Symbolism and Quotes
A significant symbol in this novel that represents resiliency and hope.
What is fire?
The man and the boy keep their belongings in this everyday object for the majority of the novel.
What is the cart?
During the course of this novel, the boy drinks this particular beverage for the first time.
What is Coca Cola?
What was the horrible image the man and the boy finds in the cellar?
Naked people, some dismembered
What does the cave dream allude to?
Allegory of the cave
A recurring symbol in this book that represents the loss of hope or will to go on.
What are happy dreams?
What happens after the man and the boy meet Ely? 3 things:
They see a train, visit burned cities, find a map that helps travel to the coast
What does the boy do after the man dies?
He waits three days with no direction on what to do next.
What image does the novel show to represent the cannibals' rise to power?
Heads on spikes.
Who is Ely a reference to?
The prophet Elijah
An object on the vessel has the impact of stirring his heart for the first time in a very long time. What is it?
Brass Sextant
After reaching the coast, the man is marginally wounded with this weapon.
What is a bow and arrow?
The two things the man worries about most.
What are food and shoes?
How do the grotesque images change the boy?
Trauma and bad dreams
What do the clocks stopping at 1:17 reference?
Revelations 1:17 "I am the first and the last"
The Flare gun represents
hope of finding good guys
What do the man an the boy do to the robber?
Strip and leave him to die.
What does the boy get sick from?
Bad canned goods
What do the man in the boy find in a barn earlier in the novel to show some people's reactions to the end of the world?
Hanging bodies from the rafters
What does the man's thoughts of killing his son reference?
The character by name who was described by this passage:
"The traveler was not one for looking back. They followed him for a while and then they overtook him...small and bent.
Who is Ely?
Why do the man and the boy leave the bunker? 3 things:
Cannibals will find it, the man wants to make it to the coast, to find a safe place for his son
Cormac McCarthy has received criticism for his handling of this subject in The Road.
What are women?
Why did the cannibals wear masks?
To feel empowered to be violent by being anonymous
What allusion does the robber reference?
Jesus tells a story about a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. Along the way, he "fell among thieves" (or robbers) who stripped him, beat him, and left him half-dead.