Quotes #1,#2, and #3.

When I was reading the second part of the book, I felt that they book was much more interesting than the last part because there was a comprehensible story line. I especially liked the parts where some kind of tension was appearing between characters in the book.

Pg.55-60

The first set of quotes that I chose is from the man’s flashback. On their way to the ‘South’, the boy confesses that he wants to be with mom right before he sleeps. After that talk, the man recalls his memory with his wife right before she leaves for her ‘self destruction’. In that memory, there are a lot of places where it shows the wife’s suffering and how self destruction was the only choice for her.

“What in God’s name are you talking about?
We’re not survivors. We’re walking dead in a horror film.” (p.55)

In this quote, you can see that she doesn’t think that the way she is living is actually ‘living’. For me, this was a common experience when I had no happiness or too little happiness in my life. In her case, she had to put all of her time in trying to keep her life that was meaningless to her.

“Sooner or later they will catch us and they will kill us. They will rape me. They’ll rape him. They’re going to rape us and kill us and eat us and you won’t face it. You’d rather wait for it to happen. But I can’t. I can’t.” (p.56)

Here, you can see that she also had to spend lots of time worrying and being afraid of ‘them’. I felt that this is one of the main sentences that warn us about the danger from other humans. Before this scene we didn’t know exactly what the man’s fear was. However, in this scene, you can see that the fear the man was having was from other humans and that these humans are people who rape or attack others. This was the key sentence to understanding the main character's fear.

“Maybe you’ll be good at this. I doubt it, but who knows. The one thing I can tell you is that you wont survive for yourself. I know because I would never have come this far.” (p.57)

In this part, it becomes evident that the woman is going to leave. The man keeps on begging the woman to stay and that he needs her but she still leaves him. But by the last sentence, you can see that she still cares for the mand and feels bad for him since he has to keep living. By the way she says good bye, you can at least see that she is not leaving because she doesn't like the man and the boy.

“There was no argument. The hundred nights they’d sat up debating the pros and cons for self destruction with the earnestness of philosophers chained to a madhouse wall. In the morning the boy said nothing at all and when they were packed and ready to set out upon the road he turned and looked back at their campsite and he said: She’s gone isn’t she? And he said: Yes, she is.” (p.58)

This is what happens after she leaves. The boy and the man accept her decision. Actually, I felt that they already knew that it was coming.

This quote that I made is my favorite part so far. It was the first exciting scene that came after the serene story line. It also answered two questions that I had about the book. One was whether the boy was actually the man’s son or not and the other was what had happened to the woman.

I think that this part is an important part of the book because it has a detailed story about the wife. Throughout the book, I felt that the woman has some kind of big importance even though she is actually dead. She keeps on coming out in man’s memories and dreams. She seems to be the link that connects the man and the past. If you see page 54, the man says “There is no past”, he can’t remember his childhood games and stories but, in the memories with his wife, he seems to remember quite well about the world before.

The second quote that I chose is in the scene where the man has an argument with another man.

“You won’t shoot, he said.
That’s what you think.
You ain’t got but two shells. Maybe just one. And they’ll hear the shot.
Yes they will. But you won’t.
How do you figure that?
Because the bullet travels faster than sound. It will be in your brain before you can hear it. To hear it you will need a frontal lobe and things with names like colliculus and temporal gyrus and you won’t have the, anymore. They’ll just be soup.” (p.64)

This part showed clearly that they were both enemies to each other. This part is important because it showed the man’s character. The man seems to have a very logical personailty. Instead of running away or just being afraid, the man manages to fight with the other man. His words make sense and seem very professional that the other man even asks him if he’s a doctor. It doesn't sound too special but no many people can behave this way when they are in the situation of their own life and death. In addition, I believe this personality of his seems to have acted as an advantage for him to survive in this apocalyptic environment.

Finally, the last quote I wanted to talk about was on page 82 and 83.

“A dog? Yes. Where did it come from?
I don’t know. We’re not going to kill it, are we Papa?
No. We’re not going to kill it.”(82)
“They never heard the dog again.”(83)

This is about a dog that they man and the boy finds on their journey. From far away, they were able to see that some people were living in that area. When they get closer, they find a dog. The boy begs his father not to kill that dog and the father agrees to do so. However, after time, they couldn’t see the dog again. In that scene, the boy and the man had run out of food. Thus, they were reasearching for food in that village. However, there was no food left in the food market. But, after time, they could smell wood burning.

What came to my mind? I thought of the dog eating tradition. In Korea, some people still enjoy dogs and the Westerners criticize it a lot. They think it’s really savage to eat dogs. But, in this scene, the savage tradition is portrayed. I think it shows how bad the whole situation is. I mean the author is a westerner and most of them think of eating a dog as an extremely cruel thing. So, this part emphasizes how bad the man and the boy and the other survivors needed food.

P.S.

These are some thoughts that I had while reading the second part of the book. I'm really sleepy since it's two in the morning so plese tell me by comment if there are any unlogical assumptions or errors! :) Oh, I followed someone's reading method of taking notes as I read and it helped me a lot THANKS!