C+-+Mimi

Quotes to discuss for pages 1-40:

"Like the dying world the newly blind inhabit, all of it slowly fading from memory" (18).

"I have to watch you all the time, the boy said. I know. If you break little promises you'll break big ones. That's what you said. I know. But I won't" (34).

Vocabulary for pages 41-89: **Sappers** (79)- a combatant soldier who performs a wide variety of combat engineering duties, typically including, but not limited to, bridge -building, laying or clearing minefields, demolitions, field defences, general construction and building, as well as road and airfield construction and repair. **Idiom** (89)- an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made.

Connections for pages 90-135 One thing that I connected to in this section was the terror the boy felt at the possibility of either being eaten or having to eat someone. After such a drastic change in the world there would undoubtably be people who resort to such drastic measures but the thought of being one of them makes me, at least, feel sick to my stomach. That the man and boy would die before doing such a thing speaks of their moral strength and resolve to cling to their humanity.

Something else that I related to, both myself and with connections to other media, is the desire the boy shows not to be alone. On page 131 he says "I wish that little boy was with us," referring to a boy they had caught a glimpse of at an earlier town. This shows both how the son still harbors his desire to help people and how, perhaps subconsciously, he is afraid of being left alone himself. After all, if they leave one little boy behind, who's to say if they won't leave another?

Discussion questions for pages 136-185 1. How is it that the food store went unnoticed for all these years? Surely the person who owned the house would have told someone about it, so even if the original owner died there would be someone who knew. 2. The boy mentions Heaven and God on page 146--has religion collapsed completely in the wake of the disaster or do people still cling to their faith? 3. They've met quite a few people traveling along the roads, actually. How much of the world's population do you think is left? 4. When the old man told them his name it was one of the only things capitalized in the book. Then it turns out that it was a fake name, taking away that extra meaning in it. If he had said his real name, would it have been capitalized?

Quotes for pages 185-235 “They were trying to get away werent they Papa? Yes. They were. Why didnt they leave the road? They couldnt. Everything was on fire” (191).

One of the things I like about this book is that there are so many things left up to the reader—none of the details of the world’s collapse are given, leaving it to the reader to fill in the gaps, which a lot of the time is more frightening than knowing what happened. This quote, for example, lets us know that there was a massive fire and that there were people trapped on the road, but there is just enough left in the dark that the whole concept is that much more frightening.

“Maybe there’s a father and his little boy and they’re sitting on the beach. That would be okay. Yes. That would be okay. And they could be carrying the fire too? They could be. Yes” (216).

I like this quote because it encompasses all the hope that the father and son carry with them—the hope that somewhere out in the world there is someone who is carrying the fire with them, that in all the vast, destructive world they are not alone.

“He was half expecting some horror but there was none” (225).

This quote amused me because throughout this scene I was expecting to encounter something horrific too!

Vocab for pages 235-end
 * Souwester** (239) - A long raincoat, often worn at sea
 * Shelflife** (248) - The length of time a product may be stored before beginning to lose its effectiveness