This document summarizes Cormac McCarthy's 2006 post-apocalyptic novel "The Road". It discusses the author, plot, characters, and themes of the novel which follows the journey of a father and son across a bleak landscape long after an unspecified disaster has destroyed civilization. The summary highlights how the father and son encounter the spectrum of humanity, ranging from goodness to depravity, as they struggle to survive with very little food or supplies. When the father becomes too ill, the son is later taken in by a kind family after mourning his father's death.

1. Submitted by: Rehan(014), Zain Fatima(004),
Saif(002), Masooma(006).
Department: BS-English 6th semester.
Topic: The Road (Novel).
Submitted to: Ma’am Tuba.
Subject: Post Modern Fiction

2. Table of content
Introduction Themes
Characters Summary
01 03
04
02

3. Introduction

4. Author
• Cormac McCarthy, American writer,
born in Providence, Rhode Island on
July 20, 1933..
• He has written 12 novels, 2 plays, 5
screenplays and 3 short stories..
• Southern gothic, Western and post-
apocalyptic are his genre of writings..
• He is known for his graphic depictions
of violence and his unique writing
style..
• Won award in 1959 and 1960 for
creative writing..
• This novel's idea came when McCarthy
visit El Paso, Texas with one of his
sons in 2003..
• Child of God, Drowning Incident, Wake
for Susan, The Crossing and No
Country for Old Men..

5. Novel
• The Road is a 2006 post-apocalyptic
novel, award in 2007, adapted into
film in 2009..
• Journey of a father and his young
son over a period of several months..
• They travel across a landscape
blasted by an unspecified event..
• Apocalypse has destroyed industrial
civilization and almost all life..
• They travel a very rough place,
conditions in the novel are
unforgiving..
• Rotted corpses, landscapes
devastated by fire, abandoned towns
and houses..

6. Novel
• They are the only few living creatures
on the world, escaped and safe from
murder and rape..
• They struggle to survive the harsh
weather with very little supplies of
food..
• They try to save themselves from the
people trying to steal food and kill
them..
• The boy’s father health gets worse and
is near to death, he coughs up blood
and dies at night..
• The boy stays there for few days, then
meets a kind family, joins them and
say goodbye to his father..

7. Characters
02

8. Main Characters
He is a father.
Son of the man.
The boy
The man

9. The Cannibals
Eat humans An old man
Other Characters
The Thief
Wife of the man
Stranger
Ely
The Woman
The 'Good Guy'
Man with his family

10. Minor Characters
The Archer
The 'Good Guy’ Women
Woman with the Archer
The Little Boy

11. Summary

12. Summary
The story begins with the
father and son journeying
through the mountains,
pushing a shopping cart
containing all their belongings:
food; supplies such as tools,
blankets, and tarps; and toys
to pass the time.
As they move south across the
cold, gray landscape, the
father and son encounter the
spectrum of humanity,
ranging from goodness to
depravity.

13. Summary
● The son sees the needs of other
people and develops compassion:
He grieves for a man struck by
lightning, a basement of prisoners
held to be food, a disillusioned old
man traveling alone, a dead baby,
and a thief with a ruined right
hand.
● When the son sees a young boy—
his mirror image—he wants to take
the young boy with them.

14. Summary
• The man invites the son to join him, his
wife, and their two children.
• The son questions the man about his
standards, and the man assures him they
are the good people who do not eat others.
• The man wraps the father’s body in a
blanket, and the son mourns next to his
dead father for a long time before
departing with the man.

15. Themes

16. Survival and Perseverance

17. Death and Violence

18. Faith, Trust and Doubts

19. Dreams and Memory

20. Familial Love

21. Thank you
If you have any question you can ask