Breaking Free from the nest- Sadie Parker

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey is a powerful and thought-provoking novel that delves into the dynamics of power, control, and rebellion within the confines of a mental institution. The book’s portrayal of the ward as a highly controlled, authoritarian environment, juxtaposed with the character of Randle McMurphy’s efforts to challenge this oppressive system, provides a compelling lens through which to re-examine one’s relationship with authority figures and the mandatory structures in life.

The ward in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest shows a small society wrapped in a totalitarian regime. Nurse Ratched, the head nurse, symbolizes this regime, exerting her authority through strict rules, manipulation, and psychological control over the patients. As Kesey describes, this environment is one where individuality is suppressed, and conformity is enforced. The novel vividly portrays the dehumanizing effects of such a system, where patients are stripped of their autonomy and identity. This is evident in passages like, “She’s like a watchful robot, she sees everything, and she filters all of it through her machinery and beams it out in a revised version.” This quote highlights how Nurse Ratched’s control extends beyond physical constraints to psychological manipulation, shaping the perceptions and realities of the patients.

Contrasting this regime is Randle McMurphy, who embodies resistance and individualism. McMurphy’s arrival at the ward sparks a transformation. He challenges the established norms, questions authority, and encourages the patients to reclaim their sense of self. His rebellious acts, from organizing a fishing trip to standing up to Nurse Ratched’s rules, symbolize a fight for personal freedom and dignity. McMurphy’s actions resonate with me as they remind me of the importance of questioning and challenging the structures and norms that often go unchallenged in our lives.

Reflecting on my own experiences, I realize that there are numerous instances where I have conformed to rules or structures without questioning their purpose or fairness. For example, school policies and traditions are followed with little thought. McMurphy’s character inspires a reevaluation of these norms. It’s not about rebelling for the sake of rebellion but about understanding the reason behind rules and whether they serve a just and meaningful purpose. McMurphy’s stance is not just against the tyranny of Nurse Ratched but is a broader commentary on the importance of challenging unjust systems and standing up for individual rights.

A pivotal moment in the book that impacted me is when McMurphy arranges a vote to watch the World Series. Despite being initially defeated, he challenges the decision, eventually inspiring other patients to stand up for their desires. In this scene, as Kesey writes, “He had won the bet, but what had he won? He saw fourteen faces still watching the blank TV”. This moment illustrates the power of resistance and the potential for change when individuals unite against an oppressive system.

The psychological impact of the ward’s environment in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is profound. Patients who have been long subjected to a disciplined, oppressive routine find in McMurphy a beacon of hope and a symbol of resistance. His actions are not just rebellious for the sake of defiance; they are acts of liberation for those who have been marginalized and silenced. McMurphy teaches them to laugh, to enjoy simple pleasures, and to reclaim their voices. This aspect of the novel underscores the power of self-expression and the importance of maintaining one’s identity in the face of authoritarianism.

In my life, this translates to being more critical and vocal about the rules and structures around me. Whether it’s questioning school policies that seem unfair or challenging societal norms that suppress individuality, McMurphy’s actions inspire a more active and engaged approach to the world. It’s about finding a balance between respect for authority and the courage to speak up against injustice.

In our society, this narrative remains relevant. We often encounter situations where conformity is valued over individuality, where the pressure to adhere to societal norms or institutional expectations can stifle personal expression and growth. The struggle of the patients in the novel mirrors the challenges faced by many today who find themselves in environments - whether educational, professional, or social - that demand conformity at the expense of personal freedom.

Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest goes out of its setting in a mental ward to comment on the humans’ struggle against oppressive structures. It serves as a reminder of the importance of maintaining individuality and the need to sometimes question and challenge the status quo. McMurphy’s legacy in the novel is a testament to the enduring power of a single individual to inspire change and empower others, a lesson that continues to resonate in our lives today.

Landscape in The Road

In Cormac McCarthy’s novel “The Road,” the landscape is a representation of how grey and unforgiving this world is. Everything from the abandoned structures to the beach shows the hopelessness this world has to offer. I cannot paint everywhere but I painted important places that they have been.

Early in their journey, the two explore a city, almost like a skeleton of its former self. Buildings stand hollow and streets are littered with abandoned cars and the ash of what once was. The city, a symbol of human achievement, now lies in ruins, underscoring the extent of the apocalypse. It’s a place where danger is everywhere, forcing the father and son to be exceedingly cautious. Page 24, “The mummied dead everywhere, the flesh cloven along the bones, the ligaments dried to tug and taunt as wires.” This urban wasteland sets the tone for the hopelessness pervading their world, where survival is a constant battle against the remnants of civilization.

Going on to a more rare find on their journey is a hidden bunker filled with supplies. This place is a temporary haven, page 148, “ 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? Yes.” The bunker, stocked with food and amenities, offers a brief glimpse of normalcy and safety. However, the Man and boy know they can’t stay because nothing has security in this world.

A particularly horrifying moment occurs when they discover a house where cannibalism takes place. This house, a grotesque perversion of the concept of ‘home’, represents the depths of depravity humanity has sunk to in the face of extinction. It’s a constant reminder of the pervasive threat other humans pose and the brutal measures taken by some to survive. Pg 110, “ Huddled against the back wall were naked people, male and female, all trying to hide, shielding their faces with their hands. On the mattress lay a man with his legs gone to his hip and the stumps of them blackened and burnt. The smell was hideous.”

Throughout their journey, the father and son encounter remnants of what used to be a functioning society—crumbling roads, collapsed bridges, and abandoned vehicles. This decaying infrastructure serves as a metaphor for the collapse of the societal order and the fragility of human constructs.

