The Road Synopsis
The novel begins with the man and boy in the woods, the boy asleep, as the two of them are making their journey along the road. The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world, date and place unnamed, though the reader can assume it's somewhere in what was the United States. We aren’t told the names of the boy and the man. McCarthy also chooses to use no quotation marks in dialogue and for some contractions, he leaves out the apostrophes.
The man's dreams play a large role throughout the novel; the man tells both himself and the boy that good dreams are to be feared because they indicate a form of acceptance, and that death would inevitably be near. Bad dreams, on the other hand, are reassuring because they demonstrate that the man and boy are still persevering in the world they inhabit. He keeps a pistol with him at all times, unless he goes inside a house. Then he gives the pistol to the boy. The pistol, though, only has two bullets.
They make their way through a "nuclear winter" that follows them from start to finish as they make their way south to the coast, hoping to find a better life there. They are running low on food, and the man is fighting a bad cough, one that sprays blood on the gray snow. They come upon towns and cities that are mere shells of what they once were. Remnants of the old world often — like houses, billboards, and hotels — clash with the reality of the new world, reminding the man of the life he once lived.
The man and boy come upon the house where the man grew up. The boy worries they'll run into the bad guys who eat people in order to survive. The man has decided, too, that should the bad guys find them, that he will kill the boy so that they cannot torture him, but he often wonders to himself if he would be able to do it if the time should ever come.
A truck full of roadagents comes upon the man and the boy, who hide in the woods. The truck breaks down and one of the bad men finds them in the woods. The bad man grabs the boy, and the boy's father shoots the man in the head and both escape into the woods. Now the pistol has only one bullet left, and the man knows that this bullet is for his son should the time come.
They come upon a once grand house, the boy and man are starving .In the basement, the man and boy find naked people who are being kept alive for others to eat. The man and boy flee just as the roadagents return. They hide in the woods through the freezing night, the man feeling certain that this is the day when he's going to have to kill his son. But they survive the night and go undiscovered.
The man whittles fake bullets from a tree branch and puts them in the pistol with the one true bullet. He wants the gun to appear loaded should they encounter others on the road. They go into town to find a new cart and return to their bunker to load up with supplies. In the house, the man shaves and cuts both his own hair and the boy's — another moment in the novel that recalls a father/son ritual of the old world.
They come upon another traveller on the road, an old man who tells them his name is Ely, which is not true. Ely is surprised by seeing the boy, having convinced himself that he never thought he'd see a child again. The boy persuades his father to let Ely eat dinner with them that night. The man agrees, but tells his son that Ely can't stay with them for long. Later that night, the man and Ely
talk about the old world, about death, God, and the future — particularly, about what it would be like to be the last human on the planet. The next day as they prepare to part ways, the boy gives Ely some food to take with him.
The man's dreams play a large role throughout the novel; the man tells both himself and the boy that good dreams are to be feared because they indicate a form of acceptance, and that death would inevitably be near. Bad dreams, on the other hand, are reassuring because they demonstrate that the man and boy are still persevering in the world they inhabit. He keeps a pistol with him at all times, unless he goes inside a house. Then he gives the pistol to the boy. The pistol, though, only has two bullets.
They make their way through a "nuclear winter" that follows them from start to finish as they make their way south to the coast, hoping to find a better life there. They are running low on food, and the man is fighting a bad cough, one that sprays blood on the gray snow. They come upon towns and cities that are mere shells of what they once were. Remnants of the old world often — like houses, billboards, and hotels — clash with the reality of the new world, reminding the man of the life he once lived.
The man and boy come upon the house where the man grew up. The boy worries they'll run into the bad guys who eat people in order to survive. The man has decided, too, that should the bad guys find them, that he will kill the boy so that they cannot torture him, but he often wonders to himself if he would be able to do it if the time should ever come.
A truck full of roadagents comes upon the man and the boy, who hide in the woods. The truck breaks down and one of the bad men finds them in the woods. The bad man grabs the boy, and the boy's father shoots the man in the head and both escape into the woods. Now the pistol has only one bullet left, and the man knows that this bullet is for his son should the time come.
They come upon a once grand house, the boy and man are starving .In the basement, the man and boy find naked people who are being kept alive for others to eat. The man and boy flee just as the roadagents return. They hide in the woods through the freezing night, the man feeling certain that this is the day when he's going to have to kill his son. But they survive the night and go undiscovered.
The man whittles fake bullets from a tree branch and puts them in the pistol with the one true bullet. He wants the gun to appear loaded should they encounter others on the road. They go into town to find a new cart and return to their bunker to load up with supplies. In the house, the man shaves and cuts both his own hair and the boy's — another moment in the novel that recalls a father/son ritual of the old world.
They come upon another traveller on the road, an old man who tells them his name is Ely, which is not true. Ely is surprised by seeing the boy, having convinced himself that he never thought he'd see a child again. The boy persuades his father to let Ely eat dinner with them that night. The man agrees, but tells his son that Ely can't stay with them for long. Later that night, the man and Ely
talk about the old world, about death, God, and the future — particularly, about what it would be like to be the last human on the planet. The next day as they prepare to part ways, the boy gives Ely some food to take with him.