Pages 48-73

Question 1: In this section The Man and The Boy come across another human being for the first time. What has happened to this new person? What does The Boy want to do for him? Why does The Man refuse?

Struck by lightning

The boy wants to help him, feed him

Boy knows they can’t, but wants to. Shows he is a good person

The man knows that they don’t have the resources to help others

The new man is like society itself, burnt, dying, but struggling

In society, it’s everyone for themselves - savaging

Question 2: Why do you think The Boy felt so bad about not being able to help the injured man that they came across? What does this say about The Boy?

The boy, despite not being born in the old society, has somehow managed to hold onto its values

He is empathetic, caring and willing to sacrifice his own well-being for others

This is like a Christ figure

Question 3: What is a billfold? What was in The Man’s billfold? Why do you think The Man held on to the contents of his for so long? Why did he finally abandon the billfold and all of its contents? What was the most surprising thing he abandoned?

Billfold is a wallet

In it was money, credit cards, driver’s license and picture of his wife

Held onto contents for normalcy, sign of old life, remembrance of old life

He now knows that none of it mattered, so no need to hold onto it anymore

Abandoning the picture of his wife most surprising

However, we know he hates remembering the good, also, she abandoned them, so he can do the same

Question 4: Page 52 gives us more details about what happened to the earth. Describe the day that the Apocalypse happened as viewed by The Man, and his wife. Why did the man run a bath? Why did the woman cradle her belly? Clock stopped just after on… bright light,

sound save concussions, rose like glow of fire

Sounds like nuclear explosion, but could be astronomical event? Volcanic eruption? What do you think?

Man filled tub with water for drinking

She cradled her belly because she was pregnant with the boy

Question 5: Why does The Man not want The Boy to fantasize about what life will be like in the South? In the end though The Man lets him. Why? The man doesn’t know what the new like will

be like, doesn’t want the boy to be disappointed (maybe no other children, no society, no warmth, etc.)

Lets him because he has so little to make him happy, let him think all is going to be okay

Also, perhaps he doesn’t think they’ll make it so he wants to let the boy die dreaming of a better like ahead

If the boy thinks something better is coming, he’ll continue on without giving up

Question 6: What does The Boy mean when he states he wishes he was with his mother? Why do you think he felt this way?

Means he wishes he was dead

Life is so hard, no friends, no family, struggle to survive

Always hungry, always cold, always tired, always scared

Surviving is not living

Question 7: On pages 55 to 58 we realize what happened to the wife. What happened to her? How did she kill herself? Why did she not have the strength to go on? Suicide

Did it with stone obsidian blade (slit wrists) after walking away

Gave up because she was not strong enough; fear of rape and murder

Fear of watching everything she ever knew… die

Sees death as an escape (lover) from her horrid life

Question 8: We find out more about when The Boy was born in this section as well. When was The Boy born? Where was he born? Does this help explain why he has no memories at all of the way life used to be like?

The boy was born a few nights after the apocalypse

Born in the house by lamplight

Father cut the cord with scissors

He has no memories of the life before because it never existed for him… he is a child of the new earth

Question 9: The Man and The Boy come across a bunch of other people on the road in this section. Who were these people? Were they good or bad? How were they dressed? Truck people are apart of the “blood

cult”

They were cannibals

Dressed in canister masks, hazmat suits, goggles, hoods, carrying lengths of pipe, etc.

Obviously bad people, as seen in the later section when they eat one of their own and try to kill the boy

Question 10: How does The Man defend his son in this section? Who does he defend him from? Do you think The Man was a doctor? Judging from the way he handled the situation with the other man and his knife what else might The Man have been before the Apocalypse. Kills the truck person who put a knife to

the boy’s throat

Man knows about brain terminology… is he a doctor?

Man knows how to handle a weapon… is he a cop? Army?

Defends boy from rape and being eaten by blood cult

Question 11: What did the truck people do with their dead comrade? What did The Man and The Boy lose when they fled the scene?

They skinned him, gutted him, and ate him

Lack of loyalty in the blood cult, no rules, no society

Everyman for himself, the dead are used for the living

Man and boy lose the boy’s knapsack (essentials) and they cart was rifled through

Other topics of discussion… Man’s deteriorating health

The others on the road… people seem to be on the move (supplies running thin in the north)

Society’s rules are gone: cannibalism, suicide, theft, rap, etc.

Section 4 Writing Assignment Write a paper in the form of a letter

from the mother to the son, meant for the boy to read when he turns eighteen.

In the letter, try to explain why the mother left him and some hopes and dreams she has for his future.