The Woman in 'The Road'

The woman is much less significant and hardly regarded as the man's 'wife'. She is also rarely seen as mother and more commonly referred to as simply 'the woman'. She seems more of an insignificant and unworthy character in the novel, which could reflect the man's bitterness towards her and his anger that she deserted them when they needed each other the most. The boy is extremely lucky to have the boy, as the woman wanted to kill him too and take him away from the misery of the destroyed world; although this could be dramatic irony as the boy ends up surviving the road and meeting the 'good guys'. The woman's actions meant only taking her own life and consequently meant that the boy went onto survive.
The boy says 'Papa' 135 times throughout the novel whereas the word 'mother' is only said twice, this suggest a more loving feeling the boy feels towards his father and the fact he seems to want to forget his mother. The father has more significance to the boy as he's been constantly there looking out for him.


Page 17 - the woman sees to be loving and caring. She's holding the man's hand and she seems happy because she is described as 'leaning forward listening to the music' in the theatre.
'she held his hand in her lap and he could feel the tops of her stockings through the thin stuff of her summer dress.'


Page 54 - suddenly the woman seems to have become reserved and purposely distancing herself from the man. She seems physically uneasy as she is holding onto the door frame. This suggests the physical and mental support the woman needed from the man when the destruction first began, it seems like the man doesn't offer that support, therefore triggering her downfall.
'she was standing in the doorway in her nightwear, clutching the jamb, cradling her belly in one hand.'


Page 56 - Whilst coughing up blood, the man says the woman's name suggesting his bitterness towards her. The man sees her as the catalyst of the bad things that have happened to the man and boy, they were a family but the woman betrayed them and left them when they needed each other most. there is a time when the boys says he wishes he could be with his mother, which the man thinks he means dead. The man does not want the boy thinking about death and feeling that being dead is better than being alive. The man knows that the boy is weak and that he may well be better off being dead, but he wants him to at least try and survive and not adopt ideas from his selfish mother.
'He coughed until he could taste the blood and said her name aloud'


Page 57 - The woman is now very melancholic and depressed. She is trying to manipulate the man, trying to tell him that death would be better for all of them. This shows she is a strong willed character but contrastingly is also a weak character because she leaves the world that she can't face by killing herself, but the man and boy stay alive and courageously face the world. She is always thinking negatively that 'sooner or later they will die', where as the man is trying to think positively and tries his best to persuade her to not abandon them. But the man still loves and appreciates the woman and doesn't want the boy to be left without a motherless. Here the woman also seems slightly deluded as the man tells her 'death is not a lover' and she responds with 'yes it is', the distorted world seems to have messed with the woman's head, showing she is weak and impaired.


Page 60 - When the woman has killed herself, it is almost as though her death was predictable for both the man and the boy. She is portrayed as self-centred and irresponsible as she did not care to think about the devastation it would cause for her husband and son. This suggests as to why the man feels so bitter towards her death and her - 'she was gone and the coldness of it was her final gift'. Although there seems to be some bitterness from the man towards the woman when she is giving birth as it is described that 'her cried meant nothing to him' and he takes on the responsibility of the boy straight away as he 'cut the cord with kitchen shears and wrapped his son in a towel'.