Two Boys - Anouk & Milani

For the art piece of this Lit Log we wanted our drawing to capture the true immaturity of the man. Throughout The Road, the man constantly acts as if he knows everything, as if he is more mature than the boy. However, at multiple points throughout the novel, the man reveals how he is less mature than he makes it out to be for his son. The quotes we chose to add to this art piece are the ones that stuck out the most for this argument. For example: “Then he picked up the phone and dialed the number of his father’s house in that long ago”(17), showing how the man is still dealing with his own adjustment to the apocalypse. Where he pretends he doesn’t let his emotions get to him, in this scene he gives away how hung up on the old world he is. Another quote that aligned with this motif was “[they] looked for the town but they couldn’t find it… They were some fifty miles west of where he’d thought.”(181-182) This is another moment where the man lets his all-knowing behavior slip and he shows the errors he starts to make as he gets sicker, and as their time on the road progresses. In as many instances where the man makes errors, there are many moments where the boy shows maturity and knowledge. For this reason, we made the artistic decision to draw the boy larger than the man, to show how he overcame his father. Towards the end of The Road, the boy develops into a grown character with many ideas and contributions to their journey, which is expressed through this artwork.