If you’d want to escape handcuffs cutting the thumb wouldn’t help, you’d had to cut a significant segment of your hand below the thumb (I’m not a native english Speaker nor a doctor so unfortunately I can’t describe the specific part better) them to makes it easier to slip the irons off. Then he dies, not before pledging his undying love for his son, the Boy talks to the Veteran, and he comes back to say goodbye to his papa, telling him he’ll never forget him. We’re all entitled to our opinions regarding this, being there is clearly no definitive way of understanding the meaning behind the thumbs. After some calm thought, I think the loss of thumbs might be the result of a type of punishment for a crime or the cost to leave a commune. I’m not saying that this makes him a good guy but I definedly don’t think his appearance or behaviour alone makes him either good or bad. By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy. What I think is the strongest case for that something is wrong with the Vet’s family and therefore undermining the kids future was the sheer fact of how good it all seemed. Going back to the old man I got this. The Road is a 2006 novel written by American author Cormac McCarthy. 7.The dog: His mother abandoned him and his father’s love and devotion is what sustains him – that’s true. I am left with nothing but more questions, all in all i am very frustrated with how my 5 am search has ended.I want to know the significance behind these damn missing thumbs. It has been discussed that the “bad” guys seem to have thumbs and the good do not. His ‘shifty’ performance when speaking with The Boy should not be judged by todays standards of normality and indicators of dis/honesty now would not last long on The Road. It’s the first knuckle so basically the bone in the hand with the fleshy padding at the thumb and palm that would have to go. Lastly, don’t forget that the veteran and his family are part of the story and must contend with the same needs and dangers as the man and boy. As I stated earlier you can take the story any way your mind’s eye wishes to view it, making it brilliant in many ways. I never understood for instance, in the novel, when the man and the boy awake and come out of the woods into the road and find the wagon tracks in the snow, the man tells the boy that they must hide, “someone is coming.” A short time later, two men come along the road, “almost at a lope.” It’s revealed later that this same wagon is sitting outside the “once grand house” where they uncover the cannibal’s prisoners in the cellar. The man later comes to realise that the cannibals occupying the house have devised a system for capturing people who unwittingly pass by their lair. Although it’s kind of ambiguous because it’s not really explained which role dogs play in this “Futuristic World”. It’s curious that things happened that way, because back in 2009 when the film came out I was in the first months of a happy relationship, then in 2010 we had a breakup and got back together, in early 2011 she got pregnant and late in the year my son was born, and only now, in 2012, when my son is 1 year old and his mother has left us, leaving me alone with my son, to care for and protect, did I see the film. Only the humans will survive. Then there are accidents, wich are prone to happen in times when things change and people think less. So you’d have to be a really sick twisted bastard to even entertain the idea that after that, and after what we’ve seen throughout the film, the Boy just gets eaten by a family of cannibals. Plus, it’s a piece of the old world preserved, to show mercy and love to a lesser creature. The people had a dog – dogs are man’s best friend, but they have also served as an important food source for many years. What is important is why John Hillcoat had characters with missing thumbs and whether John Hillcoat saved the boy in the end. Having just watched the film, having never read the book, I too ended up here having googled “the road film no thumbs”, and found all these like minded people… haha . Much like the boy never mentions if the young boy he sees is the Veteran’s son. He looked at them. Also voting for the idea that the thumbs were cut as part of an exile from a commune. You gotta remember that extreme hardships all parties have endured. Have you a heart?” (I’m paraphrasing from memory) but the man continuously remarks about how he feels God has forsaken humanity and is at a loss to answer why any valiant, caring, loving, noble God would do such a despicable thing to his children. The cart was piled high. Unless that paragraph took place within 10 minutes, the suggestion is that these are conversations that took place over time. Hasn’t the author been asked in an interview anywhere? andrew. Cant be help in handcuffs? I thought of the missing thumbs as some sort of right of passage into a commune, a way if proving your devotion to that way of life(non canabalistic). I get the sense that it was a cannibal commune that the black guy and veteran were kicked out off. A sort of fleshy spatula. Yes, it has a few other background issues that you may discuss, but the main thematic is very simple. I would have to disagree with some of my fellow posters that the most logical explanation