The Road: Human Interaction.

The Road pg. 60-150

So now the story has finally led to what the first quarter or so was foreshadowing. Our protagonists have finally encountered other humans on their journey, and they are very very dangerous. The first human we see them encounter is a man wandering down the road horribly injured after being struck by lightning. The boy wants to help him but his father knows they can do nothing, they pass the man, never quite looking at him. Soon later, a much more dangerous encounter occurs and picks up the novels pace tremendously. The father and son see what I will refer to as "wanderers" since the book gives them no specific title. They are driving a truck on diesel and have guns, we have no idea why. They wear paint masks and have tattered clothes. We ultimately know nothing about them but Cormac McCarthy describes them in such detail that they seem terrifying. When they encounter one of the wanderers close up, they begin a scuffle that ends with the father shooting the wanderer and covering his son in brain matter. These few pages were very intense and may actually convince me this book could work as a film.

Besides the encounter with the wanderers there is another notable thing about this portion of the book. The first being that the dialog between the father and son increases and we find that their relationship isn't as great as it could be, especially in terms of his son wanting to die.