We've Reached the End of the Road

Taken from Google Images

 

The conclusion of Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Road was rather ambiguous.  What are your thoughts on the ending of this novel?  Why do you suppose readers were left in the dark regarding what ultimately happens to the boy?  In reading this novel, have you discovered if you are a pessimist or an optimist?  Why?

In addition, think Big Picture: what message did McCarthy convey in this novel?  In other words, after the veil was removed, what harsh reality was discovered about the world and the people in it? 

In this journal prompt (and in your final papers), you should be exploring the following themes and concepts:

1. Good vs. Evil

2. Innocence and Experience

3. Hope

4. Theology

5. Post-Modern Literature (pastiche, minimalism, etc)

6. The apocalypse and the word's meaning ("the removal of the veil")