Post number seven The Inductive Leap

     In The Road by Cormac Mcarthy, the main character who is telling the story goes through a life changing event that brings him and his son closer together by the end of his story. In the begining of the story it is an entire different situation, at first it describes the man and his son walking down a highway full of fear not knowing what to do. Yet as the story goes on the man deals with situations thought of on his own and the boy follows him, trusting his father is making the right decision. The boy is very curious in the story by always asking questions to his father and learning how to survive in the new world they have been placed in. The father makes many inductive leaps in the book, when they are in a situation and his son offers a logical outcome that could save them, the father declines the idea based on the boys age. "Cant we help him Papa? No. We cant help him. There's nothing to be done for him." (McCarthy 57). However there are moments in the story when the father reaches out to the son in order to become closer to his son, to establish a relationship. "Please don't do this. I'm sorry. I can't do it alone." The father says that he can't do it alone to his son because the son is threatening to leave and the father is scared to lose the one thing he feels he must protect.

Poetic Devices Used in The Road by Cormac McCarthy

      The poetic device that I think best fits the title of the book The Road by Cormac McCarthy would be pathos. Pathos is a term that describes how the author creates the emotion of sadness or empathy towards the character, pathos is commonly found in books or movies that are usually themed as drama. The reason why I say that this applies to the novel I am currently reading is because in several sections, the author creates a form of suspense that makes me feel pity for the main character. "He held the boy's hand as they stumbled through the woods." (McCarthy 67). The reason why I feel pity towards the main character when he said this was because it made me think that the main character must be feeling alone and frightened for his son and himself.

Significant Elements

The Road- Cormac McCarthy
Significant Elements:
- the main character's son
- the deserted world

The main character's son is an important element to the story because the father of the son, the main character is always speaking about how he must protect his son from the constant dangers he faces in the story.  "He watched the boy sleeping. Can you do it? When the time comes? Can you?" (McCarthy 29). When the main character says this it showed that he would do anything for his son to protect him, and that if anything were to happen to the boy he would be devastated. This made me feel pity for the main character because his son is the one thing he has left to care for in the world, that his son is his one hope to survive.

The deserted world is an important part of the story because it helps set the feeling of loneliness in the story. The main characer of the story is always talking about how it is him and his son against the world. "The boy nodded. He wiped his nose on his sleeve and shouldered up his small pack and the man followed him out through the gray pailings of the tees on the road." (McCarharthy 43). When the author says his it shows me that the two characters may be feeling alone by the way the character describes walking on the deserted road with his son.

Blog post # 3

     Theme of Rebellion Presented 

Throughout the Novel

     My idea of being Rebellious is when someone is fighting against a greater power of authority. In the novel that I have just finished reading called Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. The main character named Cattiness displayed many times throughout the novel that being rebellious is one of her main characteristics. One of the ways to prove this is when the main character said to her friend, "We should leave this place and never look back" (Collins 134). The reason why she wanted to leave was because she wanted to avoid the punishment that was given to her, by a person who is higher in authority and also the person she believes is her enemy. 

5 Elements relating to the book called "Catching Fire":

2. Conflict: In the book Catching Fire I have already seen conflict in the book, when the main character must choose to either save her family and friends in exchange for marrying a person she does not want to marry. Or have everyone she loves be taken away from her.

1. Suspense: In the book it leaves you wondering whether or not each action the main character does, will put her in danger or keep her alive. Suspense is the most important element in a book because that's what keeps you reading and never knowing what will happen to the main character. One of the moments that was filled with suspense was when the main character said,

3. Point of view: The author is telling the story in first person point of view because the story is being told from the main characters point of view. I know this because the main character often uses words such as, I felt or I see.

4. Mood or atmosphere: The author does a great job with describing the setting or what the main character is feeling based on things like the weather or what other people's expressions are like in the story. One of the times the author displays this is when the main character says, "the mockingjays were singing in the trees."

5. few characters: The author of the book I am reading does a great job in only including characters that are important to know for the plot of the story.

Blog # 4

The character attribute that I have chosen to represent the book Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins is Empathy. This character attribute best describes one of the main characters in the story because he displays several scenarios of him being understanding or helpful to people. One of the times that he displays this characteristic is when he says, "It can in no way replace your losses, but as a token of our thanks we'd like for each of the tributes families from district eleven to receive one month of our winnings every year." The character displays many more acts of generosity and unselfishness towards others throughout the novel.

Qualities I like In a Book

One of the qualities that I look for in a book is if the beginning has a hook that makes me want to find out what will happen to the main character. Another one of the traits that I look for in a book is when it has many surprising and action filled moments that separates it from other books. The last quality I expect is weather or not I can relate personally to at least one of the characters in the book.
The book that I am currently reading is called Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, currently I have been enjoying reading the book so far because it constantly keeps me hooked. It keeps me hooked because the author creates a suspense that makes you know something that the other characters in the story don't. The author does this by telling the story from first person point of view. One of the other reasons why I enjoy reading this novel is because I can easily relate to the main character's problems that she faces and overcomes. One of the problems she faces is not being able to tell her family about having to convince people of something that is not true. I can relate to this because in everyday life friends come to you with a secret that you can not tell anybody, without breaking that persons trust.