Close Reading: The Road

While reading The Road, the feeling of being helpless and alone is a recurring theme throughout the story's text.  The scene in the text that I came across putting this theme on display was the scene depicting the man who had been struck by lightning and was slowly crawling across the ground in front of the boy and the man (49).  This scene produces a strong contrast in the character of the man and the boy.  Both of them have been together, but alone, in this world and seen the same things, but the way that they respectively react to the struggling man shows how the two differ.  The man does not care to help the man who is generally incapable of sustaining life for too much longer.  The boy, however, feels that they should help the man.  The world that they now live in has, in a way, stripped the man of any humane feelings towards anyone other than his son, which is understandable.  The naive and genuineness of the boy is shown to shine through the despair of which they travel through day in and day out by him wanting to help this man, whom they do not know nor know what he is capable of.  The man knows that no one can be trusted in this desolate world but the genuine child shows evidence that the humane world that once was, still lives.

Liberation or Boneshaker???

This is definitely my first time blogging, but my reason for blogging is a great one! I just spent like fifteen minutes looking up information about the four optional books for class.  I must be honest, each and every book sounded very, VERY interesting.  Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Windup Girl" seems like it possesses some great content and has a great storyline but i didn't think I would enjoy reading about an android geisha and her falling in love with an American businessman, in Thailand.  There are great reviews about the book but the other books sound a little better.  Scott Westerfeld's "Uglies" seemed cool with the whole rebellious group going against the conformity of the Pretties, but I didn't feel as though reading about Ms. Youngblood's excursion would be as interesting as the other two books in question.  The last two books sounded like awesome reads.  I was torn in between the two and debated on which to read for about fifteen minutes.  Cherie Priest's "Boneshaker" sounded so good to me.  The storyline regarding the mother's conquest to keep her son from the troubles, such as the zombies and toxic gas which produces those zombies, inside the walls of desolate Seattle was very intriguing to me.  I was siding with this book tremendously.  Brian Francis Slattery's "Liberation" totally captivated me by the overview alone.  The thought of the protagonist being a part of a group of international criminals and him having superhuman powers is something that I am fond of.  Also, the parts where the Slick Six meet up with other groups against the antagonist, the Aardvark, seems quite reminiscent of superhero stories. It puts me in the mind of the a superhero group, like the X-Men!  One main group links up with other groups, or affiliates.  Sounds like the X-Men, or Justice League.  I'm a major superhero lover and "Liberation" sounds close to superhero lore.  My choice for the optional book is Brian Francis Slattery's "Liberation".