Reflection Post- The Road and "Fix You" by Coldplay

In class, we have been reading “The Road” and when reading this novel I remember the song “Fix you” by Coldplay. I can help to reflect this story to this song. Both the story and song have brought understanding as I reflect and correlate one to the other. 

The first stanza:

When you try your best, but you don't succeed

When you get what you want, but not what you need

When you feel so tired, but you can't sleep

Stuck in reverse

To me this describes the lifestyle that Papa and the little boy are facing. “Stuck in Reverse” is comparative by how the Papa doesn’t feel as if they are getting closer in the coast. 

The second stanza:

And the tears come streaming down your face

When you lose something you can't replace

When you love someone, but it goes to waste

Could it be worse?

This stanza describes the feelings of the boy. He feels that the end will be death and the papa feel like everything he has lost he can’t replace so he flashbacks to those times when life was easy. The boy wants to care for others but there to use anymore. Then he realizes it could be worse and gains little hope. 

The third stanza:

Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

And I will try to fix you

The “Lights will guide you home” has so much meaning to this story and how they are just searching for the coast and how the light each day is able to guide them. They hope for the strength to ignite their bones. Together they help each other keep going. 

The fourth stanza:

And high up above or down below

When you're too in love to let it go

But if you never try you'll never know

Just what you're worth

As the road seems longer they have had their highs and lows but the love each other to stop now. They have to keep trying when they come across things because it could be worth so much for them. The questions are how much is this worth to them? What happens if they reach the coast? Maybe they don't know, but the hope is what keeps them going, "if they never try they'll never know.”

Chorus:

Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

And I will try to fix you

This Chorus reminds me how they each have a fire inside of them to run from civilization to accomplish the goal of getting to the coast to survive. The coast is their home. This fire is what ignites them to keep pressing towards that goal. 

Tears stream down on your face

I promise you I will learn from my mistakes

Tears stream down on your face

And I...

In “The Road”, there is a times where the boy cries and the Papa tells him to be quiet. The next line makes me think of what the father is going to think when he looks back at how he has treated his boy. The boy is more compassionate and wants to treat everyone else fairly, but the papa just wants to protect his kid. 

As I reflect on this story, this song gives even more meaning now than when I remembered it while reading. I haven’t finished the novel yet but I hope that there will be light at the end of “The Road.”