Reply #17: Do you really believe that that was his motivation? (SPOILERS) [View All]

[Orrex]

Honestly? He couldn't think of a way to end it so he tacked on "the survivors lived happily ever after" and had done with it?

I think that it's more complicated than that. Throughout the book there's a theme of "providence" rewarding resourcefulness, along the lines of "the gods help those who help themselves." We see this in the finding of the shelter, in the finding of the apples, and in the successful looting of the boat Other doomed wanderers had presumably passed that same way before, but none of them discovered the comparative riches so close at hand. The boy's rescuer at the novel's end all but states this theme explicitly when he says "I don't know how you made it this far." He's better armed and is traveling with a larger company than were the father and son, and he acknowledges the slim chances that the two faced in their prior journey. To that end, the man's accomplishment of dragging the boy that far south, ultimately into the protective arms of a larger group, is a token of the reward for his resourcefulness.

It's perfectly reasonable to take issue with the book and the writing, but I think that "worst MacGuffin" and "where are the commas?" are somewhat simplistic critiques.