The Road (Post #4)

“They walked into the little clearing, the boy clutching his hand. They’d taken everything with them except whatever black thing was skewered over the coals. He was standing there checking the perimeter when the boy turned and buried his face against him. He looked quickly to see what had happened. What is it? He said. What is it? The boy shook his head. Oh Papa, he said. He turned and looked again. What the boy had seen was a charred human infant headless and gutted and blackening on the spit. He bent and picked the boy up and started for the road with him, holding him close. I’m sorry, he whispered. I’m sorry” (198).

A few pages before, the man and the boy had a feeling that they were being followed. They found out that they were right and that two men and a pregnant woman were following not far behind. So even though the book doesn’t ever mention who those people were that ran away from the man and boy, as I read this paragraph I immediately knew who they were. I was completely shocked, sickened, and couldn’t believe what had just happened. How could a woman eat her own newborn child? Even if she and the other two men were starving? That part just totally creeped me out.

“When he woke the fire had burned down and it was very cold. The boy was sitting up wrapped in his blanket.
What is it?
Nothing. I had a bad dream.
What did you dream about?
Nothing.
Are you okay?
No.
He put his arms around him and held him. It’s okay, he said.
I was crying. But you didn’t wake up.
I’m sorry. I was just so tired.
I meant in the dream” (183).

As I read along, I had hoped that they finally got help, found the “good guys”, were able to live in a new, continually forming, community, and live happily ever after. Of course that is not an option. So far in the book there have been many tiny clues about the future of the man and his boy. This passage above just supports the evidence that the man’s death is yet to come. What will happen to the boy? My belief is that the boy will be all right. In the beginning, the boy was terrified of every little thing. Throughout the pages and discoveries, the boy grew in nature and became stronger as his father grew weaker. In some way, the boy was getting ready to support himself.