McCarthy Unabridged: The Road, Page 23

I use to drink those all the time when I was your age.

How long ago was that?

I don't remember.

The man and the boy look around to see if there was anything else that was useful that could be added to their cart. The man curiously walked near a flight of stairs that seemed to start near the entrance.

What is it?

Wait here.

Let me go with you, I’m scared.

No, I’ll be back. I’ll let you know if I find anything.

But Papa.

Don’t follow me.

The man slowly approached the staircase, he tip toed up the stairs keeping a tight grip on his gun. Before he reached the top of the stairs he looked to see if there was anyone in the room. Once he reached the top of the stairs he was overwhelmed to see what his eyes had not seen in years.

Get up here, I have something to show you.

What is it?

Come up and I’ll show you.

I don’t know, is it safe?

Just come up here, you’ll like it I promise.

The boy took a large amount of time to get up the stairs, the man didn’t mind as he was mesmerized by what he had seen.

What is it?

It’s a radio.

What’s a radio?

It’s like a box that plays any kind of music you put into it.

Does it work?

I don’t know, I’ll try to turn it on.

The man picked up the radio and observed it for a couple of minutes, he tested all of the buttons and was finally able to turn it on.

I don’t hear anything.

You have to put in the CD so it can play.

Where can we find one?

Help me look around, there should be some around.

The man opened the cabinet below from where the radio was, he grabbed the first one he saw and handed it to the boy.

Is this it?

Yes.

What does it say?

Greatest Hits of The Century. Put it in, and press the button that says play.

It took a couple of seconds for the first track on the CD to play. The first song was by Dion, The Twist. The moment the song began the man moved his hips and feet and sang the words of the song as loud as he could. The boy did not understand what he was doing and seemed to be bewildered as he stared at him.

Papa, what are you doing?

Dancing, come on it’s easy.

I don’t know, you’re acting really strange.

It’s not strange, just try it.

But I don’t know how.

Just do the twist.

I don’t even know what that means.

It means stop being scared and dance.

After three songs had passed the boy smiled and joined the man in the middle of the floor. The boy didn’t know any of the songs so he sang whatever seemed right. The man looked down at the boy and began to laugh. Once the last track ended they grabbed all their stuff and set out back onto the road, for the rest of the journey the man and the boy hummed each song they had danced to and disappeared into the cold dark night.

Rationale of The Creative Scene

I chose to write the creative scene after the man and the boy were in the supermarket and the man wanted him to try the coca cola because I wanted to add more nostalgic elements to the story. The scene where the man gives the boy the coca cola gives the reader a taste of what was a custom of the world before the events that have left it in the way it is now. Creating the scene where the man finds the radio and identifies what is playing and as well as his actions gives the reader more background information about the man and what the boy is familiar with pertaining to what he knows about the world the man grew up in, which would be the motif of my creative scene. I also wanted to introduced a different side of the man, a side to which even the boy wasn’t familiar with. It shows how much humanity the man still has inside of him, and how little the boy has experienced throughout his time in the world they know now to be a wasteland. The theme of my creative scene is similar to the scene where the man gives the boy the coca-cola, except it is more nostalgic and playful. When I wrote the scene I included how the man wanted the boy to join him, I made it clear that the opportunity for the boy to actually be a kid and experience something that the man had once experienced himself was probably the only one he would get. 

My essential question was “What is the relationship between the man and the boy? Throughout the novel we are given examples to when the man shows how he protects the boy, but we also see how the boy controls him and his level of authority. I wanted my creative scene to show a playful father and son bonding moment, something that the reader rarely sees in the novel. My creative scene shows a reflection of an important moment that had just passed, that important moment would be when the man tells the boy to taste the coca-cola. Suggesting that the boy should join the man when he was dancing and singing shows the same elements. For my vocabulary word I chose the twist to describe what the man was doing and what the man was singing. The Twist was a popular song and dance in the 1960's by Dion.