The beach, their final destination, stands as a contrast to the bleakness they have traveled. Despite its natural beauty, it’s cold, and windy, and offers no salvation. The beach symbolizes the end of their journey and the realization that there is no promised land in this new world. In “The Road,” these places are not just physical locations but are imbued with symbolic meaning. They reflect the hopelessness of a world, where survival is a daily challenge.

Link to document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f_QnsTdMW8usuHuYN-4aAZfAOUneOxKveav-HMuCPwc/edit?usp=sharing

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jmurray_image_final

Lit Log: The road//What is to be a Parent

The novel, “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, is a story that highlights a father and son relationship. Throughout the story, we begin to understand why each character is the way they are. When reading “The Road” for the very first time I thought the man was a selfish character who never saw the good in people, but as soon as I re-read the book for the second time, I realized that the man isn’t selfish.

The man cares about his son’s well-being even though he may sound a bit harsh for the most part. Throughout the book the man begins to understand why the mother of their son, said “You won’t survive for yourself” (pg.57), The man’s only reason to live and have hope is because of the boy. And even though this is true Cormac Mccarthy highlights that the man won’t be around much longer due to the type of dreams the man has been having. which is why the man tries to prepare the boy throughout the book.

To become mentally and physically ready to take on challenges. Now even though the man wants the best for the boy and is preparing him, he also doesn’t want the boy to grow up so quickly at such a young age, which is why even though honesty is important to conserve, there are times he has to lie to the boy for the sake of the boy maintaining the innocence that is left in him. This highlights that the man cares about the boy but is also harming the boy in a way, due to the position they are currently in.

Even though the man is preparing the boy he is also sharing some core memories with the boy, because the man believes the memories won’t ever come back due to what’s left in society. This core memory was shown by two bottles of Coca-Cola they had found in a supermarket.

I believe McCarthy’s message was how even though as a parent one tries to protect their child, you can’t have them unsee, what is right in front of them. Also don’t always focus on what is going to happen in the future, what matters is to conserve what the now is.

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image_50429185
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image_50452481

Friday, 12/15 Half-Day Schedule

Due to the School District of Philadelphia half day for staff professional development, SLA will follow the below schedule on Friday, 12/15:

08:15-08:55 B2 Band

09:00-09:40 C2 Band

09:45-10:25 X2/Y2 Band class

10:30-11:10 D2 Band

11:15-11:55 E2 Band

12:00-12:30 Lunch/Dismissal

Lit Log

My project focuses on many of the people that the man and boy have encountered on the road. There are many occurrences of the man and boy throughout the drawing. The man is visualized in a purple shirt, used to represent his personal battle between good (blue) and evil (purple), and the boy is wearing yellow as he is hopeful and optimistic, therefore being one of the shining lights left in a dark world. There are four obstacles on this map, in chronological order. The first one classified as “the rat”, is on page 61, where a man kidnaps the boy and the man threatens to shoot him. The rat “dove and grabbed the boy and rolled and came up holding him against his chest with the knife at his throat. The man […] fired from a two-handed position balanced on both knees at a distance of six feet. The man fell back instantly and lay with blood bubbling from the hole in his forehead.” The picture shows the man firing at the rat while the rat has a knife in his hands and is in hot pursuit of the boy. The next thing on the timeline is multiple people in “the bunker” that the man and the boy end up stumbling upon on pg. 103, where they find “naked people, male and female, all trying to hide, shielding their faces with their hands. On the mattress lay a man with his legs gone to the hip and the stumps of them blackened and burnt. The smell was hideous. Jesus, he whispered. Then one by one they turned and blinked in the pitiful light. ‘Help us, they whispered. Please help us.’” The picture shows the despair on the face of the people in the bunker, while the man and boy are expressionless in shock. The second to last occurrence is “the thief”, who ends up stealing the man and boy’s cart, and the boy breaks the news to the man on pg. 250, where they follow the tracks of the cart and chase the thief. After they find him, the man tells the thief to “Get away from the cart. He looked at them. He looked at the boy. He was an outcast from one of the communes and the fingers of his right hand had been cut away. He tried to hide it behind him. A sort of fleshy spatula. The cart was piled high. He’d taken everything.” The man holds out his gun and threatens the guy, telling him to give everything to them, even the thief’s own clothes. And then the last one is where the boy encounters his new family after the man dies. “Someone was coming. He started to turn and go back into the woods but he didn’t. He just stood in the road and waited, the pistol in his hand. He’d piled all the blankets on his father and he was cold and he was hungry. The man that hove into view and stood there looking at him was dressed in a gray and yellow ski parka. He carried a shotgun upside down over his shoulder on a braided leather lanyard and he wore a nylon bandolier filled with shells for the gun”

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Screenshot 2023-12-11 005019

Escaping Reality (Lit Log #1 Q2)

Quarantine left us all trapped in our homes and, seeing as there wasn’t much else to do, I spent a large majority of my time consuming all sorts of music, movies, Youtube videos, and TV shows. They became my escape from reality. Even though I was physically in my room, this media took me anywhere, across the country, across the ocean, or even to a whole other world. Bromden is trapped within the confines of the Ward, but he is able to mentally escape to his childhood memories where he was happy. This seems to be a coping mechanism for him, he often retreats to these memories in moments where he is feeling afraid or is experiencing pain. In the very beginning of the novel, Bromden is hiding in the mop closet to avoid getting his face shaved by the black boys, something he is very afraid of. He describes his fear and then thinks, “I try to think back and remember things about the village and the big Columbia River, think about ah one time Papa and I were hunting birds… like always when I try to place my thoughts in the past and hide there, the fear close at hand seeps in through the memory.” (6) He then goes further into this memory of hunting with his father and their dog, before he is caught. Readers can see how his fear coincides with these memories coming up, how he “hides” within the comfort of them. This becomes a pattern throughout the novel, even when he gets his final electroshock treatment, he once again thinks of his childhood in the village, of the people he was once surrounded with. While reading, I found it difficult to relate myself to this book, but this was a point I was able to connect with my own experiences. Escapism is definitely a bad habit of mine, whether it is procrastinating doing my homework or avoiding processing my emotions. Something I have noticed is I spent a lot of my day trying to evade silence, as silence invites my own thoughts. I find it more comforting to drown them out with a movie or music. Like Bromden, I do not want to feel those deep emotions, like fear or sadness, so it is easier to just escape and avoid them.

