The Road Part 11: Are We There Yet?
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Ah, the ocean...a symbol of hope and beauty… ...that’s completely destroyed by the end of The Road. Thanks, humanity. This is why we can’t have nice things. Click on the video to learn more about the ocean as a symbol.
| Literature | The Road |
Transcript
[ bird caws ]
Where are the father and son going?
There's this end goal throughout the entire book
that they're going toward the coast.
They're going to the ocean.
And you kind of have this idea
that the ocean symbolizes hope, right? That would be --
- Whatever your end goal is, that's hope. - Tell us about the rabbits...
Exactly. I was thinking more Shawshank Redemption,
- but also that. - Same idea.
You're like, "Okay, there's something to hold onto."
Yeah, this is a depressing book, it's bleak,
but when they get to the ocean,
you kind of expect this happy ending.
Then they get there. It is
just as grey as everything else.
It looks exactly like everything else they've seen.
It's not blue, it's grey. It's ashen, it's dark.
So they get there and it's not even
like they get there and they get eaten alive.
It's like they get there and nothing.
Nothing changes and nothing happen. And this
moment that you were kind of expecting
to be-all end-all in one way or another,
it's just nothing.
It's like an anti-symbol, right?
It symbolizes hope for us throughout the entire book,
and then that's just crushed.
So then it becomes a symbol of lost hope.
There literally is no hope
for these people.
We've been waiting 250 pages
for them to reach the ocean, and then they get there
and it's just nothing.
See I would be -- I'd want my money back on the boat, because that just seems...
[ laughs ]
[ pen writing ]
Where are the man and boy heading?
What happens when they get there?
What does that destination symbolize?
Disneyland? That's where they should have been headed.