Phase Two: The Road (Part 2)

"At the crest of the hill was a curve and a pullout in the road. An old trail that led off through

the woods. They walked out and sat on a bench and looked out over the valley where the land rolled

away into the gritty fog. A lake down there. Cold and gray and heavy in the scavenged bowl of the

countryside.

What is that, Papa?

It's a dam.

What's it for?

It made the lake. Before they built the dam that was just a river down there. The dam used

the water that ran through it to turn big fans called turbines that would generate electricity.

To make lights.

Yes. To make lights.

Can we go down there and see it?

I think it's too far.

Will the dam be there for a long time?

I think so. It's made out of concrete. It will probably be there for hundreds of years.

Thousands, even.

Do you think there could be fish in the lake?

No. There's nothing in the lake." pg. 6 (By the Way, I should probably mention that because of "super happy file looky share time, the PDF version is only 94 pages. However, the book itself has 256 pages. That means that every PDF page is essentially 2.5 real pages long, so the page numbers here might be a little condensed.)

"By the door were two softdrink

machines that had been tilted over into the floor and opened with a prybar. Coins everywhere in the

ash. He sat and ran his hand around in the works of the gutted machines and in the second one it closed

over a cold metal cylinder. He withdrew his hand slowly and sat looking at a Coca Cola.

What is it, Papa?

It's a treat. For you.

What is it?

Here. Sit down.

He slipped the boy's knapsack straps loose and set the pack on the floor behind him and he

put his thumbnail under the aluminum clip on the top of the can and opened it. He leaned his nose to

the slight fizz coming from the can and then handed it to the boy. Go ahead, he said.

The boy took the can. It's bubbly, he said.

Go ahead.

He looked at his father and then tilted the can and drank. He sat there thinking about it. It's

really good, he said.

Yes. It is.

You have some, Papa.

I want you to drink it.

You have some.

He took the can and sipped it and handed it back. You drink it, he said. Let's just sit here.

It's because I wont ever get to drink another one, isnt it?

Ever's a long time.

Okay, the boy said." pg.7

    The Road illustrates the world we left behind us. All of our construction and institutions are still there. Scattered throughout the gray wasteland, there are still giant billboards. The roads the two characters follow is an old interstate covered in thicket. The dams we built are still there, forever changing the landscape. The human race doomed the Earth for any other species to follow.

   It actually sort of reminds me of what dinosaurs did after the comet hit. There's pretty much no sunlight left, meaning warmth is scarce, and food is hard to come by.

This is totally academically related

    Again, it relates back to the environmental message. If we don't take care of our environment now, it will totally come back to kill us (but not like it did in The Happening)

The plant's "suicide toxin", this movie was terrible.

Woah, two clip breaks for one paragraph.

   

    We can only live as long as our environment supports us. We've taken advantage of a giant food chain. It starts with plants, the autotrophs which produce their own energy. They are eaten by level-one herbivores, who are eaten by carnivores. Humans serve as omnivores, eating everything in sight. We mass-produce animals to the point where they can no longer reproduce by themselves. The average lifespan of a chicken is 40 days because they're genetically modified to grow faster than their bodies can handle. A devastating event such as a giant fire would leave nearly every species unable to reproduce. Oh god, too sad!