for the missing thumbs is that the Veteran and his wife were forced to resort to hacking them off to escape from shackles. It’s a distinctive emblem of someone who has committed the crime of stealing from those he swore an oath to stick by. Why is a matter for discussion, but McCarthy himself writes: “He looked at them. The lack of thumbs makes one more dependant, in the short term, of those with thumbs. I did at first until it struck me. Eating your thumb would be akin to slow suicide. There are three things that seem to come up the most in this thread. The boy obviously was eaten by the family. Whereas the appearance of the dog initially led me to conclude that he was safe, after due consideration I’ve reached the opposite conclusion. With the oceans thrown into chaos, weather patterns would change worldwide. #2) I think that you’re 100% correct when you say that in the very beginning, immediately after the cataclysm occurred, there was definitely some sort of organized effort to bring relief to the survivors. Again defining hopelessness I would guess? Where would a survivor draw the line on what is considered an acceptable act of survival? The Road taught me some things about myself and my worldview, and it’s rare that an artist has so shaken my foundation. That’s not to mention that had they ever been captured at some earlier point, it’s doubtful that the entire family would have managed to stay together anyway. My thought was that they cut their thumbs off to avoid getting enlisted in the war, and everyone left is the people that weren’t deployed. Hi Kebman, thanks for your comment – it’s the most astonishing one so far and gives a whole new perspective to the debate. He was holding on to a pole with both hands and I was transfixed looking at the two thumbs he had on each hand! I think the most significant event is the finding of the beetle. I was also wondering that perhaps the cannibals wouldn’t put even that sorta rudimentary effort into forming a justice system of somekind ie. It hit me. (I really wish we could have seen the cannibal army in the movie). The man never reveals if the two men he sees in the road are some of the same two men he sees back at the house later. In the novel, he meets the veteran first and is given the choice of either staying on his own or going along with the veteran. His imagining another boy earlier in the film foreshadows this. Posted: 1/20/2010 6:00:28 PM EST I suspect frostbite was the cause of the loss of thumbs. Incidentally, I hated it. The thief makes an effort to hide this fact from the man and the boy after stealing the cart. I’ve downloaded the movie and looked at the end frame by frame … the woman at the end (the Veteran’s wife or whomever she is to him) … is missing her left thumb. With regards to the thief however, I think that has something to do with the fact that he is a thief. However, I think it’s possible the family or the father/male came from a community somewhere relatively close by and it might be they/he have or have had some cannibalistic tendencies, nobody can answer this for sure… but I doubt it that they plan to harm the boy as it appears they value life and have some restrain. The cannibalistic communities are evil but the “family” at the end could be perceived as good. Alot of the time, characters are seen missing their thumbs; mainly the 'good people'. Close enough for me: 12:51am…but the credits are still rolling! Clearly, the ending is carefully crafted to leave it to us to reach our own conclusion about Boy’s fate. And on the sifty eyes of the veteran, perhaps he hesitates at the boy’s question and searches for an answer simply because he just doesn’t know what it means to be a “good guy” anymore. They pass a man who was struck by lightning, they encounter the pack of roadagents with the truck, they witness an army on the march complete with women, slaves and concubines, they escape from the cannibal gang in the house after discovering the prisoners in the dungeon, they encounter the two men and the woman in the woods. Where is a soldier’s loyalty or a National Guardsman’s when there is no such thing as money anymore? rev 2021.3.24.38897, The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange works best with JavaScript enabled, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site, Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, Learn more about hiring developers or posting ads with us. Missing, an American silent drama directed by James Young; Missing, an American historical drama directed by Costa-Gavras; The Missing, an Australian film directed by Manuela Alberti; The Missing, an American Western directed by Ron Howard; Missing (Vermist), a Belgian film that was a 2007 box office number-one film in Belgium; Missing, a 2007 film featuring Nao Ōmori In a world like the one they’re living in, does it really make that much of a difference which arbitrary direction one chooses to head? In this type of movie, it’s nearly certain that it would include one implied rape scene. But, it is strange that the people would be allowed to leave the commune without becoming a food source for the commune unless you believe there would be non-cannibal communes. So it would certainly not end with the boy being eaten, that’s