"We must keep moving" Esther and sofia

The novel, “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy; is a story of a father and son navigating through this post-apocalyptic world having solely one another. The constant danger of the unknown causes the father to keep moving, not allowing them to stay in one place for too long. Despite the boy constantly asking to enjoy the few blessings they had come across, the father was constantly quick to say, “We can’t stay, he said… It’s not safe… We have to keep moving.” (McCarthy 42). This repetition of this phrase occurs multiple times throughout the novel. The sensation the reader gets while reading these phrases is that it is always rushed. Each drawing around the road represents an event that occurs in the novel and leads the man to tell the boy to “keep going” and go back on the road. The road is the only consistent element throughout the novel. The man is continuously rushing the boy to go back on the road. His constant fear of the unknown pushes them to continue their journey on the road. That is also why we chose to draw the road in a circle-like shape, to represent the cycle of the man and boy going back on the road. This cycle of pushing forward despite knowing the ignorance of youth is being stolen from the boy each day, hoping to see him grow and carry on the fire. Striving to keep a good moral compass in a world where morality is thrown out the window and dehumanization is the new norm.

Quotes that correlate with each drawing:

Waterfall: “We can’t stay, he said… It’s not safe… We have to keep moving. We have to keep heading south” (McCarthy 42).

The burnt man in the road: “They went on. The boy was crying he kept looking back… ‘We have no way to help him… The boy stood looking down. He nodded his head. Then they went on and he didn’t look back again” (McCarthy 50).

Fallen trees in the snow: “We have to go, head. We can’t stay here’ The boy stared bleakly at the gray drifts. Come on. They made their way out to the fence” (McCarthy 98).

Man w/o legs in the basement: “For the love of god will you come on, he hissed. He grabbed the boy by the hand. Christ, he said. Run. Run. (McCarthy 111).

Bunker: “How long can we stay here Papa? Not long. How long is that? I don’t know. Maybe one more day. Two. Because it’s dangerous” (McCarthy 139).

Old man, they gave fruit: “We can’t stay here. We have to go. He’s scared Papa. I don’t think you should touch him” (McCarthy163). “We can’t stay here. We have to go”(McCarthy 163).