Something Bromden learns by the end, and something I am currently working on understanding, is that those deep emotions are a necessary part of life. You have to have hard moments to enjoy the good ones. By the end of the novel, his memories are still where he goes after his final electroshock treatment, but he is also able to break free from what was holding him at the Ward. That is why he can finally escape. He wakes up from the treatment and thinks, “it’s fogging a little, but I won’t slip off and hide in it. No… never again…” (248) He rubs his eyes and clears his head. He gets up, walks to the window and realizes, I “knew this time I had them beat.” (249) This symbolizes the turning point for Bromden, where he realized he couldn’t let fear control his life anymore. He finally forced himself out of the fog, which had been another source of escape for him throughout the book. He realized he didn’t need the fog anymore and he could stand up for himself. This leads to his eventual escape from the Ward, the very thing that was controlling and confining him. Although I have been out of quarantine for over two years, I still find myself using movies and TV shows as a way to avoid my problems. Facing things head on is scary, but it’s exactly what is needed to overcome them. This idea is something I have known for a while, but have been lacking at putting into practice. Bromden’s bravery to escape his fear, the fog, and the Ward as a whole showed me that avoidance only leads to more harm done. It doesn’t mean the problems will simply vanish, it likely means they will grow bigger and more unmanageable.

The Road Through Hell

McCarthy depicts the setting of the road and the different destinations that the man and the boy reach as being hell like. He uses different explanations about hell from the bible to create a realistic setting. One verse that shows this is Mark 9:43, “Hell, where the fire never goes out.” As seen multiple times throughout the book, the setting is constantly filled with smoke, ash, darkness and fire. This fire that is surrounding them is an image of hell and the punishment that God puts on sinners. Another verse that shows the connection between hell and the road is 2 Thessalonians 1:9, “eternal destruction.” The book is filled with examples of their environment being destroyed. Whether it’s when the trees were falling, the ground was trembling, or how death is surrounding them, everything that had been part of their normal life is now wrecked. McCarthy allows the reader to make an assumption that walking on and around the road is similar to how it would be to walk through hell.

The man in the book lacks any type of real faith, despite his occasional “good works” without having a belief behind the action they don’t mean anything. He lies to the boy multiple times as an attempt to console him about their situations. He tells the boy “it’ll be okay,” (pg.25) so many times throughout the novel even though he doesn’t know the truth about the outcome. He wants his son to believe that they can make it out of this even though he himself doesn’t know what to think. He does his best to protect the kid by lying and convincing him that his actions will help them in the long run. When they run into strangers, the man pretends to be compassionate but really is only doing it to provide the boy some satisfaction. After an interaction with an old man, the father says, “You should thank him, you know, the man said. I wouldn’t have given you anything.” (pg. 173) The man knows he wouldn’t go out of his way to help any of the strangers but because of the boy’s compassion he gives them something. The father has good intentions when it comes to his interactions but the way he conveys them is not a point of pride.

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Screen Shot 2023-12-12 at 4.39.10 PM

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.

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Screenshot 2023-12-12 12.10.07 PM

Na'im & Langston RoadMap

What does each interaction with other people tell us about the main characters or the world?

1 Mom Leaves

In chronological order of the book, the first interaction they had with another person was when the woman left. Her family was not enough for her to want to survive in this hellish world. The man pleaded with her to stay but it wasn’t enough. “Death is not a lover. Oh yes he is”. (pg. 57) This must have been a long time coming because when the boy woke up he knew, “she’s gone isn’t she”. I think this experience, aside from the whole apocalypse thing, has a lot to do with why the man is as cold as he is. This scene lets us know on an emotional level how truly terrible the state of the world is, leaving our two main characters to embark on their journey south.

2 Lightning-Stricken Man

When they come across a man who has been struck by lightning, the boy is compassionate and wants to help him, which is a theme that will continue to show throughout the entire book. This also goes to show just how fortunate they are that the man is able bodied and not old, as well as the fact that neither of them are alone. We can only imagine what it is like to be in this post-apocalyptic world, being in it alone seems much more impossible.

3 Roadrat

When they notice a truck coming up the road, fear strikes the heart of the man and boy and we are first introduced to the “bad guys”. When the man approaches the truck driver (roadrat), he gets into a verbal and physical altercation that results in the man killing the roadrat. The boy’s compassion reaches new levels when he expresses that he is upset with the man for killing the roadrat, even though there was a point where the roadrat grabbed the boy and put a knife to his throat. This interaction lets us know that there are still motor vehicles being operated, and there is some bigger group of “bad guys”. “Yeah. We got ammunition” (pg. 64)

4 Basement Food

They find a big house on the side of the road and enter in search of some food or supplies that could be useful, but what they find shocks them. They found a bunch of naked people, some with torn off limbs. This shows us how evil these “bad guys” are and what they would do to survive. They have been, and will continue to round survivors up and eat them, which is why the man was hiding when they came across the truck.

