Maybe there was no need to hitchhike?

January 11, 2010 7:53 PM

A question about The Road (film or book) [spoiler inside]

So what's up with the missing thumbs? Was there an explanation that I missed? My wife read the book and doesn't recall it being mentioned there either.

posted by furtive to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

I don't remember exactly what you're talking about but based on my reading of the book and seeing the movie, I would guess it has to do with how something that makes us human is our having opposable thumbs. Without thumbs, people are less human and more animalistic.
posted by thewestinggame at 8:12 PM on January 11, 2010

Best answer: In the movie, there seem to be more missing fingers than there are in the book. However, there are some in the book.

Know the guy at the beach who steals all their stuff? In the book, it claims that he's missing pieces of his fingers, and this means that he's an outcast from one of the cannibal tribes.
posted by Ms. Saint at 8:17 PM on January 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

I interpreted the missing thumbs thing as a punishment. Like the guy had committed some transgression and had his thumbs cut off and was cast out.

That book gave me nightmares. Most depressing thing I've ever read.
posted by number9dream at 11:05 PM on January 11, 2010

I thought the missing fingers (in the book) had been eaten. I figured the group he was with cut off body parts for food rather than killing people. There wasn't any explanation that I saw. I didn't see the movie and there is no power on Earth that could force me to after having read the book. I just don't need that much bleakness and misery in my life.
posted by Dojie at 6:13 AM on January 12, 2010

It seems to me that anyone self-cannibalizing would eat the pinkies before the thumbs. I figured it was simply a little character detail-- I've encountered plenty of down-on-their-luck people (and perfectly well-off people, too) who were missing digits. If anything, when I saw the movie my first thought was frostbite.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:23 AM on January 12, 2010