The Road: Pages 91-124 Summary & Analysis

The next morning the man wakes up to see a group of strangers coming down the road. They are all wearing red scarves of some kind and marching in rows of four. The man wakes the boy and they hide and watch. The strangers are all bearded and carry lengths of pipe or spears. Behind them comes a group of slaves dragging wagons full of food, then a group of women, some pregnant, and then a group of collared young boys. When the caravan finally passes the man affirms that those are the “bad guys.”

It starts to snow that afternoon and the man and boy trudge on. Soon they are freezing and exhausted, and the boy asks if the man would tell him if they were going to die. The man says “I don’t know. We’re not going to die.” They make a nest under a tree and start a fire. The boy falls asleep and the man watches him, suppressing his rage at their helpless, hopeless situation.

They are awakened by the sound of trees falling all around them. They move their camp to a clearing, then dig a tunnel under a fallen tree and fall asleep again. When they wake up the man feels like he can’t concentrate, and he has a hard time getting the boy to follow him back to the cart. When they find the cart the man makes new shoes for them by lashing pieces of the tarp and a coat around their feet.

They set out on the road but it’s very slow going through the snow. The boy asks if they’re going to die, and wonders how long they can live without food. The man says that as long as they have water it takes a long time to starve. The boy says that he thinks the man might lie to him about dying. The man admits that he might lie, but he also reassures the boy that they’re not dying.

They keep going, eating snow and growing weaker. That night the man watches the sleeping boy and notices the “strange beauty” of his thin face. The next morning they see wagon tracks in the snow, and the man fears it is the “bad guys.” The man and boy wander around in circles, leaving confusing footprints so the bad guys can’t follow them. They make camp at a high place and then the man sees two strangers going down the road. One turns and almost sees the man, but he blends into the background wrapped in his gray blanket.

They keep traveling, and after five days without food they come to a big plantation house. The boy is scared and doesn’t want to go in, but the man says they have to, as they need to find food. They walk onto the porch and the man imagines the slaves that must have worked there once. They go into the house and see a pile of mattresses and clothes. The boy is terrified and clings to the man’s hand.

The man finds a locked hatch in the floor and then looks for a shovel to pry it open with. He breaks open the lock, ignoring the boy’s frightened protests, and goes down the wooden steps, holding a lighter. There is a terrible stench in the darkness, and the man sees a huddled group of naked people and a dismembered man lying on a mattress. The people whisper for the man to help them, but the man grabs the boy and hurries back up the stairs, panicking.

The boy points out the window and the man sees six strangers coming across the yard towards them. The man grabs the boy’s wrist and sprints out of the house. He pulls the boy to the ground in the yard, hiding in some leaves and thinking “this is the moment.” The man feels he is going to cough and he uses all his willpower to stifle it. He can hear the strangers talking in the road.

The man pushes the pistol into the boy’s hand, telling him to put it in his mouth and fire if the strangers find him. The man says he is going to run and try to lead the strangers away from the boy, but then he changes his mind – he decides he can’t leave the boy. The man wonders if he could find the strength to kill the boy if the moment comes. If the pistol doesn’t fire, he wonders if he could “crush that beloved skull with a rock.” He kisses the boy and promises to never leave him.

They stay in their hiding place until night falls and the boy falls asleep. Later they hear screams coming from the big house and the man covers the boy’s ears. Then the man makes them get up and set out through the black woods. The boy is weak and exhausted and the man carries him for a while. Finally the man collapses too and they both sleep. They wake up and move a little, and the man wraps the boy in blankets, noting that he looks like “something out of a deathcamp.”

The boy falls asleep and the man considers whether he should leave him alone to go look for food. He decides to leave the pistol with the boy and he sets off. He finds a house and barn and explores them, at first finding only a powder of grape flavor for drinks. In the barn he finds a screwdriver and a boxcutter. The barn still smells like cows, and the man thinks about how cows are probably an extinct species now.

On the way through the yard the man finds some old apples. He eats a few, seeds and all, and gathers up the rest for the boy. He goes back into the house for a basket and then finds a cistern of pure water. He drinks some and it tastes better than anything he can remember. He fills up some mason jars with water and then carries them and the apples back to the boy. The boy is still asleep, and the man waits for him to wake up. They eat the apples and then set off on the road again.