The Road Synthesis

The poem "The Winners" and the book "The Road" are directly related in that they both deal with; people with out hope will not survive and the fighting heart carries on. The first three lines of "The Winners" sums up the poem and "The Road"; "Those only win who reach the gate. Through surf and storm and bitter gale. Through pain and loneliness and hate."
The father and the son in the book are trying to reach the coast. They don't know what will be there but they know they have to get there. On their journey to get to the coast they battle appalling rain storms and loathsome winds. The father and son only have each other, no one else. They can not trust anyone for the probability they might kill them, therefore they are alone. They suffer for days because of starvation, they grow weak and agonize from the pain.

The father and son are "carrying the fire". The fire is a symbol for hope. They believe that if they have hope, will and determination, they can survive in this post-apocalyptic era. Everyone left have become savages and only care about their own survival. The poem illuminates a line which describes the father and sons hope; "Whose names are written in the scroll. Of those who stand with unbowed soul". The father and the son are written on the scroll. They believe that they can live in this world of Armageddon. They have an unbowed soul because the father and son never give up, even in the worst of times. They never succumb to defeat.

Every one besides the father and son have given up. They gave up on the dream of one day living in a normal world again. They gave up because to get to the dream it is too hard to get there. "The road is long, the dream is gone" represents every one who lost hope.

The end of the poem states "The fighting heart still carries on", this concludes the father and sons journey of survival. They have carried on through the defying odds. The carry on because of the love for one another. "The Winners" and "The Road" are directly related through lost hope and fighting hearts.