The+Bad+Guys+Second+Period+2010

The Road By: Cormac McCarthy  "Bad Guys"  Robert Alexander, Looie Doucette, Mason Burril, Brandon Race, Amberle Dalton, and Mary Kayler

www.firstshowing.net/ img/road-cormac-FS-aug-0... [] Quot﻿es


 * “They passed two hundred feet away, the ground shuddering lightly. Trampling. Behind them came wagons drawn by slaves in harness and piled with goods of war and after that the women, perhaps a dozen in number, some of them pregnant, and lastly a supplementary consort of catamites illclothed against the cold and fitted in dogcollars and yoked each to each.” –page 92 **


 * “If they find us they’ll kill us, wont they Papa. **
 * Shh. No more talking. **
 * Wont they Papa. **
 * Shh. Yes. Yes they will.”- page 115 **


 * “Are they going to eat them? **
 * I don’t know. **
 * They’re going to eat them, aren’t they? **
 * Yes. And we couldn’t help them because they’d eat us too. **
 * Yes. **
 * And that’s why we couldn’t help them. **
 * Yes. **
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Okay.”- page 127 **


 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">“We would never eat anybody, would we? **
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">No. Of course not.”- page 128 **


 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">“What the boy had seen was a charred human infant headless and gutted and blackening on the spit…. He didn’t know if he’d ever speak again.”- page 198-199 **
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">“She was gone and the coldness of it was her final gift. She would do it with a flake of obsidian.”- page 58 **

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 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">[] **

<span style="background-color: #131111; color: #ff0000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 170%;">Analysis


 * The “bad guys” are motivated by two basic factors: power and pure survival. The first priority of most of the survivors in the novel is to stay alive. The bad guys are willing to do anything to survive, even eating other people or their own babies, as the quotes above portray. Some of the more successful bad guys are able to take advantage of the post-apocalyptic situation to build their own power. The above quote describes a primordial army containing slaves, captive women, and catamites. In a world as desolate as that of The Road, the pursuit of power is the only joy that these bad guys have left. The author employs the bad guys to test the protagonist’s perseverance, strength, and character. The man and boy are constantly in danger, a situation that most people would not be able to handle. The bad guys are a force attempting to drag the heroes down. When the boy sees the infant cooking over the fire, the man is afraid he will be scarred for life and will never speak again. However, like always, he continues to persevere. As the protagonists progress together through each trial presented by the bad guys, their relationship grows stronger as well. In some relationships, struggles can tear people apart. However, the father and son’s dedication to surviving for each other while facing constant threats from bad guys proves the resilience of their bond. The bad guys also serve to display the goodness of the protagonists. Even though the man and boy don’t really help other people like archetypal heroes would, they appear good by comparison. In the above quote, the father claims that they would never eat anyone like the bad guys would. Because they do not harm anyone else unnecessarily, the man and boy are portrayed as virtuous in the novel, in contrast to the bad guys. The final quote refers to the man’s wife taking her own life. She could be considered a bad guy as well. She committed a selfish act by killing herself, and leaving her husband and son hurt and alone. **
 * Bad guys like those in __The Road__ are also present in real society and other forms of literature. These people have similar motivations to the antagonists of the novel. Anyone from real life terrorists, to fictional charachters like Dr. Evil, are motivated by their need for power. **

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<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ff0000; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 150%;">Discussion Questions


 * Is it right for the man to kill a bad guy? **


 * Are there more bad guys or good guys in the post-apocalyptic world? **


 * Why do some of the bad guys take on primitive characteristics? **