Name: The Road Pre-reading pg 1 - PBworks

Name: ________________________ The Road Pre-reading pg 1
College English Mr. Valentin

The Road
Reading Guide

Materials needed: McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. New York: Vintage Books, 2009.
Mass Market Paperback edition. ISBN: 0307476316

Questions to be explored: What makes civilization?
What governs the human body?
What is family?
What will be the human race’s demise?
What are our greatest fears?
What will be our legacy?
Does any of this matter?
What is post apocalyptic fiction?
How does this different from dystopian fiction?
What makes this text compelling?

About the author: Cormac McCarthy is a very private person; therefore, his
biographical details are sparse. He is an American novelist and
playwright, and he is (in my opinion) one of the few writers today
who interests both critics and the general public. He joins the likes
of Margaret Atwood (author of Oryx and Crake) as a writer who is
talking about the essence of human nature. To date, he has written
10 novels. The Road may be his most acclaimed work as it
garnered the Pulitzer Prize. But it is important to note that No
Country for Old Men was turned into a movie in 2007 and
subsequently won an Oscar. All the Pretty Horses was also turned
in a movie and was a modest success. Despite all this, many
consider an older work Blood Meridian to be his greatest
achievement. No matter what his greatest text is, it is important to
note that he is a prolific writer and his impact may last several
generations (or longer).

About the novel: The Road is a post apocalyptic novel. The end of the world has
happened, and very few people are alive. Do not approach the text
looking for answers. There are few glimpses at what actually
happened. Also, the story has a plot, but it is thin. A man and his
child are walking along a road towards the south trying to get to
the heat. This is pretty much the entirety of the plot; however, this
is a story about the adventure, and not about preconceived notions
of what a story is supposed to do. Despite The Road’s lack of
convention, what the reader will find as they unearth the text is
something deeply unsettling. McCarthy speaks not just about a
father and son and their journey, but about us, as a civilization
today, and who we are.

Name: ________________________ The Road Pre-reading pg 2
College English Mr. Valentin

Setting and atmosphere: The setting takes place in the United States. The end of civilization
has happened and that is pretty much all we know. It appears that
the story is taking place somewhere in the southeast, but details
remain vague. The time seems to be the “not too distant future.” I
cannot be certain of that, but the details within the text will make
this apparent.

A note to the reader: Adding to the sparseness of the text, the text is written in what is
known as polysyndetic syntax, which means it omits quotation
marks and uses punctuation sparingly. McCarthy’s deliberate style
makes a barren text that much more sparse. It reads quick, but I
advise you to take your time. You also should be aware of the use
of pronouns and rhetorical questions. McCarthy is attempting to
say something about us, but the question is, will you take the time
to delve into these questions.

Point of view: The story is told via an omniscient narrator; be aware, the
narrator’s voice, however, is a bit more vocal than other narrators.
He will often address questions and make use of hyperbole, but he
is doing this for emphasis rather than to mislead us.

Characters: The father: Sometimes referred to as The Man. He lives for his
The son: son.
Very young. Approximately 5-10. This seems to be
the only world he knows.

Themes and Motifs: Motifs are recurring symbols, ideas or extensions of the themes.
The major themes and motifs in the novel include (but are not
limited to):
Examination of the Human Self
Survival
Fracture
Old/New
Past/Present
Normalcy
Death
Memories
Nothing
Nothing vs. Everything
Working the binary
Trust
Man vs. Nature
Man vs. Man
Man vs. The Self

Name: ________________________ The Road Pre-reading pg 3
College English Mr. Valentin

The Road Anticipation Guide

Read the following statements. Circle the number on the scale that fits your opinion the best. Write at
least two sentences explaining your thoughts about each statement. There are no right or wrong answers!

1 23 45

always true sometimes true depends sometimes false always false

1. Reading to your children is an essential practice.
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2. All technological advances are good for humanity.

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3. Hope can never be given by someone to someone. Hope has to come from within each of us.

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4. You would eat people if you absolutely, positively had to.

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Name: ________________________ The Road Pre-reading pg 4
College English Mr. Valentin

5. Human beings are terrible to nature.
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6. The strongest—not necessarily the smartest—should be in charge.

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7. Humans are slowly reaping the Earth’s sources and we are destroying the world around us.

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8. I am a good person.

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9. A boy’s relationship with his father is the most important relationship that exists.

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10. On a scale of 1 -5 (five being the best) how would I do at surviving the apocalypse?

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Name: ________________________ The Road Pre-reading pg 5
College English Mr. Valentin

Glossary
(pages 1-50)

