Adam of the Road

“A road’s a kind of holy thing,’ Roger went on. ‘That’s why it’s a good work to keep a road in repair, like giving alms to the poor or tending the sick. It’s open to the sun and wind and rain. It brings all kinds of people and all parts of England together. And it’s home to a minstrel, even though he may happen to be sleeping in a castle.”

Roger says this to Adam on the first day they are traveling together. This is the first mention of the road as a minstrel’s home and introduces the idea of home to Adam. It foreshadows his struggle to find a place where he feels at home.

“When at length it came, what Adam said made no sense at all to Roger. ‘It will be pretty hard,’ said Adam, ‘on Hugh.’”

Prior to this quote, Roger confesses that he lost all his money and the warhorse to Jankin, and he is waiting for Adam to say something. Adam’s response to this information demonstrates his heart and his generous nature. Adam’s first thought is not for himself but for his friend who genuinely loves the horse.

“Grown-ups were queer, even Roger. If they told you anything, they expected you to remember it forever after, but when you told them something, half the time they forgot it so thoroughly that they did not even remember that they had ever heard it.”

This passage shows the contrast between how adults and children think and the level or lack of respect a parent holds for a child’s words. Adam is pointing out the Bishop of Lichfield to Roger because Adam remembers that his friend, Perkin, admires the Bishop. Though he told Roger this previously, Roger doesn’t remember it. This shows that Roger does not listen to Adam as an equal but as a child.