5 Ely

They find an old, somewhat blind, frail man who calls himself Ely. This is the first time the boy was able to convince the man to help someone. We also see glimpses of the boy maturing with him knowing that he won’t be able to take the man with them. I believe McCarthy added this interaction to add in a more philosophical aspect to provide meaning to what it is to survive on the road. He also further establishes the religious aspect of the story, for further though.

6 3 Men & Pregnant Woman

When the man thinks they are being followed, there is a shift in how the boy responds. The man is no longer just giving out orders, instead they both understand the situation and come up with a plan together as the boy knows the people may be after their food and anyone would be willing to take their lives for it. This shows a growth in the boy’s understanding of the gravity of the apocalypse.

7 Thief

When someone steals their cart, the man is livid. When they find the thief, the man takes everything from him. The boy wants to go back and help him which shows an incredible amount of compassion seeing as though that thief was ready to leave them for dead.

8 End (Good Guys)

In the end, the man is dead, and the boy finally finds more “good guys” which gives us a little hope for the boy’s future.

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Screenshot 2023-12-11 at 8.33.10 PM

"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).

the road lit log
the road lit log

Journey Of Spirituality

In Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road,” the story unfolds in a world affected by post-apocalyptic desolation, where religious themes weave through the narrative, offering glimpses of divine presence amidst existential hardships. The novel is steeped in an overarching sense of spiritual absence, creating a shadow of existential despair on its characters, specifically Papa and the boy. The quote, “If he is not the word of God, God never spoke,” alludes to a deep bond between a figure, most likely the boy, and a higher being, a bond that gives life and hope to an otherwise godless and desolate environment. The journey of the father and son is seen with moral ideas, prompting reflections on goodness in the sense of somewhat religious guidance. The father’s endeavors to impart a moral compass to the boy is all seen throughout the book, “My job is to take care of you. I was appointed to do that by God.” This underscores the father’s belief in having a purpose and reflects the ongoing struggle for morality and meaning in their dark society.

Symbolic elements, like the sailboat named “Pájaro de Esperanza” ( translating to the bird of hope), are introduced, evoking religious imagery from the Old Testament. The image of the bird of hope set against the harsh facts of the outside world suggests that, despite hardship, there may be hope for restoration and a better life in the “South”. The father’s final revelation to the boy—”It’s inside you. It was always there. I can see it”—serves as a poignant conclusion. This moment underscores the innate goodness within the boy and implies a connection to a divine spark that transcends the surrounding desolation.

In conclusion, “The Road” explores religous and spiritual topics including the moving tale of a father and son traveling through a failing world. The religious overtones deepen the story and invite readers to consider morality, faith, and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming hardship

White and Gray Simple Quarterly Roadmap Infographic
White and Gray Simple Quarterly Roadmap Infographic (1)
White and Gray Simple Quarterly Roadmap Infographic (2)

Words vs. Actions

The Road Lit Log Timeline (3)

The story of the father and son is complicated, yet simple. Their relationship is stranded, yet as close as it can be. This is all because of the dad’s actions. He consistently put his son first, trying to protect him from the outside world, but the son sees through it. On their journey, the son finds out what the harsh reality of the post-apocalyptic world they live in is, and the reality of who his father is. They encountered a lot of danger throughout their journey. There were several times they had to run away from danger as a result of the people coming to take their stuff. The dad told his son, “Dont look back there. Look at me. If you call out you’re dead.” (pg. 63) as when you stop to assess the situation, that’s when you’ll get caught. This was the first moment of reality for the son, as before that, his dad had successfully kept him in a bubble. The pressure of living in this world was immense. The constant looking over their shoulders to make sure no one was following them or hiding from loot seekers so they didn’t take their stuff was getting to the father. “If you’re on the lookout all the time does that mean you’re scared all the time? Well, I suppose you have to be scared enough to be on the lookout in the first place. – Do you always expect it? Papa? I do.” (pg. 151) This was the first real look into the mindset of the father outside of thinking about his son. It’s the first thing he shared with his son that opened to door to the real world, and it made me wonder; if he’s so scared of letting his son in on the truth about society, why tell him this? It made me realize that the dad was trying to teach his son how to live on his own but in a P.G. kind of way.
When a man tries to steal everything they own, the father catches him in the act. He puts a gun in the man’s face and tells him to strip, giving them everything he had on him. The son realizes that the dad wanted to do more than just take back what was theirs. He begged his dad to just let the man go, but the dad let his anger win (at least I think he killed him). The son is devastated, unwilling to speak to his father about anything. This is when the son came to a conclusion about the kind of man his father was. He realized that his dad had become a victim of society and that he wanted to be nothing like his father. Throughout their journey, the father had been sick. He was constantly coughing and taking breaks to catch his breath, and eventually, it came to a head. The father knew he was dying, and the son didn’t know what to do. He was overwhelmed with emotions, and couldn’t imagine his dad leaving him. “He slept close to his father that night and held him but when he woke up in the morning his father was cold and stiff.” (pg. 281) The son stayed by his father for days but finally decided to venture up the road. He ran into a man on the road and when they went back to where his father laid to rest, the man from the road told the boy he needed to keep moving. The son wanted to bring his father with him, but the man told him how unrealistic that was. He said his final goodbyes and off he went. These moments shaped the way the son views the world because of the son’s connection to the events. Everything the dad was doing was for his son, and the son knew that which I think is part of the reason he was so upset with a lot of the things his father did. He was protected from the bad things in the world for so long that when he encountered them, he didn’t know how to handle them. He looked up to his dad when the book started, and at the end, he couldn’t have wanted to be more different.

