History Literature / TheRoad

* CrapsackWorld: Less a WorldHalfEmpty than a world almost completely drained. ''The Road'' arguably features the most thoroughly Crapsack World in all of highbrow literature, surpassed only by ''Literature/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream''. The entire biosphere is dead–a frozen terrestrial corpse covered in lung-choking ash. Nightmarish cannibal degenerates, their starving prey, and occasional patches of fungus are the remains of life on earth [[spoiler: for most of the novel]]. In a flashback at the outset, two of the main characters debate whether killing themselves is the only moral decision under the circumstances. [[spoiler: The conclusion gives a glimmer of hope by revealing small pockets of life and humanity that may allow the biosphere to recover to a degree, but it also implies that the earth as we knew it is irrevocably lost.]] Interestingly, [=McCarthy=]'s vision of "life" amid total ecological ruin has been credited as so harrowing that it makes The Road a uniquely powerful demonstration of how everything we value depends on the environment, and thus one of the most important environmental works ever written.

''The Road'' was published by Creator/CormacMcCarthy in 2006. It garnered critical praise in America and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. The book is notable for a [[BeigeProse stark, minimalist style]] interspersed with occasional [[PurpleProse purple metaphors]]. The writing is idiomatic to say the least, eschewing most punctuation (including quotes) and occasionally including one-sentence chapters of philosophical musing.

* CosyCatastrophe: Heavily averted, the Man and the Boy are always tired, hungry and can almost never fully relax for fear of other humans looking to cannibalise, rape or steal from them roaming the wasteland, although they do have a few moments of respite that are relatively cosy considering the circumstances such as when they spend a few days in the bunker and camp on the beach.

* CannotKillTheirLovedOnes: As the man lies dying of his breathing problems (which may be lung cancer or radiation sickness), the boy begs him to shoot him, as he promised he would rather than make him live in a hellish, cannibalistic dystopia alone. The man refuses, saying he thought he could kill his son, but he can't.

* ThrowTheDogABone: On top of [[spoiler: the Boy finding a new family in the end like in the book, it's implied that life will go on. The Boy finds a beetle in one late scene, and the credits feature sounds of birds and animals]].

* CosyCatastrophe: Heavily averted, the Man and the Boy are always tired, hungry and can almost never fully relax for fear of other humans looking to cannibalise, rape or steal from them roaming the wasteland, although they do have few moments of respite that are relatively cosy considering the circumstances such as when they spend a few days in the bunker, discover the remains of farm, stay for a while in a long abandoned house and camp on the beach.

* CosyCatastrophe: Heavily averted, the Man and the Boy are always tired, hungry and can almost never fully relax for fear of other humans looking to cannibalise, rape or steal from them roaming the wasteland, on the other hand they do have few moments of respite that are relatively cosy considering the circumstances, including when they spend a few days in the bunker, discover the remains of farm, stay couple days in a long abandoned house and camp on the beach.

* CosyCatastrophe: Heavily averted, the Man and the Boy are always tired, hungry and can almost never fully relax for fear of other humans looking to cannibalise, rape or steal from them roaming the wasteland, on the other they do have few moments of respite that are relatively cosy considering the circumstances including when they spend a few days in the bunker, discover the remains of farm, stay couple days in a long abandoned house and camp on the beach.

* CosyCatastrophe: Heavily averted, the Man and the boy are always tired, hungry and can almost never fully relax for fear of other humans looking to cannibalise, rape or steal from them roaming the wasteland, on the other they do have few moments of respite that are relatively cosy considering the circumstances including when they spend a few days in the bunker, discover the remains of farm, stay couple days in a long abandoned house and camp on the beach.

* CosyCatastrophe: Heavily averted, the the Man and the boy always tired, hungry and can almost never fully relax for fear of other humans looking to cannibalise, rape or steal from them roaming the wasteland, on the other they do have few moments of respite that are relatively cosy considering the circumstances including when they spend a few days in the bunker, discover the remains of farm, stay couple days in a long abandoned house and camp on the beach.

* CosyCatastrophe: Almost totally averted, on the one hand the Man and the boy can almost never fully relax for fear of other humans looking to cannibalise, rape or steal from them roaming the wasteland, on the other they do have few moments of respite that are relatively cosy such as when they spend a few days in the bunker, discover an abandoned farm and camp on the beach.

