the end

To me, the end of the novel is when the boy is introduced to the woman as it is the point where his father’s quest ends-for his son to be protected. As even though there is no certainty on whether the new characters are the ‘good guys’, it is quite obvious that they belong to a community through the new man ‘pulled back the hood from his face’ as it suggests that they have an identity.

It is also the end of the boy’s hardship, suffering and struggle for life as the woman provides a maternal edge that has always been missing in his life on the road. As she offers care along with protection from the world that his father failed to give to him. On their very first encounter she ‘put her arms around him and held him’ this shows the release of emotions missing from the novel.

It is the end of the journey for the woman (maternal) and other man as well, even though it was not depicted in the novel, their quest was to find and adopt the boy. When they finally catch up with the boy and his father is dead there is a change in tone as they speak to him how a child is expected to be spoken to. This implies that the boy can go back to just being a boy, instead of carrying the world on his shoulders.

 The boy finds new hope when a mother figure is finally introduced into his life as he has had little company aside from his father for his entire life. This is the disequilibrium and can therefore be disclosed as the end of ‘the road’. It is also the end of the boy’s physical journey as the woman and man are obviously not on ‘the road’ and are from some sort of settlement. This has great symbolism for the end of the novel.