Turn Of Events-Sunny & Pablo

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Screenshot 2023-12-11 11.24.49 AM

The image shows a truck, and the boy was terrified of leaving the “important things the man and the boy left behind. We have decided to change the size of things to show their importance. The tomato can that they left would have been very beneficial to their survival since they always seem to run out of food. The father decided that it would be safer to leave the barn that had food instead of staying at the risk of the owners coming back. The use of “fire the boy was carrying” changed the whole story. If something bad was going to happen, they would say they would make it because they were “carrying the fire.”. This shows that the fire was purely imaginary but had a major impact on the mental health of the man and boy, helping them persevere through the days they spent traveling. Like the fire, the father and son’s belief in God is challenged many times throughout the book. The most memorable time is on page 170, when they meet a blind man who starts to converse with them, leading to a conversation about God going, “I guess God would know it. Is that it?” The blind man then says, “There is no God.” In response, the man says, “No?” getting the response, “There is no God, and we are his prophets.” In the image, the reader can see all the different components that play a role in this book, like the main ones being the fire and the flare gun, since they were great turning points and stopped with the characters throughout the book. The road obviously shows the gloomy setting, and we decided not to color it in to really show how dark and gloomy the setting is by showing little to nothing in dark color or color in general. The mountains in the background also relate to the setting because it shows the rough conditions that they were in since it was cold and we can tell that by the snowy trees mentioned in the beginning of the book.

Two Boys - Anouk & Milani

For the art piece of this Lit Log we wanted our drawing to capture the true immaturity of the man. Throughout The Road, the man constantly acts as if he knows everything, as if he is more mature than the boy. However, at multiple points throughout the novel, the man reveals how he is less mature than he makes it out to be for his son. The quotes we chose to add to this art piece are the ones that stuck out the most for this argument. For example: “Then he picked up the phone and dialed the number of his father’s house in that long ago”(17), showing how the man is still dealing with his own adjustment to the apocalypse. Where he pretends he doesn’t let his emotions get to him, in this scene he gives away how hung up on the old world he is. Another quote that aligned with this motif was “[they] looked for the town but they couldn’t find it… They were some fifty miles west of where he’d thought.”(181-182) This is another moment where the man lets his all-knowing behavior slip and he shows the errors he starts to make as he gets sicker, and as their time on the road progresses. In as many instances where the man makes errors, there are many moments where the boy shows maturity and knowledge. For this reason, we made the artistic decision to draw the boy larger than the man, to show how he overcame his father. Towards the end of The Road, the boy develops into a grown character with many ideas and contributions to their journey, which is expressed through this artwork.

Screen Shot 2023-12-11 at 8.28.48 AM
Screen Shot 2023-12-11 at 8.28.48 AM

Lit Log: The Road // God’s Prophet

In “The Road ” by Cormac McCarthy, there are significant mentions of “carrying the fire”(83) and good versus bad guys. Starting from the very beginning of the book, a child leads the man towards a dream. In that dream he sees a creature— “it’s mouth dripping from the rhinestone pool and stared into the light with eyes dead white and sighless as the eggs of spiders’ ‘. As the book came to its end, there was continuous mention of the “creature”. These creatures symbolize humans— mouth dripping with hunger and greed. The dream was a message sent from God to the man, foreshadowing the future.

The man mentions his kid as a “warrant”. (5) Warrant means authority and justification which all connects to the dad trying to justify every action as for the boy’s own good. He continues to claim that it was his “job” (74) and that he was “appointed to do that by God”. (77) My assumption is that he was meant to die but God needed him to play an important role in saving humanity. There was a mention in the book about wanting to die but too scared of death. I believe that was how the man felt when he was able to die so he agreed to God’s suggestion. On page 12-13 when the boy was asleep, the man whispered “Are you there? Will I see you at the end? Have you a neck by which to throttle you? Have you a heart? Damn you eternally have you a soul?” Analyzing this quote, he was obviously talking to you God— “Will I see you at the end?” was the man asking once he died, will he be able to go to heaven and see God after his duty is fulfilled (he knows full well he was going to die)— “Have you a heart? Damn you eternally have you a soul?” was his way of questioning God’s actions. Maybe it is because humans will never understand what God is doing.

From context clues, God seems to be trying to destroy the world he created and rebuilding it as a punishment to humanity. Again, we don’t know why he is doing so. Believers of God: prophets in the bible also had moments where they would question God. On page 170, Ely said “There is no God and we are his prophets” which means that he doesn’t believe in God but the “word of God” (such as morals and the basis of humanity) exists within people. After the man died and the boy was left alone, he met people who claimed that they are the good guys and carry the fire.

Screenshot 2023-12-11 at 8.30.33 AM
Screenshot 2023-12-11 at 8.30.33 AM

Road Map

“The Road ” is a book that is woven with descriptive and morbid words and events, that creates a truly harrowing story. The two main characters trek across a burned and dead Earth on a voyage to nothing. They take the reader with them as they go, and every little thing is expressed with the utmost of detail. The characters are nameless, and the journey ends without a destination. Although the destination throughout the story is never really decided on, one thing these characters did stick to was the road. The road wasn’t a single solitary road, but a series of different off-chutes and main interstates that made their journey. Because all the reader knows is what the man knows, mapping this trek would be next to impossible. However, a map doesn’t just have to be the physical route they went, so this map is of something a little different.

