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The Road Part 6: Alone 10384 Views


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Description:

Beware of the anti-prophets. And of like...wasps, and fire, and stuff...just exercise caution in general, okay, Shmoopers? We worry. Once you’re done buying a protective bubble to live in, hit play to learn more about Ely the Anti-prophet.


Transcript

00:01

We speak student!

00:05

[ scream ]

00:06

The Road

00:07

Alone

00:07

a la Shmoop

00:10

[ bird caws ]

00:12

Who is Eli?

00:15

Eli's actually the only

00:16

person in the entire story with a name.

00:18

He is a guy,

00:20

a very old man, who they run into along the road.

00:23

His name maybe isn't actually even Eli.

00:25

He says, "My name's not Eli, but that's what people call me."

00:27

But he is one of these

00:31

characters who the boy questions how they should treat him.

00:34

The man says, "We don't need to do anything for him.

00:36

We don't need to give him food. We don't need to help him.

00:37

We're on our own here. We're protecting ourselves."

00:39

And the boy says ,"No, no, no. Give him food.

00:41

Help him. Let's do things for him."

00:43

So it kind of shows, highlights,

00:46

the boy as having the most humanity of anyone in the book.

00:49

Even the father is there just to protect the boy,

00:52

and the boy still kind of holds onto this

00:53

goodness that we think of

00:55

that maybe that can be brought back into the world.

00:58

But Eli also plays an important role because he is

01:01

the prophet of the book.

01:03

If you think about the prophet Elijah,

01:05

- Eli, they have similar names. - He would be Morgan Freeman.

01:08

Exactly. He totally would be.

01:09

Except Morgan Freeman doesn't play him in the movie.

01:11

So, yeah, he's this kind of prophet type guy,

01:14

but he speaks --

01:15

He says things that are completely incomprehensible.

01:18

And we kind of wonder

01:20

if he's an anti-prophet.

01:22

And it's kind of the idea that

01:23

there's just no such thing as a prophet

01:25

in a world that has gone so dark

01:27

like in The Road.

01:28

So the character who is the would-be prophet

01:31

can't actually help them or give them any sage advice.

01:35

[ pen writing ]

01:37

Who is Eli and how did they meet him?

01:40

How does Eli bring out the goodness in the boy?

01:43

Is Eli crazy?

01:45

What is the novel's stance on prophets and God?

01:52

Anyone prophecy the winning lotto numbers here?

01:54

We could use some help.

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