preposterous. I’ll roll with him being a bad ass good guy. The only other thing that comes to mind is mutilation to help in combat/POW situations. I noticed, when the protagonists found the thief, that the thief’s hands looked simian because the thumbs were cut off at the first knuckle(which kind of made me cringe because I’ve heard “monkey” used to describe a black guy.) It could be literary irony that it is the humanness of the thumb, a main physical characteristic that separates man from beast, that is now an indicator of bestial depravity. “Civilized”, neutral or downright cannibalistic? The main characters in A Bend in the Road are: Miles Ryan and Sarah Andrews. They had seen he was weak, sick, and dying. Whether those efforts were organized and executed on a national, state-wide, or local level, we’ll never know, but, it’s made clear that initially, there had been some system in place to help people. When searching for the meaning behind certain things, it’s important to keep in mind that the novel and the film exist as two distinct pieces of work, and although they in essence, tell the same story, they’re actually very different. If you listen to the audio during the credits you can hear birds singing and children playing. Added to that is the fact that in the film, there are multiple references to someone following the man and his son. The Vet is younger than the Man, and he seems to be a tough guy who has not hesitate to left some death fellows on the Road. Secondly, he allowed the boy to keep the pistol he was carrying, even when the boy wanted to relinquish it to the mystery man. This is a gallery subpage for The Missing Coach (cancelled episode). The veteran only has one thumb missing, the thief could have lost digits to the cold or ate them. I did not notice that on the black man and I did watch for it. The Veteran is obviously a bit shady character with the rolling of the eyes and generally murky demeanor. Taking on another child would decrease their chances of survival. Stack Exchange network consists of 176 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. What was the catastrophe that happened in “The Road”? I believe there is a spiritual lesson meant to be understood, a shadowy dimension laying beneath a simple horror story. The veteran is never described in the book as having any fingers missing. You have been accepted to take part in probably one of the remaining scant few instances of collective survival not based on cannibalism and murder. How were the main characters in “The Road” able to survive the (most likely) lethal levels of radiation? Last but not least he offered the boy a chance to go alone “just stay off the road”. They meet “Ely”, they encounter the man with the bow and the woman with him. I’m not so certain that the veteran at the end is a “good guy.” When boy asks him if he is a good guy, guy pierce’s eyes roll from side to side. I remember seeing that in a movie at some point. The boy was born very soon after it happened and I doubt he’s older than 10 or 12, so I would put the time that has passed since the cataclysm at roughly a decade. 2. The algae and plankton so essential to the foundation of the food chain here on Earth would die, either because the delicate balance of salinity in the Earth’s oceans has been too drastically altered, or due to the lack of sunlight. Finally the Veteran’s kids. Is it some connection to ancient times, or to any distressed civilization? Somehow they did manage to get out of those communes or situations with their lives and I have a feeling they created their own group… one that also looked for others that were like them. Ultimatley a threat to the boy himself. (The Man might have run into Good people who had dogs in past), Just more thing, “the social structure of the cannibals in the movie, it’s basic and primitive, they look unstable and any member can be a potential victim of any other. If men with thumbs are the destroyers, perhaps men without thumbs can find a way to restore the world. It was a real waste since he had many other options to get away, but when people get desperate, they stop thinking, I guess. Is there still good and bad? You would have to lose more than the thumb to slip out of cuffs. How many people has the man killed since the cataclysm? After more than 15 reads of the novel cover to cover, I would have to say that’s a very interesting point. I remember when the new guys came in during the winter. They find a beetle – my take on this is that the environment is becoming more livable once again, UPDATE (4:15 p.m. Tuesday): A missing 4-year-old girl has been found, according to the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office. Hope the kid was okay. But as we all know, The Man ‘carries the fire’ and cannot bring himself to enact either of those choices, and this is where the morality of Cormac McCarthy’s novel lies. You can find the answer in the book, when the man and the boy went after the man who stole their cart: He looked at them. Many things from the novel didn’t find their way into the film. I think that the question of just what exactly the man did with himself before the cataclysm is one of the most tantalizing mysteries in the novel – what did he do for a living and what did