I decided to guess the area they started out in and how their journey laid out. New York state and New Jersey was my best guess, so that’s what’s on the map. I decided to document most of the times that the dad has an internal monologue and turn those moments into symbols. Then, I guessed a route that seemed accurate and drew those symbols on the map to where they could have happened. The first symbol comes from page 75 when he says, “Golden chalice, good to house a god.” The man is of course talking about the boy here, saying how he sees the essence of god in him. Skipping a few, on page 114, he thinks, “Can you do it? When the time comes?..Curse God and die.” I drew the gun for this moment. The gun holds so much power, they protect it with their lives and in this moment he is willing to use it despite his god. In the third to last one, the boy gets sick and the man says this: “You have to stay near, you have to be quick. So you can be with him. Hold him close.” I picked the blind monster in the beginning to signify that everything wrong that happens to them is really just up to chance and there is nothing deciding their fate. Sickness, the world dying, hunger, they’re all blind. McCarthy shows the ups and downs of their trip in these small looks into the man’s mind, but overall it shows his slow decline in hope and climb in desperation. In the beginning he seems hopeful, “Golden chalice, good to house a god”, but by the end the man has completely lost hope and seems strung-out: “He is coming to steal my eyes. To seal my mouth with dirt.”(261)

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IMG_0677

Safety

Safety
Safety

The Road by Cormac McCarthy can be imagined and interpreted in many different ways. The element I chose to follow was the shelters the man and the boy stayed in. They must constantly move places, going further South and avoiding danger along the way. Most of the time, they slept in the woods with a fire that just barely lit for warmth, and ate what the man could salvage. There were many instances when the man went out looking for shelters with the boy, but they had to be careful not to be seen. One of the first places they found was a run down and wrecked gas station; “He went through the drawers but there was nothing there that he could use.” (6)

On the right side of the map, it shows the first places the man and the boy had been, each place the man looked carefully for food and resources for the both of them. It was difficult considering everything had been either destroyed or ransacked. Continuing forward through the woods and run-down houses, the man found a hatch. “Huddled against the back wall were naked people, male and female, all trying to hide, shielding their faces with their hands.” (110)

This was not the first or the last time they had encountered other people. People in either the same or worse situation than the man and the boy were a threat. They were starved, cold, and anything could become a resource. They had to stay protected, but throughout the novel McCarthy shows many examples of the man taking risks that could be life threatening. Going down the hatch could have easily been a trap, a dead end, and anything could have happened. It seems that the man took the risk because there was a chance of warmth, a chance for food; safety for the boy. The second time they came upon a hatch, the boy was hesitant; but the man was going to take the chance. Anything they find could have been useful and allowed them to continue pushing forward. “Crate upon crate of canned goods. Tomatoes, peaches, beans, apricots.” (135) Taking the risk and seeing what was down the second hatch proved to be helpful for them. In their tough situation, it was crucial to take the chances the man did for safety and survival. It was not only for himself, but for the boy he was determined to protect.

Desolation, Gray, Emptiness in The Road

The world of The Road there is nothing but a “Cold. Desolate. Birdless.” (215) wasteland. There is nothing alive nor anything with color, and this emptiness has seeped into the hearts of the main characters, though mostly the father. Their hearts and minds have become as cold and as desolate as the wastes around them. With all they have seen, all they have done, there is nothing else to do but cut yourself off from the pain and emotion, and this is exactly the father wishes for, “If only my heart were stone.” (11). And at some point he is able to cut off a big part of that emotion and the wasteland is then “As gray as his heart.” (27), but not letting yourself feel and cutting off that portion of your heart will inevitably lead to loss of one’s identity and sense of self. Like the world around them these characters lose all sense of identity and become nothing more than a husk, nothing but an animal looking to survive, and most of the time that is exactly what they have to be. They do not have the freedom to be anything, and the moments when they do have that freedom are fleeting and ephemeral. The father says it best himself, “I’m not anything.” (64), these characters even lack one of the most important parts of identity - a name. At no point in this book do we ever learn the names of the boy or of the father, and in the end they remain mysteries, much like the wasteland they inhabit, cold, and gray, and desolate.

Untitled presentation
Untitled presentation

Food - Elisha

The Road by Cormac Mcarthy has many themes establish and develop so picking one to track wasn’t easy, however after the final reading it was. Since early in the book the man has been sick but we are never told the cause. Despite the relative mystery behind his illness it is safe to assume it has some relation to the state of the world. With no clean water and limited access to food maintaining health is no easy task. This is prominent through the health of the child as he has grown and lived through this world, he is often described as thin and malnourished. We see the boys physical struggles described on pages 38 and 74 as “The boy was so thin it stopped his heart” or “The water was so cold the boy was crying”. It is safe to say their collective health is on a steady decline, there are moments that they were doing well but the man is frequently coughing. The lowest point in terms of health was about mid way through the book as they faced starvation almost killing them. On page 118 the man could barely climb a ladder even after eating he is noticeably weak, the boy notices on page 133 when he asks “How many days to death?”. There are moments of rejuvenation in finding more recourses as described on page 144 “He’d been ready to die and now he wasn’t going to and he had to think about that.” even in the progress the man is admittedly defeated as he knows he is only adding time to the clock. Eventually we begin to see just how critical his situation is on page 237 were “He woke coughing” “Coughing. Coughing. He bent over, holding his knees. Taste of blood.”. Readers can only assume this means the man is close to his limit, the man knows this too on page 237 “He thought about his life but there was no life to think about”. Continuing in his poor state he eventually passes on page 281 the page that inspired me to track their conditions.

