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#196026 - 02/17/10 01:13 PM Re: The Road (the book) [Re: oldsoldier]
clarktx Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 07/01/08
Posts: 250
Loc: Houston, Texas
Art, I love your response.

This same situation is one that has been high in the minds of many survival folk I have talked to.

Some people... including myself at times... see disturbing signs for the future. What will happen? Will I need a shotgun to protect my last can of soup?

The reality is that there are situations where mob rule takes over. But this is uncommon even in uncommon events. While these two people knew each other, and were friends, strangers can be enormously helpful. And resourceful.

In a situation like "the road" where there are millions of people are just waiting to die, yeah, I guess things probably would really fall apart like that, but I always felt there could have been a companion to the book where the protagonists actually worked together in the exact same situation. It wouldn't be any less realistic or unlikely.

The catastrophes that we see today, and the ones that we can prepare for (be "equipped to survive") are much more temporal than The Road. semi-permanent catastrophes (be they yellowstone mega-erupting and covering the entire north american continent with a meter of ash, or a massive and horrible war) are prepared for in far different ways... if they can truly be prepared for at all.
_________________________
You can't teach experience.

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#196043 - 02/17/10 05:59 PM Re: The Road (the book) [Re: clarktx]
desolation Offline
Journeyman

Registered: 01/21/10
Posts: 60
Loc: Sonoma County, CA
I don’t know that the book was so much an exploration of what one would do to survive so much as it explored the extents to which one would go to provide life for their child. The dad did all he could to not only provide sustenance and love but hope as well. He knew there was no hope, not really. But he struggled on physically and emotionally for his son’s sake. It is interestingly juxtaposed to the mother figure who obviously can’t handle the new emotional reality of survival. We all have different levels of Hell that we can tolerate and different levels of resolve to see something through no matter the hurdles.

It left me feeling haunted for weeks afterward. It made me think. A lot. I don’t know what’s coming but I sure hope it’s not similar to that. Some things cannot be preped for, physically or emotionally.

(My apologies for the “ritter” handle—it’s one I use on other boards and didn’t think of the potential confusion it could result in. Nice group you’ve got here.)

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#196045 - 02/17/10 06:09 PM Re: The Road (the book) [Re: desolation]
Dagny Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 11/25/08
Posts: 1918
Loc: Washington, DC
The Road caused me to conclude that in some scenarios the lucky ones would be at Ground Zero.

Parents will go to great lengths for their children. The author, Cormac McCarthy, had his own young son in mind when he wrote the book.

Ritter -- welcome aboard!



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#196046 - 02/17/10 07:38 PM Re: The Road (the book) [Re: clarktx]
benjammin Offline
Rapscallion
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 02/06/04
Posts: 4020
Loc: Anchorage AK
When one stops to consider the resources required to perpetuate a life to a natural terminus, one realizes how futile the effort really is. Start crossing off life's necessities one a time, starting with the least requirement and figure out what you would have to stockpile (and how) in order to live out the rest of your days completely independent of the environment currently around you.

At 47, I would like to live at least another 20 years. What does twenty years of non-perishable food look like? How about twenty years of potable water? How about twenty years of breathable air? Basically, you are building a spacestation on earth. Assuming you don't regenerate/recycle any supplies, the volume for just one person is staggering.

2 lbs of food per day x 365 days x 20 years = 7 1/2 tons

2 gallons per day (one for consumption, one for application) x 365 days x 20 years = 14,600 gallons or 58 1/2 tons

2 liters of air per breath x 5,760 breaths a day x 365 days x 20 years = 8.5 megaliters
_________________________
The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
-- Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

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#196047 - 02/17/10 07:44 PM Re: The Road (the book) [Re: benjammin]
GauchoViejo Offline
Journeyman

Registered: 03/06/08
Posts: 94
Loc: Argentina
Believe me Benjamin, if you get to be 67, you'll want to live another 20 years!

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#196055 - 02/17/10 11:10 PM Re: The Road (the book) [Re: GauchoViejo]
benjammin Offline
Rapscallion
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 02/06/04
Posts: 4020
Loc: Anchorage AK
Well, that depends a lot on what things will be like here twenty years from now.
_________________________
The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
-- Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

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#197213 - 03/04/10 06:22 PM Re: The Road (the book) [Re: ]
comms Offline
Veteran

Registered: 07/23/08
Posts: 1502
Loc: Mesa, AZ
Originally Posted By: IzzyJG99
I read it when it came out. It's sad, but perhaps a very accurate picture of what might that life be like. The ending is both sad and quite nice.


my experience and take exactly.
Made me go and hug my kid after I read it.
_________________________
Don't just survive. Thrive.

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#197311 - 03/05/10 03:30 PM Re: The Road (the book) [Re: comms]
Krista Offline
Member

Registered: 03/03/10
Posts: 101
Loc: North Carolina
I finished reading this book yesterday, and I sure am feeling gloomy and depressed today.

At what point does survival simply become "prolonging the inevitable"?

I couldn't harm my child (any child?) but would we want our children to live in a world of ash and cannibalism?

What if one were in a scenario like the one in this book, and you plummet off a cliff leaving your child alone? What if the cannibals don't bother to kill them before roasting them on the fire?

Sheesh. I want to be prepared, but it sure is hard to shake the "What's the point" mentality that this book gave me.
_________________________
Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible.

~Marion C. Garretty



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#197373 - 03/06/10 04:49 AM Re: The Road (the book) [Re: Krista]
Tarzan Offline
Member

Registered: 02/02/08
Posts: 146
Loc: Washington
The Road is the book you'd want to give someone who overdosed on Prozac, it would definitely be an effective antidote.

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#197384 - 03/06/10 12:39 PM Re: The Road (the book) [Re: Krista]
Dagny Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 11/25/08
Posts: 1918
Loc: Washington, DC
Originally Posted By: Krista
I finished reading this book yesterday, and I sure am feeling gloomy and depressed today.

At what point does survival simply become "prolonging the inevitable"?

I couldn't harm my child (any child?) but would we want our children to live in a world of ash and cannibalism?

What if one were in a scenario like the one in this book, and you plummet off a cliff leaving your child alone? What if the cannibals don't bother to kill them before roasting them on the fire?

Sheesh. I want to be prepared, but it sure is hard to shake the "What's the point" mentality that this book gave me.



I thought the wife had the right idea.

For a more hopeful take on nuclear war (The Road alluded but never actually stipulated that it was a nuclear catastrophe), watch "Jericho" on DVD.

Jericho, being within the constraints of network television, had its shortcomings. But I think its scenario of limited nuclear attack in which some cities are bombed (23 in the Jericho scenario) and the rest of the country is profoundly affected but not entirely without resources and hope, is less implausible than The Road.

I read The Road in one day on a camping trip. A beautiful sunny day -- it was a helpful antidote to the book's unrelentingly grim landscape.








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