Cormac McCarthy

[Ooshie]

I would be interested in hearing about what anyone else thought about the ending of The Road.

 

 

I had happily accepted the ending as written, imagining that the boy in the family was probably the boy they had seen earlier in their journey. But I have read that many people think that the ending was a hallucination that the boy was having while he was dying. I'm devastated by this thought! I needed a happy ending...

 

 

I haven't seen the film, so don't know what ending the story was given in that format.

[Kylie]

I hadn't thought about interpreting the ending that way at all. I think you should continue to believe what you want to believe. The movie ends the same way as the book.

[Freewheeling Andy]

The odd thing here is that I thought the ending was ambiguous, but really never thought of it as a hallucination from a dying child. The ambiguity for me was whether the family was actually what they seemed, or was the son finally going to become a victim of his naive optimism and be taken advantage of by them.

[Ooshie]

Yet another interpretation for me to think about, Freewheeling Andy!

When the man first appeared, I had assumed that would be what would happen, but as I say, by the time actually ended I was believing the boy had actually found a family that would look after him.

Edited March 18, 2010 by Ooshie

[arewenearlythere]

The odd thing here is that I thought the ending was ambiguous, but really never thought of it as a hallucination from a dying child. The ambiguity for me was whether the family was actually what they seemed, or was the son finally going to become a victim of his naive optimism and be taken advantage of by them.

 

I agree, I felt the book ended on a sombre note. While I did not feel that the family was suspect, I did feel that tragedy would repeat itself over and over (although the girl signified a tiny seed of hope)