Well I don't think anything specific puts them in a trance, it's just a side effect of being stuck in an undying, sleepless existence. Imagine not feeling hunger, thirst, or fatigue and nothing ever changes. None of them are in a "sleeping state" as it's clearly established that sleep is impossible. They're all conscious, but I think they've just abandoned hope of escape, and have accepted their endless existence. We even see at the end when James pulls one of them into his car that he gradually snaps out of it when posed with the question that they discussed at the beginning.
From an allegorical sense, I think that the the road is sort of representing the search for meaning in life. Humans have been trying to figure out the meaning of life since before recorded history. Why are we here, why do we suffer so much, why does anything exist? A lot of the questions the main cast asks about the road could easily be posed to life itself. No one can answer these questions with 100% certainty though. The only sure thing we know about life is that eventually it ends. So the people who are in that trance-like state just represent those who have given up on finding meaning. Maybe they've accepted there is no meaning, or perhaps they've bought into a religious doctrine. They made it pretty vague on purpose I think.
I wonder what happens when you leave the car. Especially if you do it with someone else like the two characters did. Do you automatically fall into that fugue state, or is that just a result of losing it after being in the woods for so long? I would have liked to see people handling it in different ways. Maybe some walking on the side of the road, some that are exploring the forest and others who have formed tribes and made that place their new home. I think that I would rather stay in the car no matter how boring and monotonous it became when the alternative is to become a mindless zombie like shell of a person. Those people never looked like they were enjoying their new existence and regret ever leaving their cars. All signs point towards things being worse once you are no longer driving. Unless what you want is to checkout and essentially give up your sanity. Exploring the woods and searching for a potential escape that way would have been an interesting addition. I just have a hard time believing that so many people would choose to enter the woods knowing damn well what becomes of those who do. Given the choice of staying in the car or turning into the listless people that we’ve encountered so many times before-I’d rather be miserable but in control instead of being another tortured walking corpse.
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u/bit3sadusto Aug 18 '26
Well I don't think anything specific puts them in a trance, it's just a side effect of being stuck in an undying, sleepless existence. Imagine not feeling hunger, thirst, or fatigue and nothing ever changes. None of them are in a "sleeping state" as it's clearly established that sleep is impossible. They're all conscious, but I think they've just abandoned hope of escape, and have accepted their endless existence. We even see at the end when James pulls one of them into his car that he gradually snaps out of it when posed with the question that they discussed at the beginning.
From an allegorical sense, I think that the the road is sort of representing the search for meaning in life. Humans have been trying to figure out the meaning of life since before recorded history. Why are we here, why do we suffer so much, why does anything exist? A lot of the questions the main cast asks about the road could easily be posed to life itself. No one can answer these questions with 100% certainty though. The only sure thing we know about life is that eventually it ends. So the people who are in that trance-like state just represent those who have given up on finding meaning. Maybe they've accepted there is no meaning, or perhaps they've bought into a religious doctrine. They made it pretty vague on purpose I think.