I see it as a symbol of this closed society — running the gamut from town to sharecroppinfg farm, from Wilson wealth to backwoods poverty, all the social stations in between; at the outset, a rough road, representing the harsh divisions in this place, and the setting for racial brutality, a road that goes nowhere... and at the end, where George Wilson seemingly has walked away from attempting murder, the road is paved over, as his crimes have always been paved over. But life has moved on, the road mow connects people to a larger world beyond Wilson ‘s domination, and there is hope for a better society to come. These two images of the road are like bookends or frames for the story, the different journeys that people make in trying to navigate the divide between the road’s two extremes.