McCarthy Unabridged: The Road, Page 145

The man wakes up and notices the boy is still asleep. He wakes him up and makes breakfast for him with the food they have just found. While eating, the man wants to see the boy happy and cheerful so the man tells funny stories to the boy and enjoys watching the boy laugh. The man was enjoying this moment knowing what they had been through so far and unsure how much more longer he had to live. It put a smile on his face. But the man heard something. It sounded like a floorboard creaking as if someone was walking up on them. The man quickly turned around and noticed a stranger with a gun pointed at them.

How did you get into the bunker?

Please put the gun down sir.

I ain’t putting nothing down until you explain yourself. Is that your kid over there?

Yes. We were hungry and we happen to stumble upon your bunker.

How much did you take?

Not much.

You're lying. Empty out your bag or I’ll shoot your brains out in front of your kid.

Sir please. We need some to take with us or we will die.

I don’t care! Empty that bag or I’ll shoot your brains out in front of your kid!

Fine. The man began to empty the bag filled with all the food that was taken from the bunker out on to the floor. There was nothing he could do. The pistol was to far away to reach and if he would have reached for it, both him and the boy would be killed. The man told the boy to come close to him.

Now this is what you’re going to do. You and your kid here are going to leave and never come back.

Sir can we please have one or two cans of food? The boy is really…

What the hell did I say! You’re not taking anything with you. And if you come back here and try to take something of mine again, I’ll kill you both.

Rationale

Here is my rationale that explains my decisions on my creative piece

I chose to do this scene when the man and the boy discover the house filled with food and supplies because I thought was kind of too easy in my opinion and there wasn’t a conflict that happened in the scene. I decided to add in a conflict and dialogue between the man and the stranger who owned the house and the food that they were eating. I wanted to make the man sound kind of scared and somewhat obedient to the stranger to show a different side to the man that isn’t shown in the book. In the book, the man is portrayed as a strong person and shows a sign of someone who doesn’t listen to anyone.

Another reason why I chose this scene was because I wanted to change what would happen to the man and the boy on the road when they didn’t have any food and supplies with them. In the book, the man and the boy encounter an old man. After arguing back and forth with the boy, the man decides to give the man some of their food along with inviting him to eat dinner with them. If this scene was in the book, they would probably search the man for food and take any supplies that he had because in the book, you have to take risks to survive. Also, the man and boy get robbed of their stuff by another stranger when the man left in search of supplies on a boat and left the boy in the tent asleep with the things unattended. If my scene was in the book, just like with the old man, the man and boy would search the stranger for things (in the book, he has nothing). They could also bring him along with them as maybe someone to help them search for food and supplies or just to bring along with them.

In the book, McCarthey makes it clear that you have to do anything to survive. Everything you do will either have a good outcome or a bad outcome and nothing will come easy in this world that was created in the book.