* SceneryDissonance: Type 1. The film contains some horrific things, although whether or not the washed-out, decaying landscape is beautiful or not can be debated.

Like most of [=McCarthy's=] books, it was optioned for a film, and TheFilmOfTheBook (Also called ''The Road'') was released on November 25, 2009. It was directed by John Hillcoat, the director of ''Film/TheProposition'', starring Creator/ViggoMortensen, Kodi-Smit Mcphee, Creator/CharlizeTheron and Creator/GuyPearce. The score was done by Music/NickCave and Warren Ellis (no, not ''that'' Creator/WarrenEllis).

* HeroesLoveDogs: The Boy, who is easily the kindest character, hears the barking of a dog on and off throughout the journey. His tearful begging also convinces his father not to go through with trying to capture a dog for food.

* HeroesLoveDogs: The Boy, who is easily the kindest character, hears the barking of a dog on and off throughout the journey. His tearful reaction also convinces his father not to go through with trying to capture a dog for food.

* HeroesLoveDogs: The Boy, who is easily the kindest character, hears the barking of a dog on and off throughout the journey.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: When the Man and the Boy are starving and have run out of food they come across the remains of a house and a barn, after further investigation the man finds an orchard and makes the miraculous discovery of shriveled but still edible apples.

* CrapsackWorld: Less a WorldHalfEmpty than a world almost completely drained. ''The Road'' arguably features the most thoroughly Crapsack World in all of highbrow literature, surpassed only by IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream. The entire biosphere is dead–a frozen terrestrial corpse covered in lung-choking ash. Nightmarish cannibal degenerates, their starving prey, and occasional patches of fungus are the remains of life on earth [[spoiler: for most of the novel]]. In a flashback at the outset, two of the main characters debate whether killing themselves is the only moral decision under the circumstances. [[spoiler: The conclusion gives a glimmer of hope by revealing small pockets of life and humanity that may allow the biosphere to recover to a degree, but it also implies that the earth as we knew it is irrevocably lost.]] Interestingly, [=McCarthy=]'s vision of "life" amid total ecological ruin has been credited as so harrowing that it makes The Road a uniquely powerful demonstration of how everything we value depends on the environment, and thus one of the most important environmental works ever written.

* CrapsackWorld: Less a WorldHalfEmpty than a world almost completely drained. ''The Road'' arguably features the most thoroughly Crapsack World in all of highbrow literature. The entire biosphere is dead–a frozen terrestrial corpse covered in lung-choking ash. Nightmarish cannibal degenerates, their starving prey, and occasional patches of fungus are the remains of life on earth [[spoiler: for most of the novel]]. In a flashback at the outset, two of the main characters debate whether killing themselves is the only moral decision under the circumstances. [[spoiler: The conclusion gives a glimmer of hope by revealing small pockets of life and humanity that may allow the biosphere to recover to a degree, but it also implies that the earth as we knew it is irrevocably lost.]] Interestingly, [=McCarthy=]'s vision of "life" amid total ecological ruin has been credited as so harrowing that it makes The Road a uniquely powerful demonstration of how everything we value depends on the environment, and thus one of the most important environmental works ever written.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: The Man and the Boy are starving and have run out of food, they come across the remains of a house and a barn, after further investigation the man finds an orchard and makes the miraculous discovery of shriveled but still edible apples.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: The Man and the Boy are starving and have run out of food, they come across the remains of a house and a barn, after further investigation the man finds an orchard and makes the miraculous discovery of shriveled but still edible apples that haven’t been taken.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: The Man and the Boy are starving and out of food, they come across the remains of a house and a barn, after further investigation the man finds an orchard and discovers shriveled but still edible apples that haven’t been taken by someone else.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: The Man and the Boy are starving and out of food, they come across the remains of a house and a barn, after further investigation the man finds an orchard and finds shriveled but still edible apples, the fact that the apples still Ed live, haven’t fully decayed or been taken by someone else.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: The Man and the Boy are starving and out of food, they come across the remains of a house and a barn, after further investigation the man finds an orchard and finds shriveled but still edible apples, the fact that the apples are still edible, haven’t fully decayed and haven’t been taken by someone else seems to suggest like the boy and the Man are either incredibly lucky or perhaps are being helped by a supernatural force.