Final Thoughts and AP Worthiness

Final thoughts on The Road

               I didn’t love the ending – it made the book fall flat for me.

               There are some advantages to it though.   For one, the ending hammered home the inevitability of death.  Earlier, the father had said to himself “you are dying… [and] that is not a lie” (McCarthy 254).  His death at the end confirmed that sentiment.  It also wrapped up some metaphors nicely, namely the cave that the father dreamed of in the beginning and the idea of “carrying the fire.”  Additionally, a random stranger rescuing the boy raises some important ideas about the ethics of survival.

               At the same time, it left a lot to be desired.  The last several pages felt bland.  And, it wasn’t the type of stylistic bland which is used in the rest of the book to reveal how monotonous survival and the world is… it was just boring.   The father’s death just happens – the boy doesn’t really express any emotion and then the plot wraps itself up into a happy-ever-after scenario (as close as you can get with a story like this).   There is probably meaning to be extrapolated, but after following these characters for 300 pages it was just frustrating.  I wanted to see the boy die and feel the father’s devastation.  Or, have both protagonists die.  Or, at least, finish the story with the boy alone.   There is so much space there for deeper and richer messages, but it is simply left empty.

               I think this lack of powerfulness shows when you compare The Road’s ending to other books.  For instance, The Handmaid’s Tale and Song of Solomon ended rather ambiguously with bold language and memorable actions.   Brave New World ends with an ominous portrayal of the main character’s suicide.   Cloud Atlas beautifully connects a major idea of the novel with an elegant metaphor (my favorite ending for a novel, ever).  With The Road, I felt like I had to turn back to other parts of the novel to grasp meaning, whereas with these other books I felt the ending provided a starting point for reflection.

               Other than the ending, I enjoyed the book.  It was a surprisingly unique read despite the dystopian basis.  I think its uniqueness stemmed largely from its stylistic choices (lack of chapters, strange sentence structure, lack of backstory to the apocalypse).   It’s certainly a very dark book and I wouldn’t recommend reading it for long stretches.  Splitting it up into smaller pieces makes it easier to swallow some of the more dismal sections and helps to break its charm of monotony.

Is it AP worthy?

               Absolutely.   I think what gives a book literary merit, and thus makes it AP worthy, is if it can effectively use literary techniques to convey complex thematic ideas.   One could argue that the structure of the book and style of the writing make this book an AP novel by themselves.   McCarthy skillfully uses them to innovatively, and effectively, illustrate the setting, characters, and the setting’s impact on the characters.  He also uses a handful of cleverly placed allusions.  For instance, he alludes to the bible, Greek mythology, and architectural styles. 

               The real selling point for me though, is the book’s use of motifs.  McCarthy weaves a number of meaningful motifs through his novel, including colors, fire, God, right and wrong, death, birds, the past, and many more.  Because the plot of the novel holds relatively little meaning (when compared with other novels), it is critical to pay attention to McCarthy’s use of motifs.  Personally, I think they’re his primary way of conveying thematic ideas.   This is both a blessing and a curse, but more on that later.

                The Road’s effective use of literary techniques to convey a variety of nuanced themes earns it its AP worthiness.   For more detailed analysis of various aspects of the novel, I encourage you to look at my other blog posts.  

               From a student’s perspective, the more valuable question is: is this book useful for the AP exam?  I think situationally -- for the right question -- this book could be fantastic.  However, it may lack the breadth of ideas and techniques to be realistically useful – it’s certainly not a jack-of-all-trades that works on every question, but then again, few novels are.  Another advantage is its length; compared to other novels, it’s a fairly short read.   My main concern with its usefulness is its reliance on motifs and techniques for meaning.  There isn’t a lot of specific or memorable plot that is helpful for discussing the meaning of the work as a whole (the exception to this is probably the theme relating to morality during tough times – the father’s actions towards various people/groups would be fairly easy to remember and use).   I’m worried that if I sit down with a question, I won’t be able to remember enough specific examples to effectively answer the question.  I’m more comfortable with some of the other novels I’ve read.

               I also don’t think this should be added to our curriculum.  The nature of the story doesn’t lend itself to a class read; I think it’s better suited for people who truly want to read it and pick it apart, despite the depressing mood of the book.