9/16/2019 Kelly Chan PD 7

9/16/2019

Kelly Chan PD 7

Aim: How does The Road strive to enchant its readers through survival?

To start of the discussion we started with the Do Now: If you had to eat one last meal,

what would it be?

A lot of people valued the level of nourishment in their chosen foods.

For instance, Iandra and Billy chose to eat lots of carbohydrates and starches to get the most energy out of their food.

Other people in the class, like Dejon, chose foods that were both practical and flavorful, like steak. However, Steven chose the most grandiose and “snobbish” meal: “scallop soufflé, beluga caviar, (or anything else but it has to be from an endangered animal) Italian white truffle, quail egg, and solid gold,” his reasoning, that if it was his last meal, he may as well “go out with a bang.”

Jokes aside, we established that all cultures, regardless of which time period,

is connected through food.

It is a central part of society and culture during cultural events or daily life.

And not only is food a central part to human life, but it is also deeply connected to nostalgia and sentimentality. An example of this would be ice cream. To Ms.Fusaro, she would eat ice cream because of how it reminded her of when she used to beg her mom (MA THROW DOWN THE MONEY) and chase after the ice cream truck as a kid. 

After we discussed the role of food in our lives, we tied it back to The Road with this quote from the book when the man and the boy find the bunker:

“It’s food. Can you read it?

Pears. That says pears.

Yes. Yes it does. Oh yes it does.”

What is the mood that this quote creates?

Ms. Fusaro decides to put the quote into a different, more relatable context.

Imagine you thought you failed a test, and you get your test paper back from the teacher.

You can’t bear to look, and you give it to your best friend to check your grade.

 “It’s an A. That says A. Yes. Yes it does. Oh yes it does.”

Once she reframed the quote, Dominick said that the quote shows the joyful revelation of something once conceptual and imaginary, acing a test or, in the book,

finding the bunker full of food, becoming real. 

The discussion moves on to why the author specifically chose fruit. Why pears?

While some of the answers alluded to the brightness and sweetness of fruit

creating a stark contrast with the environment in the book, Taya brought up the Garden of Eden.

To the man and the boy, the bunker was their little slice of Paradise.

The reason why McCarthy didn’t use apples is because apples are associated with the Original Sin. 

We then recalled the conversation with the old man, asking if the father was justified in

being so cautious, and if the boy was right in sharing the food with him. 

I answered the question by raising the question of whether or not humans are obligated

to empathize with others, after all, empathy is what decides if someone is in need of help. Billy added on, raising the ethical question of how the availability of something can mask true empathy.

For instance, if you had an unlimited amount of french fries, you wouldn’t think twice to

give your fries away. But what if those fries were the last fries of your life?

Would you be so willing to give them away then?

The man lived in the old world where he got a taste of availability, and

is therefore hesitant to give away his food.

The boy only knows a world without availability, which is why he was so willing to give his food away. 

Finally, the last question was: Why must we keep moving to survive?

Did you want the boy and the man to continue staying in the bunker?

Diego answers this question by connecting to the horse in the Robert Frost poem.

The horse lets the rider rest but ultimately urges the rider to keep going, to keep living on. 

Ms.Fusaro ends the lesson with “Movement is life. Movement is survival.”

In the literal sense, the boy and the man would have been in danger if they stayed in the bunker,

and the food will eventually have run out. In the figurative sense, the very essence of humanity

is that we keep going forward. The concept that there is somewhere and some time after this

present moment, is what drives humanity on. MOVEMENT IS LIFE. MOVEMENT IS SURVIVAL. 

Student Reflection:

Ultimately, one of the most important takeaways from The Road is McCarthy’s portrayal of the most intrinsic quality that makes us human: survival. By using something as simple as a can of pears, McCarthy has peeled back the layers to show who we are the most primitive of levels. Today was a very philosophical and enlightening lesson. My favorite parts of the lesson was the connection of the pears to the Garden of Eden, and the discussion of how survival can affect empathy, as seen in a comparison between the man and the boy. Despite how the carnal desire of survival has jaded the man, it is hopeful to know that deep down there is still an inkling of empathy and kindness still in him when he gives the food away. It's as if McCarthy is trying to say that survival requires not only to be hardened and jade but kind and compassionate as well.