Roadmap of Lessons

In the roadmap I made, I included notable events throughout the book. Specifically, I included events from the book that had lessons to be learned from the Dad’s responses. The first 4 events I included have qualities over the description - they were events where the Dad’s actions showed leadership, selfishness, defensiveness and selflessness. Above each of the qualities, arrows go further up along the road to connect to where the boy currently is.

This design of the roadmap was intentional. Throughout the reading, McCarthy’s storytelling has been a little confusing, but the characters’ reactions (with different events) have stood out to me and guided my understanding.

At the beginning of the book the mom would pass away. The situation was tough but the dad knew they couldn’t afford to wait, so they started off on the journey. I understood this event for the Dad’s response to the tragedy; he was strong, and a leader. As the book continues, we get looks into even crazier events. I’ve understood each event for the character’s reactions - and I think that this goes with what must have been McCarthys intention; McCarthy sets up the bulk of the book with this confusing variety of event’s, and it all builds up to the end where the boy is left (sort of) alone. In these events, the character reactions point out the learning, and takeaways the boy must have had, leaving us with a significant question. I think that McCarthy constructed all of these learning events together to leave us wondering about what will happen with the boy left alone? How he will apply what he’s learned.