The Road Part 5: Imagination

[ bird caws ]

What is setting in The Road?

I mean, the setting is the road.

It's the title. It's the setting.

- It's the main character. - And where are they going to?

Roads imply you go from point A to point B usually.

- Yeah, yep. - Where are they heading?

So in theory, they're heading to the coast.

They're trying to basically

reach the southeastern coast of the United States.

We never really get a sense

of exactly where they are in the book.

We can kind of tell that they're in the southeastern United States.

There is one indication in the book that they're in Tennessee,

because it says, "Welcome to Rock City,"

which is a place in Tennessee.

But it could be that they are seeing that sign

from miles down the road.

That could be in Cleveland.

Yeah, but they're somewhere in the U.S.

It's supposed to be a familiar place to us.

But they're heading toward the coast.

There is an end goal.

And, we'll talk in a few lessons, once they reach the end goal,

what's there.

But, yeah, the road is supposed to be taking them somewhere.

But the road is also the only constant they have.

Everywhere they go, they don't know what they're gonna come across.

They don't know if there's gonna be cannibals

or if they're going to get killed,

or if they're gonna get sick or die or whatever.

But they know that the road will still be there.

So the road kind of serves as the one

constant in the book.

Other than that, the setting is just bleak.

That is the only way to describe it.

Everything's grey. Everything's covered in ash.

There's no light anywhere.

So there are moments in the book,

like when they come across the bunker with all this food in it,

where it's like this bright moment

in the book and it just feels really weird.

You're like, "Something's off."

Because it's like the one time where there's

electricity and coffee and Coca-Cola.

And you're like, "'This isn't good.

Something terrible is about to happen."

So you kind of come to expect that barren, ashen landscape.

[ pen writing ]

What is the setting?

Where are they headed?

Why is the road so important to the characters?

Does the setting ever change and why?

[ singing ] On the road again.