The Road- Journal 3

There were two moments in particular that really stood out to me in the book. One was when the man and his son are walking and they see a dog. The boy gets scared and asks his father if they are going to catch it so that they can eat it. The boy’s father says no and then they continue walking. The second was when the boy’s father goes into a house in search of food. While the boy is sitting outside on the front steps, he sees a little boy and a dog. Before he sees the boy he had seen a little boy. The little boy sees him and begins to run. The boy quickly gets up and runs after the little boy yelling “Come back. I’m not going to hurt you!” They man hears his sons shouts and quickly runs out of the house and holds him in place. After they leave the house the boy begins to cry, he tells his dad that they should go back and find the boy and the dog. His dad tells him that he needs to forget about the boy and the dog, yet the boy doesn’t obey and he keeps trying to convince his dad. He suggests t his dad that the little boy might be alone and not have “a daddy” to take care of him. Yet the man doesn’t agree with the boy and they continue walking. The boy adds that he is willing to share his food with the boy and that the dog could be used as a hunting dog. He argues that the dog might be able to provide them with food, yet his dad tells him that he needs to forget the boy. The man shouts to the boy and questions him if he prefers to be dead. Sobbing, the boy says yes and then his father stops shouting and stops shouting at the boy.
I believe these scenes stood out so much to me because it surprised me how the boy was so concerned about the boy’s safety. It surprised me how the boy, although very young, cares a lot about other people although the world he lives in is very dangerous. The boy was abandoned by his mother when he was very young. He was left alone with his dad, and ever since the only love he has known is the love his dad shows him and the one his dad tells him about. When the boy tells his dad that the boy might not have had a “daddy” to take care of him, it makes me wonder if he thought it would hit his dads heart. I think he picked his words carefully so that his dad might consider going back for the boy. I believe he thought that it might make him feel sympathy for the little boy if the boy was alone and had no father, yet the man was more concerned about his son. Also, it’s amazing all that the man does and is willing to do to care for his son. Both are so different and very unexpected since they have been together for so long. The man doesn’t care about anything else but his sons’ safety. The man is even willing to sacrifice himself, yet at the end he realizes that it is not the best option. On the other hand the boy seems like he just wants to get out of the crazy world he lives in. There are times when the boy acts so caring and in others so careless. He seems to care a lot about other people that might be around, yet so careless to what happens to him. He is so young and frightened for a boy his age. He seems so open to what is going on and it surprises me that he know so much about death as well as the fact that he wants to die. It makes me wonder how much death he has seen in his life.

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