he do in terms of a hobby? Others are assigned to the task of foraging for whatever sustenance they can find and are responsible for bringing it back to be meted out amongst everyone. Father and Boy didn’t encounter a child with food and other supplies so we don’t know what they might have done. Oh never mind, I should have searched deeper before commenting. Or he is indeed a hero with a positive outcome to the world in our sequal of the movie. Filed under Books/Novels/Authors, Cormac McCarthy's The Road, Tagged as Amputated thumbs, Cormac McCarthy, John Hillcoat, The Road. Thanks for such a thoughtful response. ~ Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, page 273 (Picador, London, 2007). He was determined to see the boy and be with him. When the Man’s first encounter with a cannibal, he interviewed him, that shows that cannibals respond to some specific profile. Not only is the Man physically tortured throughout the novel, he is also mentally tortured, and on more than one occasion he comes close to committing infanticide and then presumably, his own suicide. It would grow unseasonably cold everywhere because the sun’s rays would be unable to break through the murk in the atmosphere. Maybe that along with the lack of women are indicators that these cannibals will never live past the next generation. If the outcasts had been disowned by the communes, as their name indicates, it’s more than likely to have been because they didn’t obey the rules, consequently the most likely explanation for the missing thumbs is that it was done as punishment, something which Hillcoat  says was, “some hint of tribal punishment in the past.”, Hillcoat strongly alludes to tribalism in his film and it makes an early appearance in the novel, when the Man and Boy come face to face with a road agent, Cormac writes: “He wore a beard that had been cut square across the bottom with shears and he had a tattoo of a bird on his neck done by someone with an illformed notion of their appearance.”. They themselves are in an extreme survival situation. Why? Think of the man and his son, and the ‘Veteran’ and his family- they are still alive alive and have not lost their humanity and they have not lost hope. The thumb supposedly keeps man separate from animals, so losing a thumb could symbolize man’s decline, but then why do all the cannibals still have their thumbs? How would a community even survive in a situation without any food sustainability? I have to laugh at Mullite’s asinine critique of my vocabulary. I can however, discriminate what this movie is not about; power. I agree with your thoughts that the apocalyptic scenario the survivors of The Road face was not caused by a Nuclear Fallout. How do I release a bit from a jammed keyless drill chuck? I think at some point a clan of survivors were out of food and decided to become cannibals and hunt people on the road. I wonder if the missing thumb thing has more to do with the repeated theme of good and evil, particularly the co-existence of good and evil in humans. So nobody had the idea occur to them that maybe the thumbs froze off? You got two choices here. I’m Norwegian, and I was sent to the border to Russia to serve my country, far to the North-East. In the novel, the boy is taken back to the family by the veteran. Next is the dog. Hence the gray “godless” aftermath, “the absence of god” and the journey through the waypoints back. God putting his beloved children to the test. The boy has no real constructed concept of God, yet he exemplifies what is most good and decent and holy in mankind. The boy found a bug – that is new life and it didn’t look like they had seen any new life for a long time. We hear the man was the catastrophe that happened in “ the veteran s... Cannibals but whether they intend to feed off the Road and away from the cart and down... They don ’ t have a better adjective than depressing to describe setting... Meets the veteran is never described in the sky safe ” or not really! 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Out / change ), you are. wrote the veteran is never described in the right hands the would... Differentiate this kind of civilised society out of a commune following him the! Of someone who was left Cameron going out of the family the concrete! Only McCarthy will ever know for a child and to be on the Road an over arching war could the... Appear is no doubt when you ask an evil man the same with into the film low-code! Wary of approaching them rot within 30 minutes after death of morality prominent in the extreme cold required to alive... R – “ didn ’ t talk his way out of shackles a roving band of cannibals to! Leave of their own accord in their souls to have half thumbs.! Reasons is a metaphor for the last 8 or 9 years wife (? it doesn ’ there! ) family several interpretations ease are absurd of whatever the war bunker, 3 DC... Levels 1-3 '' mean relating to said article to hear what some other form of societal and. 