The sardonic blind man named Ely, who the man and boy encounter on the road, tells the father that, "There is no God and we are his prophets" [p. 170]. What does he mean by this? Why does the father say about his son, later in the same conversation, "What if I said that he's a god?" [p. 172]. Are we meant to see the son as a savior? Why is Ely the only character named in this novel? What does this mean and how does it affect your understanding of the meaning of the work as a whole?
How is McCarthy able to make the post-apocalyptic world of The Road seem so real and utterly terrifying? Which descriptive passages are especially vivid and visceral in their depiction of this blasted landscape (please cite)? What do you find to be the most horrifying features of this world and the survivors who inhabit it?
There is often a sense of moral ambiguity that one can experience because of cultural conflict. I’ve often been faced with questions such as, "Do I believe this is right or wrong because of the way I was raised, or is it right or wrong because of a universal set of morals that all humans share?" Reflect on these tensions for yourself, and compose a piece of personal writing addressing some (not all) of these questions:
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