Cormac Mccarthy The Road Analysis

With each repetition, the man appeals to a different, implied component of the Holy Trinity, each to no avail. Behind the simplicity of each iteration a question is asked: why? The man’s experience in the cellar has confirmed his musing that if there really was a God, he would not abandon them in this way, forcing humans to eat one another, His own sacred creatures, in order to survive. Moving past the Cellar Scene and continuing with him for the remainder of his journey is the fact that the man’s focus has been shifted to a new savior, one who will continue to carry the fire of humanity and love and never allow its flame to be extinguished. This savior is the boy. The boy embodies the characteristics of the new world, one of compassion, generosity, kindness, and hope, a world that will rise anew from the ashes. While the man is beginning to realize his son’s role, he still faces an internal conflict as his selfish instinct to shield the boy from the horrors of the world obstructs his understanding of the critical role the boy plays as the carrier of the fire. Dark, tumultuous thoughts wrestle in the man’s mind on page 114 as he asks himself “Can you do it? When the time comes?” After being exposed absolute corruption in the cellar, the man contemplates, doing possibly the worst thing he could - murder his son - in order to save the boy’s

The boy didn't answer. You have to talk to me. Okay. You wanted to know what the bad guys looked like. Now you know. It may happen again. My job is to take care of you. I was appointed to do that by God. I will kill anyone who touches you. Do you understand? Yes. He sat there cowled in the blanket. After a while he looked up. Are we still the good guys? he said. Yes. We're still the good guys. And we always will be. Yes. We always will be (NEED IN TEXT CITATION FOR MAIN SOURCE.” The passage from the novel is showing that the man will do anything and whatever it takes to protect and keep the boy safe. He is also explaining to the boy that he would do it again. You have to be able to do bad things in order to survive. "It might well bad as she had said. That the boy was all that stood between him and death (NEED IN TEXT CITATION FOR MAIN SOURCE).” This passage in the novel is stating that the man wouldn’t be living if he didn’t have a son to look after. He would have ended his life and not have to live and scavenge in a cold environment. He needs to be there for his son. He needs to show his son the right way and the humane way to survive.

The father does not comply with his son and leaves the naked man alone in the cold. This further shows the differences between the boy and his father. The final contrast between the two is exemplified with the ending. Throughout the book the reader is allowed to assume that if the son dies in the novel then the father would consequently commit suicide. At the end of the story when the father dies first the boy stays strong and decides to blindly follow other survivors and put his faith in them. Throughout, the story; however the father doesn't put any trust into anyone. His son, being a foil of him decides to put his faith into other survivors and takes a leap of faith and follow them their camp. This instance further shows the stark difference between the father and the son.

The son however is the ‘faith’ within the story. He is the hope for a better future. The son is more trusting towards others and therefore becomes upset and quiet when his father doesn’t agree with him. “I’m afraid for that little boy” – The son has never seen another young boy and is frightened for him but his father shrugs off his pleas to help him and says “I know but he’ll be alright”. Towards the end of the book it appears that the father and his son become distant to each other due to their diverse personalities. It could however be seen that the son is a lot more knowledgeable about dangers and therefore does not need his father as much.

Cormack McCarthy’s novel, The Road, is set in a post apocalyptic world, where humanity is struggling to survive. Through his simplistic writing style and powerful symbolism, McCarthy tells a story about the human condition as well as what it truly means to be human. Though it is set in a wasteland this novel still manages to project hope through the love of a boy and his father. The following passages are quotes that spoke to me stylistically or symbolically while I was reading.

The father and the boy have a co-dependant relationship. The boy is dependent on his father for survival, while the father lives to ensure the survival of the boy. When the boy asks “What would you do if I died?” The father responds with, “If you died I would want to die too” (McCarthy, 11). It is clear that his love for the child is what motivates him to do everything he can to ensure the boys survival. This motivates him to teach the boy strong morals and skills to help him live as a “good guy.” After finding and humiliating the thief that stole all their belongings, the father and son

“The nights were blinding cold and casket black and the long reach of the morning had a terrible silence to it. Like a dawn before battle,” (McCarthy 129). In the book The Road, written by Cormac McCarthy, a father and a boy are traveling towards what they hope is survival. They are in a post-apocalyptic world where all is lost.

