“The Road” by Cormac McCarthy. The book could be found on the internet for free.

The Road Exam:  Due Before Class on Monday

The class opted for a “take home” assignment in place of an in class
exam on the The Road, so here it is.  It’s two questions – please
respond to both of them.  I anticipate a total response of 500-750
words or something you might comfortably write during an hour of class
time.  It does not need to be as polished as the two formal projects
for the class.  I’m looking mostly at the substance of your arguments
and support.

When you’re done, submit it to the drop box on blackboard.  I’ve
included it under the weekly instructions in the left menu, as I did
with other assignments. The box will close automatically at 3:00 on
monday and accept no further submissions.

The environmental question:

In class, I quoted George Monbiot*, an environmental journalist who
writes The Guardian as saying:

A few weeks ago I read what I believe is the most important
environmental book ever written. It is not Silent Spring, Small is
Beautiful or even Walden. It contains no graphs, no tables, no facts,
figures, warnings, predictions or even arguments. Nor does it carry a
single dreary sentence, which, sadly, distinguishes it from most
environmental literature. It is a novel, first published a year ago,
and it will change the way you see the world.

Write a response that explains whether you would agree with Monbiot.
It’s hard to claim any book is “the most important environmental book
ever written,” so lets temper that a little bit, and just say, “a very
important environmental book”.  Is The Road a very important
environmental book?  In taking this question seriously, I ask you
define what you think qualifies as an environmental book and what
criteria you think one should use to judge it’s importance. What do
you think makes The Road a powerful influence here or what do you
think is lacking?

The literature question:

In the end of the book, the man says to the boy that he has to live,
because he has to carry the fire.  He assures the boy that he has the
fire in him, and that the father has “seen” it.  What do you think he
means by this?  In taking this question seriously, I ask you explain
not only what you think the fire might represent symbolically, but
what actions the father has seen in his son that best represents it?
In short, what specific scenes or actions do you think best represents
the boy’s “carrying the fire”?

 Good luck!

If you have any questions, or if I’ve broken something on blackboard,
don’t hesitate to email me.  I’ve gone back to using the old turnitin
drop box as the new version caused problems last week.

*I said in class I was going to use Engelder rather than Monbiot, but
I changed my mind.  In retrospect the Engelder quote was almost
incomprehensible when taken out of context, and so would serve as a
poor source for debate.