Christine:D

The second part of The Road was truly fantastic. I was impressed by the way author tells the story. Meanwhile, I still had difficulties with understanding the details. I hope I can solve my curiosity in Tuesday.

There were lots of meaningful dialogs in the second part, so I decided to choose some of them and analyze those in my way. There might be(actually,, must be) the things I got wrong or misunderstood about the book, so corrections are welcomed!:-)

p.77 (The boy)"Are we still the good guys?" he said.

"Yes, We're still the good guys."

"And we always will be."

After they face with the 'bad guys' and food is almost running out, the man becomes sharp. Still, he never expresses it directly to the boy. 'Cause he's the reason why the man lives. And because the thing which motivated him until now was all about his love toward the boy, and it will be. The man says to the boy that he'll kill who ever touches the boy. "Are we still the good guys?" the boy asks.

It seems that the boy can't adopt the change of his dad. By asking these kind of questions over and over, he wants to make sure that the man is the one he used to be. Though the answer from the man is kind of apparent.

p.82 (The boy)"We're not going to kill it, are we Papa?"

At one village, the man and the boy hear the dog barking. The boy asks immediately, "We're not going to kill it, are we Papa?" As mentioned before, the boy has a sense of difference about his dad's changes. Why did he asks this? It's because he thought the man might kill the dog, which he won't do usually.

Yet, the boy uses the word 'we'. This shows the boy's unconditional love toward the man. No matter what happens, he and his dad can't be apart. They two can't act separately. Also, this means that the boy will be beside his dad though his father does something unacceptable and brutal.

p.59 (The boy)"Did you have any friends?"

p.84 (The boy speaks to a little boy)"Come back, I wont hurt you."

p.85 “There's no one to see. Do you want to die? Is that what you want?”

"I don't care," the boy said, sobbing. "I don't care."

As it often mentioned in this book, the boy almost knows nothing about the world before disaster. Ever since he could remember, he was traveling with his parents in order to survive.

While walking along the road, he became curious. "Did you have any friends?" he asks his dad. Does he even know what a friend is? In the boy's memory, there was always only two people. Himself and his father. Though he can rely on and depend on father, he never shows his true, entire feeling to his father. It's because the boy knows that the dad is already struggling with such a heavy burden. The boy needs someone else. Somebody who can share the feelings.

After seeing the smoke far away, they go into a village with taking the risk. While the man is looking for food and clothes, the boy faces a little boy. Maybe it was the first time that he saw a boy who's about his age. He, without hesitation, runs to the boy. Yet, a little boy's gone. "Come back, I wont hurt you." he cries with a sense of emptiness. "Do you want to die? Is that what you want?" the man presses the boy for an answer. "I don't care." the boy says. At this moment, the fear from the fact that he won't be able to make friend again is much greater than the fear about the death itself.

I believe that the author tries to tell the readers that the boy is becoming mentally weaker. It seems that the boy now understands how much his father cares about him. Even more than himself. Meanwhile, because of that, it becomes harder to sincerely open up his mind toward his father. He swallows his anger by himself, and cries more often; rather than just explaining what he really feels like.