The End

I feel that The Road ends at the moment when the man and boy stop walking and he knows that this is where the road ends for 'when he lay down he knew that he could go no further and that this was the place where he would die.' which brings the novel an end for the man and a return to the chronological beginning of the story as the first dream he has in the story reappears, and he is able to pass through this time around. This signals the end for the man and that nothing is holding him back from death anymore, no 'granitic beast'. We are left with the boy alone and grieving for his father; when he joins with the new, mysterious family we are given a new beginning for the boy which we know next to nothing. The end's ambiguity raises many questions which leaves the reader anxious/curious about the boy's future in this world. We know that he is 'carrying the fire' which it is implied can possibly redeem the world but what hope is there in the world of The Road for a life; the boy lives, but is it a life worth living? Will he stay with this new family, carry on living on the road? This ambiguity makes me feel that the end of The Road is not hopeful but rather worrying and bleak with the unknown prospect of the future.