Journal 3 - A Long Way Gone

Dear Alex Cesley and Sarahi,

There was a quote in the book that stated “Every time people come at us with the intent of killing us, I close my eyes and wait for death. Even though I am still alive, I feel like each time I accept death, part of me dies. Very soon I will completely die and all that will be left is my empty body walking with you. It will be quieter than I am.” What do you think about this quote that was said by Saidu? I found it impacting. What he said was so powerful so true. I could imagine that if I was in Saidu’s shoes this is what I would be thinking as well. I think that if I was to be going around killing people that I would myself lose the life in me even though I would be alive. I think that I would just stop living. It’s amazing how he says that death would be quieter than he was. I think when you go through things like that then you tend to be smarter and the things that you say tend to be much deeper. It’s too bad though that Saidu dies. I wanted him to live.

The Road (Journal 8)

Dear Cynthia and Alexia,

Well I was finished with the book a while ago and I'm glad that you all finally finished. But yes isn't the end horrible. I knew all along that the father was going to die. Cormac Mcarthy gave a lot of foreshadowing leading onto the father's death. I saw it coming I knew it from the start. But what I thought was that they were going to turn into cannibals in the end, but they don't. It's a Shakespere tragic even though Shakespere didn't write it. I hated the fact that the father left the boy alone. After all the heartache that they went through and after all the pain that they endured he just dies. I think it was because when he was looking for food and happened to run into the flame gun and was in the water. I think that's what triggered his death. I would have been happier if the son would have died. Then the father would have nothing to live for and he could die all on his own. Things would have been a lot better that way. At least I think they would have been a lot better. Also Cormac Mccarthy does and incredible job of telling a story. It doesn't bother me that he doesn't put quotation marks or barely puts in periods. It took me a while to get used to, but when I finally did it made the story better.

- Sincerely,

Ana Hernandez

The Road (Journal 5)

Dear Cynthia and Alexia,

As you may know the mother leaves the son and the father. She states that she can no longer live that way. Do you agree with this decision? Would you have done the same thing? I think that if the mother would have been there with them things would have been a tad bit different. Maybe it would have been harder because then they would need more food to gather and more blankets to cover each other with. But I also think that maybe the sanity between them would have been there. The conversations that the boy has with his father are the shortest weirdest conversations. They don’t talk how we would with our parents nowadays. The way they talk is usually with just two words. The conversations they have makes the tone in the book to be more depressing. But even though they have little or no conversations at all you can tell that the father loves his son. As I was reading Alexia’s comment she states that the father saves his son his favorite food just for him. I thought that was sweet. Also when the father only has one bullet left and they are running away from the bad people, if you read carefully you can see just how much the father really loves his son. The father tells the boy to take the gun and if he doesn’t come back then to put it in his mouth and point up. It was obvious what he was telling him, he was saying to kill himself so that the bad people wouldn’t get him and eat him. I guess it’s true what they say, actions do speak louder than words.
(I’m done with book)


Sincerely ,

Ana Hernandez