The Winding Path of Dreams

“The Road” by Cormac McCarthy is a masterfully written novel that delves into many themes, like human nature, good vs. evil, relativism, and dreams. The theme I chose to make my lit log about is the dreams and how they reflect the man and the boy’s journey. In making my lit log, I wanted to take Cormac McCarthy’s writing and interpret it visually. I wanted to show the chronological progression of the dreams as the story went on from the cave dream at the very start of the book to the boy’s dream nearing the end of their journey. I decided to depict each dream in rough, worn drawings to match the dead post-apocalyptic world the story takes place. I achieved this by using chicken scratch, loose line work, and sketching pencil techniques. I also edited the drawing’s contrast, exposure, and color to get my envisioned look. Each dream is numbered in chronological order, with dotted arrows winding and pointing between each dream to depict the descending and winding nature of the story. Each dream represents a checkpoint on the road of how the man or the boy interprets what they have been through unconsciously. I decided to draw the man with an obstructed face to depict his moral ambiguity. I decided to draw the boy with simple cartoon features to show his innocence throughout the story. As you can see at the end of the path in the drawing, I didn’t illustrate the last quote, as the last dream mentioned in the story was not described. I did this on purpose to represent the end of the last piece of escapism, fading into an exchange of words.

(could not upload full image on here)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AmexqyMch2tUU8CXiUYcDm8mmzKsdL8f/view?usp=sharing

Safety In Me (Leticia & Eric)

The Road, a book by Cormac McCarthy, is a dark story of a father and son trying to survive an apocalyptic world. As readers, we see their journey through countless unfamiliar backgrounds and we see their mostly depressing story. Where everyday of survival for these characters, is a battle with themselves, and the crazy world around them.

When reading The Road, one is aware that happy moments are treasures in the stories of the main characters. When often seeing them struggle to keep being alive, we can’t help but to dig deeper into the moments where the father and son are at ease.

It’s no coincidence that these good moments are a sign of safety. McCarty uses these moments to show readers that characters are finally somewhat safe. We see this when the son can just live as a normal child, learning to thank people and God with–“Dear people, thank you for all this food and stuff.” (146)— a prayer. And the father, just a father for his son, “You’re doing good, the man said. You’re doing good.” (39). The author’s strategy is compelling. Showing that with environmental safety, we can learn more about the lives and perspectives of characters outside the world they live in.

When reading, it almost feels surreal seeing these characters just live after experiencing the most traumatic horrors of their lives. As readers you grow to appreciate and desire more of these moments for the characters. On The Road, various types of safety are displayed for readers to uncover and analyze. But after reading the book from start to finish, we thought it would be important to show the perspective that explores the idea that good moments equate to safety. By showing specific experiences of the characters, we as readers can observe the different types of stability represented in the book.

more detailed examples below:

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IMG_9047

Map of Death-Elijah and Joaquin

Throughout The Road, the man and the boy constantly find corpses and limbs scattered around the country. In our map, we have shown their travels and what they have encountered while scavenging for supplies. They first come across a RV littered with corpses that were rotted and dried. Then, they came across a pool of blood and guts inside of bushes in the woods. After that, while scavenging the father found a walk-in cooler full of corpses. They continued moving after that and eventually found a field full of rotted human heads on spikes. After going into a house, the man and the boy discover a man on a mattress missing his legs with the stumps burnt and black. After escaping the house and doing more scavenging, they find a corpse floating in the water that flooded the basement. They then find a decapitated human head in a store. Moving from there, they had a run in with the roadrats where they found an infant gutted and being roasted on a spit. Lastly, they discover bodies burnt and mummified on the road itself which they have to walk through. These bodies that they discover tell us a lot about the world and how society has fallen. It also says a lot about how the environment is destroyed and how humanity was infected. When the world was dying, firestorms swept through and burnt people alive. That is what the man and the boy discovered on the road with the mummified corpses. Every other corpse or body part they found after that had signs of humanity. People began eating other people, even babies. They stuck each other’s heads on spikes and stuffed bodies in freezers. It shows what humans will do when they are pushed to their limit and what they do to survive. The death and destruction in the story represent the fall of society and the loss of morals. It is a dying world filled with the worst of humanity and the death of innocence.

Map of death

The Road Morality Map

The novel The Road by Cormac McCarthy is a timeless piece of literature that puts into question numerous aspects about morality and human nature as we know it. The setting takes place in an abandoned version of the Earth, coated with ash and debris everywhere the main characters, the man and the boy, turn. Throughout the novel, the two characters are forced to make heavy decisions that will not only change their present and future, but will also affect their righteousness. The boy, who is the son of the man, is often seen as compassionate and empathetic no matter the situation. His behavior is striked as out of place as the norm of their current environment is every man for himself and doing what you have to do to survive. This can be observed in multiple senses such as when the boy saw another child in the road who was alone and begged his father to help him, and another where a stray dog followed the man and boy for miles causing the boy to plead with his father to share their food with the animal. The child is so upstanding that his father frequently compares him to God, stating “If he’s not the word of God, God never spoke.”(5) The boy’s compassion is so strong that it gives the impression that it is unwavering, but that is false.

As the novel progresses, we see the light in the boy’s eyes begin to dwindle, his father saying “Something was gone that could not be put right again.” (136) Readers can see the mental as well as physical change in the boy as he begins to more closely resemble his father’s vocabulary. He begins to act like the man, think like the man, and even ideas that the boy was so against in the beginning of the book, he now finds himself rethinking.

This is exactly what I have decided to make present in my moral map. I have taken my top quotes from the book that I believe have contributed to the moral changes of the boy, and mapped them in a circle around a pistol and a fire. The pistol is meant to represent the ride of morality’s final destination, when the father died and the boy began to use the gun as protection, which is an act he did not understand before. Then, the fire is meant to constitute as the boy “carrying the fire” as the man would always say. The quotes and symbols are surrounded by a sad and gray environment with trees of ash.