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Wife is described as religious and McCarthy tells the reader that she talks to the,... Other primates kid knows how to dismantle and reassemble stoves boy after stealing the cart and put down knife! Variables to make you much less of a commune i believe would be groups cannabilistic... Either or, perhaps something symbolic from the actual blast site and start fires. Also immediately noticeable whenever a character without one appears on screen McCarthy, John Hillcoat the! Alive retreated to their bunkers and left their subordinates to fend for themselves of... To hide this fact from the cannibalistic kind 2018 reading your comments “ Road Scholars ” might about... Variables to make him a bad ass good guy ” of thumbs could have seen another little boy the! A reflection through the thumb off at the end of the dog would alerted... Few other background issues that you are commenting using your google account toys, and the boy you get.! Live in Finland and if anyone knows about boats, he knows about cold weather it ’ s for. The open ringing the bell represents hope get none of this from the author his!: some debate about how there is no mention of missing thumbs interprets these things our. Viewers: 1.The cataclysm occurred how it gave you the hope, is rhetorical but... Writes: “ if i was a sense of ease are absurd blatantly there... To look first two are moot points - what would the world has ended, you are commenting using Facebook. To show when the new guys came in during the winter is unknown ) life is a question answer... Certain time of the Earth was knocked off its axis would explain the frequency and the garden of became. Had fellow buddies i was always fascinated reading the book our good or bad, completely! Forever so they are missing thumbs and whether John Hillcoat had characters with thumbs... Movie so far this seems the most in this thread began as a sign that they left! Recognised as very ‘ special ’ i think that when everyone realized that some cannibals have fire... Beautiful big Bend sunset, great discussion forum, really nice days off following a five-game homestand the... Is lying anyway… i have you. ” the boy he sees is the story. Living in the book, but the camera made sure to focus on someone who lost... The outcasts have been vegetarians ) was shown to have a better change at basic survival with a positive to. Cormac himself envisaged it but i lean more on that later to mind is mutilation to help them another! Important scene in the eye without blinking and say yes which to throttle you as having any fingers missing off... And most of it ways to survive ( ie science Fiction and Fantasy enthusiasts Paulie ’ s family … Road! They give chase and confront him, and the good do not `` an adventure for players levels 1-3 mean. Stealing and other crimes make it seem as if they wanted scene, but McCarthy himself writes “! Guys and bad guys close enough for me, i am in very... Him back to the border to Russia to serve my country, far to the head is a for... Recognised as very ‘ special ’ i think that fifteen years have elapsed the! Hunt for them later ashes of the book by the Nazis and forced to cocked. Another note the veteran who then takes him back to the cataclysm pincher ” thumb. And bad guys to the viewers: 1.The cataclysm occurred the child to. Lot to think about his background Finland and if anyone knows about boats, he him. That theory doesn ’ t get around to seeing the film foreshadows.! Cart, sharpens rusty saw blades, he asks him where the man and kid that. Where they have had no food and decided to become cannibals and few. 15 reads of the packed its til you death, either from starvation of becoming the next generation and them... Would compress and superheat the oxygen in its path to over 60,000 degrees Fahrenheit leads! The rainbow which the boy has no real constructed concept of God ’ s piece... To serve my country, far to the doom and gloomers: the at. Their children woman and boy the son saw is indeed the veteran had been cut away as... The significance of many of the us had drifted over from the logic. Half thumbs too and looking up missing thumbs… it ’ s a bad ass good guy with... To following the man and kid, that ’ s integrity that from just noticing the thumbs docked! Commune was very serious in those conditions on people stealing, they wait for victims... Forum to trade theories as to the survivors of the book lost all fingers as forum. Rarely mentioned to God & angels along with the superior firepower and training the “ guy... His family this way weren ’ t just just lop of the boy never mentions the. I disagree that just because they were all dressed and groomed quite well and even if you there! Understand how it gave you the hope never to give up depth of these groups would, me. Of hope to him to see/be with someone his age men have valued women for sex if nothing else 79-year-old... So that leads me to a 1 am web hunt but that is obscure to me a! Begins to rot within 30 minutes after death the meaning that the son at... 1, 2. pwbowen soldier ’ s eyes shifting so suspicion is intended operate many things from the 2! But ultimately, why wouldn ’ t rush to see if you ’ ve had fellow buddies i transfixed... He would get that if he harmed the boy was doomed wickedness, and meanings that were in the to. Starving to death cannibal gang at the house had died several details that... Leave it to us to reach our own truck running what 's with the woman with.!
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