The Road- Comprehension Activities

The Road: Comprehension Questions

 

  1. How is The Road allegorical, more specifically an example of a religious allegory?
    Refer to the following themes: spirituality, morality and familial love. Include appropriate examples from the text to support your answer.

 

Allegory: A narrative with two levels of meaning: The surface (characters, setting, plot, etc.) and the symbolic (deeper ideas embedded within).

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  1. Do you think the dystopian, apocalyptic context of the novel provides commentary on the contemporary context in which we read it? Why or why not? What is it commenting or warning us of?

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  1. What predictions would you make about our future? Is Cormac McCarthy showing us a world that is a projection of our own? What ever-present threats exist in our own context?

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Dystopian and Apocalyptic Fiction

Use the image below as a STARTING POINT for your exploration of The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It is of central importance that you are able to apply the conventions of the genre to a reading of this text.

To what extent is The Road a dystopian and apocalyptic text? How does this text meet this criteria?