Alabaster n a finely granular variety of gypsum, often white and translucent,
used for ornamental objects or work.
Autistism n a tendency to view life in terms of one's own needs and desires.
Basalt n the dark, dense igneous rock of a lava flow or minor intrusion.
Cauterized v to burn with a hot iron, electric current, fire, or a caustic, especially for
curative purposes.
Collet n collar or enclosing band.
Columnar adj shaped like a column.
Effigies n
Fresco n representation or image, especially sculptured, as on a monument.
the art or technique of painting on a moist, plaster surface with colors
Gryke n ground up in water or a limewater mixture; very durable method of wall-
Hemlock n painting using watercolors.
Languor n a solution fissure
Litany n a poisonous place of the parsley family
lack of energy or vitality
Lode n a ceremonial or liturgical form of prayer consisting of a series of
Macadamize v invocations or supplications with responses that are the same for a number
in succession
Matrix n a veinlike deposit, usually metaliferous
to pave by laying and compacting successive layers of broken stone, often
Mote n with asphalt or hot tar.
Opaque adj something that constitutes the place or point from which something else
Piedmont n originates, takes form, or develops.
a small particle or speck.
Rank adj not transparent or translucent
Reckoning n a plateau between the coast plain and the Appalachian Mountains,
Scabland n including parts of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and
Sconce n Alabama
Sectarian adj having an offensively strong smell or taste.
Serpentine adj retribution for one’s actions
Thespian adj/n rough, barren, volcanic topography with thin soils and little vegetation
Vestibular adj a bracket for candles or other lights; hole or socket of a candlestick
of or pertaining to a sect, group, or party.
Wan adj of or characteristic of resembling a serpent, as in form or movement.
pertaining to tragedy; an actor or actress
of or pertaining to a passage, hall, or antechamber between the outer door
and the interior parts of a house or building.
of an unnatural or sickly pallor; pallid; lacking color.

Name: ________________________ The Road Pre-reading pg 6
College English Mr. Valentin

Glossary
(pages 51-101)

Bedlam n a scene or state of wild uproar and confusion

Catamite n a boy or youth who is in a sexual relationship with a man

Changeling n a child surreptitiously or unintentionally substituted for another

Evoke v to call up or produce

Ember n small piece of burning coal; smoldering remains of a fire

Idiom n an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings

of its constituent elements.

Gait n a manner of walking, stepping, or running

Gnarled adj bent or twisted

Hillock n a small hill

Kerf n, v a cut or incision; the act of cutting or carving

Meconium n the first fecal excretion of a newborn child

Phalanx n an ancient Greek and Macedonian battle formation of hoplites presenting

long spears from behind a wall of overlapping shields.

Rachitic n rickets; a disease of childhood, characterized by softening of the bones.

Referent n the object or event to which a term or symbol refers

Sedge n any rushlike or grasslike plan of the genus carex

Siwash v to camp out without a tent or supplies

Skeins n anything wound in or resembling such a coil

Tableau n a picturesque grouping of persons or objects; a striking scene

Truncheon n a club; the shattered shaft of a spear.

Viscera n the organs in the cavities of the body, especially those in the abdominal

Cavity.

Name: ________________________ The Road Pre-reading pg 7
College English Mr. Valentin

Glossary
(pages 102-161)

Accrue v to happen or result as a natural growth, addition.

Chattel n a slave.

Doric adj rustic.

Façade n the front of a building, especially an imposing or decorative one; the

superficial appearance or illusion of something.

Foyer n the lobby of a theater, hotel, or apartment house.

Implacable adj not to be appeased, mollified, or pacified.

Kiln n, v a furnace or oven for burning, baking, or drying something. To

burn, bake, or treat in a kiln.

Mendicant adj begging; pertaining to or characteristic of a beggar.

Palimpsest n a parchment from which writing has been partially or completely erased to

make room for another text.

Privet n any of various evergreen shrubs.

Scrim n a cotton or linen fabric of open weave used for bunting, curtains.

Glossary
(pages 162-221)

Bivouac n, v a military encampment made with tents or improvised shelters, usually
without shelter or protection from enemy fire; to rest or assemble in such
Bolus an area.
Cairn
Coagulate n a soft, roundish mass or lump.
Cowled n a heap of stones set up as a landmark, monument, tombstone.
Culvert v to change from a fluid into a thickened mass; curdle.
Disinter v to cover with.
Fey n a drain or channel crossing under a road, sidewalk.
Kin v to take out of the place of interment; exhume; unearth.
Kudzu adj doomed; fated to die.
n a person’s relatives.
Sundry n a fast-growing Chinese and Japanese climbing vine; widespread in the
Talc
southern United States.
adj various; miscellaneous.
n green-to-gray soft mineral.

Name: ________________________ The Road Pre-reading pg 8
College English Mr. Valentin

Glossary
(pages 222-287)

Bilge n either of the rounded areas that form the transition between the bottom and
the sides on the exterior of a hull
Bollard
n a thick, low post, usually of iron or steel, mounted on a wharf to which
Cognate mooring lines from vessels are attached
Creosote
Derelict adj allied or seminal in nature or quality
Dolmen n an oily liquid having a burning taste and a penetrating odor
Humidor adj, n left or deserted as by the owner; a person abandoned by society (vagrant)
Isthmus n a structure usually regarded as a tomb
n a container or storage room for cigars or other preparations of tobacco
Loess n a narrow strip of land, bordered on both sides by water, connecting two
Molder
Plunder larger bodies of land.
Secular n a loamy deposit formed by the wind
v to turn to dust by natural decay
Sepulcher v to rob of goods; pillage
Sextant adj of or pertaining to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as
Sheaf
Sloe religious, spiritual, or sacred.
Slough n a tomb, grave, or burial place
Stanchions n an astronomical instrument used to determine latitude and longitude at sea
Swale n any bundle, cluster, or collection
Tabernacle n the small, sour, blackish fruit of the blackthorn
Torsion n an area of soft, muddy ground; swamp or swamplike region
Verdigris n an upright bar, beam, post, or support
Vermiculate n a low place in a tract of land
n any place or house of worship; portable sanctuary
n the act of twisting
n a green or blue incrustation formed on copper, brass, or bronze surfaces
adj, v worm-eaten, sinuous; to work or ornament with wavy lines or markings

resembling the form or tracks of a worm.