The Road was a short book that I knocked out in about a week. I chose this as my final book to read because of all the intriguing posts I read on this book. Unfortunately, I do not think I enjoyed it as much as others did. In the beginning, I was happy with the book. It was fast moving, lots of things were happening, and it was interesting to see what life would be like if the Earth had a world-ending disaster, etc. However, as I kept flipping the page, the book was just more and more depressing, but also just seemed a little repetitive. The Man and the Boy, the only two main characters, are trying their best to survive the desolate planet once known as Earth. I guess my biggest problem with the book is that Earth doesn’t “get better”. When I say this I mean during the book the reader never gets to see Earth start to go back to how it used to be, when people start to reproduce, and things go back to square one. I think this is the one thing that made me the maddest. I guess I don’t ever want to think about the fact that one day this world we know so well can end, and it might not ever be the same again. As I kept flipping pages, I was waiting to read a success story or a recovery story; I wanted to believe that Earth would always recover no matter how bad the disaster. The story just got me more depressed when I realized that Earth had been like that for more than just a couple months, it was more like a few years. The question that I want to pose is whether or not you are comfortable thinking about/ realizing that one day the earth could end/ change drastically by some huge natural disaster. I now know after reading this book that I do get uncomfortable thinking about fighting for survival on a desolate barbaric planet that would of used to be so different.
April 28, 2016
If The World Ends, I am Screwed: A Reader Response to The Road by Evie Johnson
Posted by Julia Franks under Evie | Tags: The Road |[3] Comments
AP English Literature at Lovett 
April 28, 2016 at 12:33 pm
Evie, I have also read the road and I agree the setting is depressing, but the characters ability to survive in my opinion is a positive thing. I agree it is sad to think of the world we know turning into a living hell of sorts, but this book shows how we can handle it. While it would have been very easy for the man and the boy to just give up and take their own lives, they didn’t. They made a reason to continue, they gave themselves purpose by saying that they were “carrying the fire.” The condition the Earth is in corrupts the majority of humans still alive, but the man and the boy remain human. Yes it is easy to see how this book can make people sad, but at the same time I see it as a story about a silver lining.
April 28, 2016 at 12:55 pm
Evie, this is a very interesting post about a very intriguing book. Honestly I will have to say I agree with you. The Road frankly can be flat-out depressing at times. The setting is desolate, the crime that goes on is astounding, and as you mentioned, earth really just wasn’t what it used to be. However to your question of whether I am comfortable thinking about what would happen if the earth ended, my answer would actually have to be yes…and my main reason for that is because it would be pretty cool to live to make it to the end of the world. Everyone who ever touched this planet at one time in life has thought about what it will be like when the earth ends, and I will get to say I was part of the generation that lived through it. That’s a story to tell in your afterlife. We have seen multiple movies and shows and read books about what it would be like when the earth ends and there have been a lot of different ideas but no one truly knows what it will be like. Call me crazy, but I want to see the world end.
April 28, 2016 at 10:21 pm
Evie, I thought your blog post was very interesting as I have also read The Road, albeit a very long time ago so I don’t remember too many details. I thought the book was phenomenal in that it perfectly conveyed McCarthy’s message that anyone can be the one to “carry the fire.” The fact that the two main characters, the man and the boy, remain unnamed throughout the entire book is something I have never experienced and I feel that it was McCarthy attempting to not make the main characters specific people, but rather be a representation of everyone. While the book does go only seem to get more depressing, I enjoyed a story where the ending is not super predictable. Overall I really thought it was an illustration of human survival and the lengths people will go to in order to live. I do remember thinking why in some situations the boy was scared and at times so overwhelmed that he would break down. I’m not trying to say that the kid is a wimp, if I were in a similar situation I’d probably not be able to keep myself level headed either. But if all the boy has known is the post-apocalyptic world they’re living in, then why does it seem like he wants to go back to the regular days as if he remembers what the world used to be like? Anyways, to answer your question, yes I have imagined myself in a post-apocalyptic world many times. Basically any movie/story I see/read I imagine myself in the characters’ shoes and what I would do in the situation.