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This is a great video that explains the difference between topic and theme. In high school, students still mix up topics and themes and want to give one-word answers for themes. I like to show videos like this to reinforce the idea that theme is a universal message.

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I use these Google Slides to discuss and introduce themes in The Road. At this point in the semester, students know what theme is so I include their brainstormed themes in the presentation.

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I play this video after we read the Coke can scene between the father and son. After I play this scene, students complete a think, pair, share and discuss how this scene pairs well with one of the themes we have discussed as a class. Usually, students land on a theme that covers either the nostalgia or familial bond topic.

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I pair this poem with The Road as it hits on similar post-apocalyptic themes. This allows my 11th graders to not only analyze a connected text, in this case a poem, but also to see how different texts can touch on similar topics and lend themselves to similar themes.

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#5 Commonlit Article "Why Teens Find The End Of The World So Appealing"

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#5 Commonlit Article "Why Teens Find The End Of The World So Appealing"

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This is an article off of Commonlit that introduces post-apocalyptic literature and asks students questions about central idea and theme as they read. Using this article, students are introduced to the genre of The Road and practice analyzing and annotating for theme. This article can be used for a variety of learners as it is easy to scaffold and access.

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My students are very passionate about many different things, but one thing they are all passionate about is music. Because of this, I like to use playlists and music to teach theme. After we read The Road, students look through this playlist and make notes about how three of the songs are connected to The Road. Once they finish this, they begin to curate their own playlist that relates to The Road, its characters, and its themes. Their playlist must be at least seven songs and they must justify why each song deserves to be on the playlist and how it connects to the themes we discussed as we read.

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This website explores the digital art of Michal Karcz. In this digital portfolio, Karcz explores post-apocalyptic landscapes that seem surreal. As the Commonlit article suggests, students are fascinated with post-apocalyptic scenarios and this art explores many of them. The digital art all takes place in New York City. I would have students analyze a few of these pieces before we read, while we read, and once we finish The Road. In their analysis, students would detail how the landscape is similar to the setting of the novel and connect their analysis to an important theme.

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designboom | architecture & design magazine

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michał karcz pictures parallel worlds and post-apocalyptic landscapes
all images © michał karcz

in photographer michał karcz's 'parallel world', the new york city skyline becomes a desolate natural terrain; singular figures enter post-apocalyptic landscapes; and giant serpents snake through vast, abandoned settings. these digital compositions are seemingly pulled from the pages of a fictional novel, where the world meets a gloomy fate and few are left to witness its bleak survival. each of the images that form part of the collection are generated through the seamless integration of painting and photography. through using digital tools and software, karcz is able to produce an endless number of unique faux-realities that are impossible to create in an ordinary dark room.

'beautiful apocalypse'

the images take the viewer on a journey to places which don't exist - landscapes from karcz's dreams, desires, imaginations and fears. in regard to the sensory experiences that inform his creative process, the warsaw-based artist says: 'my inspiration comes from many artists and it doesn't matter if they get through to me by the sense of vision or hearing. I can tell that music has the biggest impact on my work: music creates sound illustrations to the pictures I carry in my mind. these two things hit me with the strongest intensity.'

'the inferno'

'return'

'spiritual archives'

'the serpent's lair'

'singularity'

'the expedition'

'to the threshold of silence'

'the dark tower'

florim infuses agate's natural gems with metals into mystic luxe ceramic surfaces

florim explores 2024's four major trends with a focus on their porcelain stoneware surfaces

julie mehretu's BMW art car premieres at the centre pompidou in paris for the first time
the 20th BMW art car by artist julie mehretu will compete at the 24 hours of le mans endurance race in june 2024.

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michał karcz pictures parallel worlds and post-apocalyptic landscapes

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michał karcz's 'parallel worlds' are seemingly pulled from the pages of a novel, where the world meets a dismal fate and few are left to witness its remains.

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As we read The Road, we talk about several vocabulary words one of them being motif. Motif is directly connected to theme, so after we read about ninety pages of the novel, I have students complete this motif analysis. They reflect on the good guys versus bad guys motif and once they have found textual evidence for this motif, they decide what theme the motif develops and explain how at the bottom of the worksheet.

