Entry III: Why AP?

Hello, and welcome back to my blog! It’s crazy to think I am almost done with this amazing book, and while I wish I could say I believe that McCarthy will wrap up the loose ends, I sincerely doubt the ending could be anything but ambiguous. But that’s a topic for next time! One of the key elements that I have tried to focus on while reading this book is what makes it appropriate for an Advanced Placement class.
One of the distinct aspects of the novel that makes it AP-worthy is its allegorical telling of the evaporation of society, painting a moral query similar to The Lord of the Flies; what do we become when moral society falls? As discussed in former posts, the struggle to remain “good” in a lawless world of dissolved morals is a consistent theme throughout the novel, and the central struggle for the son. The son often struggles when they must do something that seems wrong, and asks his father for reassurance. When they must flee a house filled with people who are being kept prisoner and eaten the son asks,
“...We couldn’t help them because then they’d eat us too,” (137) and the father tells him yes. The son often proposes questions in this format, as statements to which the father will answer yes or no. Through this we can grasp the son’s attempts to solidify a moral code in this lawless world, and empathize with his struggles between good and evil.
One of the most important aspects of the novel is the development of the relationship between the father and the son. Because the story begins in the middle with no introduction, we learn of their relationship slowly, as dictated by the events around them. Often times the information we learn about their relationship is spurred on by a near-death encounter, causing the father to reflect on his relationship with his son. For example, when the two are starving and searching for food we see the infinite patience and tenderness the man has for his son,
“He leaned and kissed him and got up and walked out to the edge of the woods and then he walked the perimeter around to see if they were safe,” (124).
The tenderness the father shows even during these scenes of chaos gives us important insight to how devoted he is to his son.
Lastly, I think the most important thing that makes this novel AP-worthy is the complex relationship between McCarthy and God that is established throughout the novel. Unlike many novels that utilize biblical allusions and religion as a central theme, McCarthy is critical of God and his existence. Throughout the novel McCarthy discusses how cruel God must be if he were to exist, as if there were a God he must be cruel to abandon them like this. In McCarthy’s world there is no benevolent God: he is either dead or cruel. The main character’s complex relationship with God offers a unique insight into his philosophical psyche, and his communions with and about God offer great room for analysis. McCarthy’s descriptions of characters attempting to find reason or philosophy in disaster is a fascinating show of human nature and one that readers can really delve into. In the most recent section, a character by the name of Ely (though he later explains that’s not his real name) says to the father,
“There is no God and we are his prophets,” (181). I found this quote to be particularly interesting to the theme of complex religion in The Road. God’s prophets are those who are in contact with Him or speak on His behalf, and act as His representative. Therefore, all the people on Earth doing horrible things to survive are simply representing God, or rather Godlessness. To suggest that there is no God but also that we are all His prophets is just another interesting comment by McCarthy that can be heavily analyzed.
I think The Road is a great book for AP students, as it has an incredibly interesting plot, but also contains a wide variety of literary elements and is filled with complex themes and motifs.
Thank you for tuning in to another blog plot, see you next time!