Reading: The Road pages 101-130; By: Cormac McCarthy

      Starting on page 101, the boy and father, like most of the book so far, are continuing to walk down the road but instantly the man spots something out of the ordinary. The road they are traveling on is covered with a gray snowy ash which is common, but on the ash there appears to be narrow tread marks. The father senses danger and quickly reacts by telling the boy they need to leave. The boy and father ran to the highest ground they could find and watched the road until about two hours later two men came down the road and did not find the boy and the man. The scene provides a quick feeling of suspense to the reader.
      Both the boy and the father are still suffering from an extreme lack of food which is messing with their judgment. As they continue walking they come across a monumental house in which the windows are oddly intact. The father insists on inspecting the house for food, but the boy does not want to go in at all. They went in the house and scavenged for food but found nothing. Not until the father found a locked pantry door. The boy senses danger but the man lets his hunger for food overtake his senses and proceeds in busting the lock open and going downstairs. The basement is dark and gloomy and when the man lights the dark room a horrid sight is revealed. Huddled together in the corner is a group of naked men and women dirty and beaten who at the sight of the light come towards the man asking him and the boy to save them. Realizing their danger the man and boy run out of the basement to see four bearded men and two ladies coming back to the house. The boy and man bolt out the front door and run down the drive way into the woods knowing that the people will see that others had been in their house and come looking for them. The man is troubled by his mistake and he and the boy run for dear life from the cannibalistic people who own the house.
     Escaping from the grasps of the evils from that house, the man and boy continue until they find a barn. The boy sleeps in the woods while the man goes out to look for food. Expecting to find nothing the man stumbles upon a dried apple. He continues walking and begins finding more and more apples. His finding of apples creates a sense of optimism in a world that appears to be so devastatingly distroyed.
     Although these pages were mainly filled with depression and suspense, I felt that it was overall entertaining in a dark way. In a book that is filled with a lot of walking, every little bit of suspense is magnified to become an epic part of the book as a whole. In these situations is when the reader learns more about the character through their actions and reactions, such as the little boy after the man was shot earlier in the book and he lost his sense of goodness in the world. This book creates a new way of thinking for me by simplistically incorporating a new style of writing that makes the reader appreciate their life and understand the need for hope when all things seem lost.