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Copy of The Road Who's Who Motif Analysis

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Once we finish The Road and some discussion, students can begin to create their own themes out of important topics. Once they do, they will add their theme to this Padlet and then comment under two of their peers' themes. Their comments must connect their peer's theme to a specific detail in the text using MLA citations. This is a very easy way to check for understanding of theme and textual evidence before we move on to analysis.

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#10 Themes in The Road: Where Fiction and Science Meet

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#10 Themes in The Road: Where Fiction and Science Meet

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In this article posted on Oprah's blog, she gathers various opinions from McCarthy's colleagues at the Santa Fe Institute on the themes of The Road. This is a very interesting read and introduces students to higher academic vocabulary and analysis of a novel. As students read, they would come across ideas that they already discussed as a class. This could be a great tool to use to review annotations and spark intriguing classroom discussions on which themes students agree with or disagree with the most.

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By Jon Wilkins, professor, Santa Fe Institute

Cormac McCarthy and his colleagues at the Santa Fe Institute often use metaphors to explain complex scientific phenomena because researchers from different disciplines may lack a common vocabulary. Genetic imprinting is a phenomenon that is not easy to grasp but can be explained using examples from our experiences or stories. The vivid experiences of the father and son in The Road can help us explain this science.

In , the father and son must negotiate many decisions. When will they stop for the night? Should they open that door? Eat something questionable? Offer help to another traveler? They are two individuals with separate wills, but their paths and their fates are inseparable. In this wasteland, father and son going their separate ways-each trusting his own judgment-is simply not an option. Every conflict must be resolved into a joint action, one way or another.

Geneticists have discovered that the genes in our bodies are in a similar situation. Of course, the individual organism is the one who takes this or that action, survives or does not, reproduces or does not. Like the father and son, the fates of the genes in each individual are inextricably linked. However, natural selection can favor genes that take on different strategies depending on where the gene came from. These strategies can come into conflict with each other, even for sets of genes that are present within the same individual.

For about 1 percent of our genes, the gene copy that we inherit from our mothers behaves differently from the copy we inherit from our fathers. These genes, known as imprinted genes, have evolved in cases where a gene's optimal behavior differs depending on its parent of origin. Many of these imprinted genes influence our early growth and development, when a paternally derived gene favors more aggressive growth (resulting in a greater drain on maternal resources) than does a maternally derived gene. Because we have one maternally derived and one paternally derived copy of each gene, this leads to an evolutionary conflict between the genes within our own bodies.

In addition to early growth effects, many imprinted genes are expressed in the brain and influence certain aspects of cognition and behavior. We have all felt conflicted over tough decisions. Sometimes we feel as if we were literally of two minds. And of course, we are all familiar with the convention of the little angel and the little devil sitting on our shoulders, whispering in our ears, urging us to do different things. The discovery of these imprinted genes suggests that this feeling may, in fact, have a basis in the genetic conflicts being played out in our brains.

When our genes disagree, it is difficult to predict how the conflict will be resolved. The genes may effectively reach some compromise, or one set of genes may prevail over the other. In some cases, the dynamics of the conflict produce dramatic changes, where each set of genes is worse off than they would have been if they had simply abandoned the conflict; sometimes, the compromise solution is worse than losing the conflict outright.

About the Author
Jon Wilkins is an evolutionary biologist working on genetic imprinting, or understanding how genetic traits evolve or die across and within generations. Jon grew up in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and received his PhD from Harvard University. Before joining the Santa Fe Institute in 2004, Jon started his academic career at Harvard as one of only a handful of members of the Harvard Society of Fellows.
Man vs. nature in The Road

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oprah's book club cormac mccarthy cormack maccarthy the road santa fe institute apocalypse end of the world themes

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Themes in The Road : Where Fiction and Science Meet

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Think about The Road's main themes with help from author Cormac McCarthy's scientific colleagues from the Santa Fe Institute, who approach the apocalyptic themes in The Road from a scientific perspective.