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Cormac Mccarthy The Road Analysis

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Throughout the novel “The Road by Cormac McCarthy, it displays the tale of survival, a world infested with murder, crime, and despair. However, the author conveys that although cruelty may arise in the world, love overcomes violence and that humanity has not been completely lost. Within the book, violence is shown in a great depth, thus because humans are thrown into a world filled with thievery, murder, and cannibalism as the result of a post-apocalyptic landscape. Despite the crimes that occur, altruism has been explored within the novel. Altruism is best described as the “willingness to do things that bring advantages to others, even if it results in disadvantage for yourself” (Dictionary Cambridge, 2017) Furthermore, two lessons that McCarthy conveys to his readers is that although one may help …show more content…

This shows altruism as altruism does not necessarily always benefit the giver. This is shown when the father had kept the lamp on for the son while they were trying to go to bed, “can we leave the lamp on till I'm asleep? he said. Yes. Of course, we can.” (McCarthy, 2006, pg. 26) Another way altruism is shown when the man asks himself if he can kill his son; to prevent others from harming him in worse ways. “They lay listening. Can you do it? When the time comes? When the time comes there will be no time. Now is the time. Curse God and die. What if it doesn’t fire? It has to fire. What if it doesn’t fire? Could you crush that beloved skull with a rock? Is there such a being within you of which you know nothing? Can there be? Hold him in your arms. Just so. The soul is quick. Pull him toward you. Kiss him. Quickly.” (McCarthy, 2006, pg 172) Furthermore, this shows how he wants to protect his son by not letting him get killed by someone else in a worse way, however by doing so it’s not benefiting himself as he will no longer have his son to be by his

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