The father decides that they cannot wait for the two inhabitants of the town to come along, and, even if they did, there were not enough supplies to maintain them all. The fate of the two are left unknown, but we are led to believe the worst. A similar case occurs when they come across a large house. Inside the house, in the basement, a prison filled with beaten human livestock, including a man who has had his legs grafted to his pelvis. Instead of risking his and his son’s lives to save the masses of people, both travelers rush into the woods to escape the cannibals. At the end of the book, after the father’s death, the boy decides to forge southward, thus upholding his father’s dream. The son’s future and that of humanity is left unknown. The future and previous actions of these individuals are left for the reader to decide and to

The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting. Therefore, there is hardly any food available to The Man and The boy throughout the story. The Man is constantly sacrificing his food for his son throughout the entire story. In addition they endure harsh weather conditions. For most of the story it is very cold and finding warmth is a task the man faces for his son and himself. These two problems are shown in one sentence of the story. “They ate a poor meal and lay down in the cold,” (McCarthy 12). Being able to cope with these circumstances really shows the determination of The Man. The Man is a fighter in tough times and does not give up. He is always concerned for his son. The Man is a truly loving and determined

The man and the boy believe they find what they need in moments of desperation because they are being rewarded for being good. They are always stuck in the middle of the unconscious and the real. They are always force to see the world, the reality before thinking of the unconscious, the good side of morality and god. The man is stuck in a dilemma of if there is a god or not, he is constantly doubting while still wanting to believe that there is no god. He finds another reason to use his ethnics and morals, the boy. The man is still forced to see some good in the world because he does not want to believe that his son was made to live in a world where there is no longer any humanity. The boy makes the man see the good. He makes the man want to be moral to believe that by being good the boy will be rewarded with a good life. Their morality has a limit. Early in the novel, the man and the child encounter a man who has recently been struck by lightning and is clearly at the point of death. The child wants to help him, but

On page 279, the man says, “It’s inside you. It was always there. I can see it.” (McCarthy 279). What he sees is the fire inside of his son. He often tells the boy that they’re the “good guys” who “carry the fire”. It’s crucial that the boy continues to carry it, since it represents goodness and humanity. If he lets the fire die, then all hope for the world is gone. Besides, what they went through in order to survive would mean nothing if he decided to quit. The boy carries “the fire” by showing compassion towards others. He constantly thinks about them (including those who are evil), and wants to help in some way. An example is on page 162, where the man and the boy meet Ely. “The boy squatted and put a hand on his shoulder. He’s scared, Papa.

"There is no God and we are his prophets."(McCarthy 140). Such a surreal, melancholy, and almost oxymoronic statement underlies the tone of “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy. The concept of the story was a tale of survival of a man and his son, in a status quo of chaos and pandemonium. Marked by its grim theme, “The Road” depicts an emotionally indwelled several faceted venture to the “south.” The relationship between the father and son serves as the grounds on which the plot is devised, and without the emotional facet of their relationship the story loses key warrants of its structure. The emotional journey is vital to “The Road” as it validates the conflicts that arose, as well as served as the foundation for the plot of the story.

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, tells the tale of a man and his son as they travel across post-apocalyptic America. The duo searches for food and bonds over their loneliness during their quest to reach the ocean. Over the course of their voyage, the man and the boy confront people on the brink of starvation, cannibals, and their own mortality. The Road is a bleak and pessimistic novel because of its hopelessness, general immorality, and depressing subject matter.

Cormac McCarthy’s The Road is his post-apocalyptic magnus opus which combines a riveting plot along with an unconventional prose style. Released in 2006, the novel has won awards such as the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award (Wilson). Oprah Winfrey also selected the book for her book club ("Cormac McCarthy”). The author, Cormac McCarthy, was born in 1933 in Rhode Island and is said to have wrote the novel because of his son and their relationship. The Road centers around a boy and his father while they try to survive after an unknown disaster occurs. While some people may argue that the unusual style takes away from the novel, it adds to the tone and meaning of the work.

Imagine yourself living in a barren, desolate, cold, dreary world, with a constant fear of the future. The Road, written by Cormac McCarthy and published in 2006, is a vivid and heartwarming novel that takes us through the journey of a father and a son as they travel South in a post-apocalyptic environment facing persistent challenges and struggles. McCarthy proves that love unleashes immense strength to overcome obstacles, even in times of desperation.