Catherine


 * Pages 1-40: Connection Master**
 * 1) "A few miles on they came upon a roadside gas station. They stood in the road and studied it. I think we should check it out, the man said” (8). This reminds me of the movie Zombieland, although Zombieland is supposed to be funny, the scenery is similar. They seem to be in an almost empty world, trying to find resources or some sort of help.
 * 2) “The man sat with his arms around the boy trying to warm him” (9). This reminds me of the book //Night// that we read in 9th grade about the Jews on a march through the snow to a concentration camp. I remember them laying in the snow, completely exhausted, but they worried that if they fell asleep they would never wake up, so one would stay awake while the other slept so he could make sure he woke up the other guy before he froze to death in his sleep.
 * 3) “’You have some, Papa.’ ‘I want you to drink it.’ ‘You have some’” (23). This reminds me of my dad and me, obviously not in the same situation, but if I ever offer to share food or drink or anything with my dad, he never wants to take it from me. He always insists that I have it all for myself.

"They moved through the streets like __sappers__" (79). //A soldier employed in the fortifications of trenches or tunnels//
 * Pages 41-89: Vocabulary Miser**

The man decides that he has been careless by putting his son and himself in such a dangerous situation (going into the house) and that he will never do it again no matter what. Do you think he is taking too many risks or are these risks necessary for their survival?
 * Pages 90-135: Discussion Questions**
 * We think that it is necessary for survival because right after the man says that, he proves himself wrong by going into another empty house, and rather than almost getting eaten by cannibals, they find candles and food. Sometimes putting yourself in danger is part of the fight.

Towards the end of this section, things seem to be looking up. Do you think things will stay like this for long or will there be more negative events to come?
 * The fight is definitely not over. In each section there is a climax, where things get pretty bad, but then something lucky happens where they can find just enough success to keep surviving. In the next part we read, we predict that something else bad will happen, but most likely they'll recover.

Why did the father make bullets out of wood?
 * To intimidate others, so they can see that their revolver appears loaded. Maybe to give himself more confidence, to feel like he has more protection

"Is it okay for us to take it? Yes. It is. They would want us to. Just like we would want them to. They were the good guys? Yes. They were. Like us? Like us. Yes. So it's okay. Yes. It's okay" (140). This is related to what Mrs. Clark-Evans was talking about; how the boy is always questioning what is good/bad. The boy seems skeptical that maybe the things they are doing to survive are not right.The boy is more innocent and more likely to follow his heart and do what he thinks is right, but the father is more experienced and developed so he knows that there is a grey area and he must compromise his morality at times if he wants to save himself and his son.
 * Pages 136-185: Literary Luminary**

"There was no gun and there wasn't going to be one" (143). In this part of the book, the man has found peaches and is even enjoying a bar of chocolate, but even after that, the focus is that he doesn't have a gun. It seems like the man is really worried about not having a gun or more bullets for the gun he has lately. This could mean that he is more worried/focused on death. He is focusing on a gun as an escape route from his sickness and his son's suffering.

"Even now some part of him wished they'd never found this refuge. Some part of him always wished it to be over" (154). The father has admitted to losing hope. He was the hopeful one that kept the journey going, but even he is losing his spirit.

1. "Figures half mired in the blacktop, clutching themselves, mouths howling" (190). This reminds me of Pompeii. 2. "They drank tea and sat by the fire and they slept in the sand and listened to the roll of the surf in the bay" (218). This whole beach scene where they are sleeping at the beach and finding materials reminds me of the movie //The Castaway//. 3. //"//He swam the length of the steel hull and turned, treading water, gasping with the cold" (223). This is almost like one time when Greer and I went swimming in the ocean in March when it was so freezing cold that it literally took our breath away.
 * Pages 186-235: Connection Master**

"On their backs were //vermiculite// patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming" (241). A mineral that expands with heat
 * Pages 236-end: Vocab Miser**

"In the deep //glens// where they lived, all things were older than man and hummed of mystery" (241). A narrow valley