Shahd Abdalla - The Road Moral Map
Shahd Abdalla - The Road Moral Map

Good Guys vs Bad Guys-Lia and Josie

“The Road” by Cormac McCarthy explores many themes through the relationship between the man and his son. During their journey, they encounter lots of enemies. This includes not just other humans that they find along the way, but silent enemies too. The man constantly acts in the name of survival, and in contrast, the boy needs constant reassurance that they are still good, due to his extreme compassion. We wanted to show that with our map. Along our road, we drew the moments that made the boy question the morality of their actions. The very first person that they communicate with on the road turns into a violent event. After the man shot another person, the narrator describes the boy as “Lying in his lap with no expression on his face.” (page 68) This part shows how truly shocked the boy was by the man’s actions, he could not even react. Later, they run into another horrific scene, of which the boy states they would never eat people “Because we’re the good guys.” (page 129) He again has the same reaction after they find a large supply of canned food, asking if they can eat it because those who left it are the good guys. Finally, he asks his new companions whether they were good so he would know whether it was okay to go with them or not. The motif of good guys vs bad guys throughout “The Road” made it hard to follow who the enemies were, and who you were supposed to be rooting for. We wanted to represent that confusion in our artwork, showing all the different kinds of people that were encountered along the way.

link to our artwork:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GLMl5l21pelmmvRJ3ZaUEt1dSWl3XluxyAoSgm5S7KI/edit?usp=sharing

Looking out at the world - Ana & Adrie

While reading The Road, we noticed that the man and boy often perch themselves on top of hills and other high-up places, and look out at the vastness of their post-apocalyptic world. As we tracked these moments, we started noticing patterns that explained this behavior.

As they look out from their resting places, McCarthy often describes the boy and man’s view as being extremely desolate. At one point the man “sat in the leaves at the top of the hill and looked into the blackness. Nothing to see. No wind.” (188) The pair are often being consumed by darkness. One way we see them battle this darkness is with fire, both physically and metaphorically.

Fire is a symbol McCarthy uses to represent perseverance and hope, and this is emphasized whenever the boy and man look out from a hill, since most of the time they are looking for a light. In one scene when the man is looking out from a hill in the night, the narration describes how, “In the past when he walked out like that and sat looking over the country lying in just the faintest visible shape where the lost moon tracked the caustic waste he’d sometimes see a light. Dim and shapeless in the murk.” The man is trying to find a sliver of life in his new bleak and deserted reality. We found a connection between this moment and a flashback of the man’s: “A gray day in a foreign city where he stood in a window and watched the street below. Behind him on a wooden table a small lamp burned.” (187). In this moment, before the apocalypse, the man physically had fire with him, whereas in the book, he was always looking for it.

After noticing these patterns, we decided to make a map following the boy and man through their journey with a specific focus on highlighting the parts where they rest atop hills or look out from high ground.

Map Key:

1) p 187: “He thought of his life. So long ago. A gray day in a foreign city where he stood in a window and watched the street below. Behind him on a wooden table a small lamp burned.” 2) p 9: “they went up to the top of the hill where the road crested and where they could see out to the darkening country to the south, standing there in the wind, wrapped in their blankets, watching for any sign of a fire or a lamp.” 3) p 19: “They walked out and sat on a bench and looked out over the valley where the land rolled away into the gritty fog.” (looking at a dam) 4) p 43-44: “When the bridge came in sight below them there was a tractor-trailer jackknifed sideways across it and wedged into the buckled iron railings. It was raining again and they stood there with the rain pattering softly on the tarp. Peering out from under the blue gloom beneath the plastic.” 5) p 81: “At the top of the hill he turned and studied the town. Darkness coming fast. Darkness and cold.” 6) p 104: “The site they picked was simply the highest ground they came to and it gave views north along the road and overlooking their backtrack.” (hiding from bad guys) 7) p 160: “We can stop now./On the hill?/We can get the cart down to those rocks and cover it with limbs./Is this a good place to stop?/Well, people don’t like to stop on hills. And we don’t like for people to stop./So it’s a good place for us./I think so./Because we’re smart.” 8) p 188: “He sat in the leaves at the top of the hill and looked into the blackness. Nothing to see. No wind. In the past when he walked out like that and sat looking over the country lying in just the faintest visible shape where the lost moon tracked the caustic waste he’d sometimes see a light. Dim and shapeless in the murk. Across a river or deep in the blackened quadrants of a burned city. In the morning sometimes he’d return with binoculars and glass the country for any sign of smoke but never saw any.” 9) p 193: Trying to find people: “If we can get across the creek we could go up on the bluffs there and watch the road.” 10) p 206: “They stood looking out through the tall windows at the darkening land.” 11) p 221: “At the end of the strand their way was blocked by a headland and they left the beach and took an old path up through the dunes and through the dead sea oats until they came out upon a low promontory. Below them a hook of land shrouded in the dark scud blowing down the shore and beyond that lying half over and awash the shape of a sailboat’s hull.” … “Let’s just watch for a while./ I’m cold./ I know. Let’s move down a little ways. Out of the wind. He sat holding the boy in front of him. The dead grass thrashed softly. Out there a gray desolation. The endless sea crawl.” 12) p 267: “He stood looking out. A steel dock half collapsed and submerged in the bay. The wheelhouses of sunken fishingboats standing out of the gray chop. Nothing moving out there. Anything that could move had long been blown away.” 13) p 276: “He scuffled together a pile of the bonecolored wood that lay along the shore and got a fire going and they sat in the dunes with the tarp over them and watched the cold rain coming in from the north. It fell harder, dimpling the sand. The fire steamed and the smoke swung in slow coils and the boy curled up under the pattering tarp and soon he was asleep.”

Screenshot 2023-12-10 at 6.48.02 PM
Screenshot 2023-12-10 at 6.48.02 PM