * "If he is not the word of God then God never spoke" (5)
 * they are hiding
 * the man is close to death - coughing up blood (from the ash?)