ShmoopTube

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We speak student!

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[ scream ]

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The Road

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Are We There Yet?

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a la Shmoop

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[ bird caws ]

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Where are the father and son going?

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There's this end goal throughout the entire book

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that they're going toward the coast.

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They're going to the ocean.

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And you kind of have this idea

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that the ocean symbolizes hope, right? That would be --

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- Whatever your end goal is, that's hope. - Tell us about the rabbits...

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Exactly. I was thinking more Shawshank Redemption,

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- but also that. - Same idea.

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You're like, "Okay, there's something to hold onto."

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Yeah, this is a depressing book, it's bleak,

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but when they get to the ocean,

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you kind of expect this happy ending.

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Then they get there. It is

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just as grey as everything else.

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It looks exactly like everything else they've seen.

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It's not blue, it's grey. It's ashen, it's dark.

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So they get there and it's not even

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like they get there and they get eaten alive.

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It's like they get there and nothing.

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Nothing changes and nothing happen. And this

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moment that you were kind of expecting

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to be-all end-all in one way or another,

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it's just nothing.

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It's like an anti-symbol, right?

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It symbolizes hope for us throughout the entire book,

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and then that's just crushed.

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So then it becomes a symbol of lost hope.

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There literally is no hope

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for these people.

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We've been waiting 250 pages

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for them to reach the ocean, and then they get there

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and it's just nothing.

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See I would be -- I'd want my money back on the boat, because that just seems...

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[ laughs ]

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[ pen writing ]

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Where are the man and boy heading?

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What happens when they get there?

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What does that destination symbolize?

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Disneyland? That's where they should have been headed.

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