Second Semester Blog Post #2

The ending of The Road was not exactly what I expected that it would be, but even saying that, I'm not entirely certain how I thought the story might end. I knew that it would have to eventually end and I was expected that as all stories do, but I dont know what I was expected, just that it doesnt seem to be that.

Part of me thinks that it is because the story ends with the boy, meaning that the man is no longer in the picture do to his death yet the boy lives on and now has a second chance at a better life. And I guess this makes sense, the boy was the one that was supposidly "carrying the fire" and he was the one that was being protected, the reason for the man to live. But even so for some reason the fact that the story ended with only the boy surprised me.

I think part of me felt that the novel was the man's story, as he was the one that frequently narrated what was going on and the one that had more comments through out the novel. I guess I kind of felt that it was the man's story and the boy just happened to be in it.

I know this isnt completely true and that it was the story of the man and the story of the boy and the story of the road, but even so for some reason I felt the closest to the character of the man, I felt I knew him the most. The road was haunting and eerie, a distant threat and the boy was an intiguing character that I wanted to know more about. But even with this I wasnt quite expecting the man to die.

Even with that I still wanst expecting that the man and the boy would make it to the coast and then find something life changing and live happily ever after. No, that would have been a happy ending to a happy story and The Road is not a happy story.

I am very much satisfied with the ending, even though it probably creates more questions than it answers, I am still satisfied with it somehow. McCarthy did an amazing job of that and I even though there is no resolution outside of the father dying and the boy finding a new family (and several other things so yes there is a great deal of a resolution) there still is closure to the book and the story without actually being closure.

I was excited to find that I did in fact like the ending to the story as my expectations for the book were high and the ending fulfilled them. However part of me was just happy to see that it didnt have a "The Mist" ending (the movie based on the book by Stephen King, not the book itself as I have not read it and it is supposidly drastically different). With all the talk of the gun and how many bullets were left I was expecting it to end in the tragic way that the movie did.

All in all I liked The Road, even if it was the boys story in the end.