Father And Son In Cormac Mccarthy's The Road

McCarthy starts his novel in the woods, where the father realises that his son and himself will not survive another winter in their current location thus having to keep moving South. As the father stares into the nothingness of the country he starts to think about his son, “He only knew that the child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke” (5). Knowing that it will get harder to survive, the father believes that his reason to keep living is because of his son. He proves this thought during the conversation between him and the little boy who asks what the father would do if he died: “If you died I would want to die too...So I could be with you” (11). The father’s only

The Road by Cormac McCarthy takes place in a post- apocalyptic world where a man and his son are trying to survive, one arduous day at a time; however starvation, sickness, and death stare them right in the face. No one knows what happened to the world, or why it is now a barren wasteland. All animals seem to be extinct. This man and his son seem to be somewhere north because throughout the book they talk about going south. The boy says, “And we’re still going south.” And the man answers, “Yes.” (10). The man had a wife but she left. She says “I’ve taken a new lover. He can give me what you cannot.” and he replies “Death is not a lover.” (56) She ends up leaving them and she is depicted to of died. The story begins with this man and his son sleeping in the woods. When they awake, they begin to go south because apparently it’s warm there. These two wander the roads of the long forgotten cities looking for food and warmth. They push a cart carrying some of their salvaged goods and blankets. The blankets are essential because the only thing keeping them warm is a parka and worn out pants. They continue on their journey

At the beginning of the novel, the reader is introduced to the one defining character trait of The Man: his devotion to his son. This concept is a staple in The Man’s personality, and greatly affects his actions. We see his devotion through small acts like how The Man sleeps with The Boy to keep him warm and how The Boy always drinks, eats, and bathes before The Man. The reader sees a larger example of this commitment when a “bad guy” threatened The Boy with a knife. The Man swiftly and ruthlessly shot the man who “fell back instantly and lay with blood bubbling from the hole in his forehead.” (McCarthy.). Rather than simply incapacitating the bad guy, The Man made sure that at least that man would never be able to hurt or threaten The Boy again. The Man is not only devoted to his son, but he is committed to his goals of heading South. Even though they made some stops along the way, the idea of getting South and to the shore never wavered from The Man’s head. The intensity that The Man devoted to protecting The Boy continued as their journey did. When someone started shooting the two men with arrows, the readers were treated to

In the story The Road, there are two main characters. One is The Man and the other character is The Boy. The Man is the father of The Boy, who was born in a post apocalyptic world. The Man constantly faces many conflicts throughout the story, such as man against nature, man against man, and man against self. However, throughout the entire story he is able to overcome these conflicts for his sake and that of his son. One of the most difficult tasks the man has throughout the story is taking care of his son. The author reveals the death of the boy’s mom in many flashbacks. For example, when the boy tells his father, “I wish I was with my mom,” and the dad responds, “You mean you wish you were dead,” (McCarthy 49). The mom was not able to cope with the situation and committed suicide. This was very tough on The Man, however he was strong for his son. The man believes God appointed him to get his son through the tough times. He says, “ I was appointed to do that by God,” (McCarthy 66). The Man is shown to be very brave for himself and his son in every circumstance. He is able to cope very well with the setting. Overall, The Man is shown as a brave, loving, and compassionate

In The Road by Cormac McCarthy, a boy and a man battle the unforgiving voyage of a world where an apocolypse has occoured. They leave everything they have to go and try to find some safety and refuge. The two battle to stay alive versing hunger, dehydration, and cannibalism. There are many points in the book where I didn’t think they were going to make it, where I thought they were going to just lay down and give up. Yet they don't give up at all, they keep going until they cannot go anymore.

After society collapses in the unspecified disaster, all laws and ethics gradually diminish. Survivors begin to lose humanity and resort to vandalism, larceny, murder, and cannibalism. The young boy recognizes the contiguous horrors and habitually pleads to his father for comfort that they are still the “good guys” and that they are still “carrying the fire.” There are many incidents when the boy questions the man’s actions, like when he strips the shabby, outcast thief of his meager belongings: “[Son] Papa please dont kill the man. The thief’s eyes swung wildly. The boy was crying. [Thief] Come on, man. I done what you said. Listen to the boy . . . Come on, man. I’ll die. [Father] I’m going to leave you the way you left us” (McCarthy 256-257). Whereas the man bases his engagements off of safety and, in this particular instance, retribution, the boy solely thinks about the well-being of others like the dog, the old man, and those from whom they might be robbing food and supplies. It is patent that the son at least wants to believe in his father when he states that they are the “good guys;” whether he truthfully does is uncertain. What is certain is that the boy truly does “carry the fire” when countless others do

The Road” by Cormac McCarthy reveals a character, who is nameless throughout the story, is the son of the father shown also. The boy is shown to be the only light to his father as the mother wasn't in the picture, she is presumably dead as she wanted to escape the post-apocalyptic world. The boy is shown to symbolize hope for the future with compassion and cooperation throughout the journey with his father. I can relate to the boy as in one example he helps convince his father to let Ely, an old man who they came upon while traveling, join them at dinner time. “We could cook something on the stove. He could eat with us,”(pg. 85) this quote portrays how the boy compassion was viewed to his father and gave him hope to keep going in the world.

In both 1984 by George Orwell and The Road by Cormac McCarthy the characters draw hope and possibility from their relationships with each other. It is through these relationships that they are able to survive in their worlds that have been plagued by corruption and lack humanity. In his novel, The Road, Cormac McCarthy describes a setting stripped of almost all humanity in a disaster-torn world devoid of almost all human life. Yet despite the unfavourable setting in which the novel takes place, the characters are still able to find hope in each other.

This novel surveys a time in which the world is literally a man eat man planet and it shows the day-to-day struggles that The Boy and The Man are faced with. Cannibals roam the streets and it’s expected of someone to be cruel to another person that they find wandering the streets. It was once necessary for The Man to kill someone for the protection of both him and his son. "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” (McCarthy 65). They were threatened by a man that held The Boy hostage in his arms with a knife and when The Man saw the knife and the danger that the cannibal, or “Bad Guy” as The Boy would say, was to his son, he shot him.

At one point the father refers to a reference in Genesis about God creating man and the world. Early in the novel the father says, “He knew only that his child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God, than God never spoke.” (McCarthy 5) This reference connects Christian allusions to a very neo-classical mindset after 9/11.

Cormac McCarthy’s The Road tells the journey of a man and his son to seek refuge in the South. Just as the man and the boy escape their post-apocalyptic dystopia, my parents escaped their home country of Vietnam from Communist forces. My parents can be compared to the boy in the story because they began their journey at a young age. As young children they had to fully understand the severity of their situation and mature early in order to comprehend what was occurring around them. My mother, father, and the boy all encountered obstacles and had to overcome blank situations. Although my mother and father have two different stories, their stories can be juxtaposed to that of the boy’s and many similarities can be found.

Cormac McCarthy illustrates the peculiar relationship between father and son in the novel The Road. In the novel, a man and his son, the boy, travel south in hopes of surviving a post apocalyptic world. Prior to his son’s birth, the man hadn’t questioned his purpose in life. He was occupied by his wife and his everyday livelihood. Come the apocalypse, everything changed. His wife, the boys mother, couldn’t face raising a child in such a world and committed suicide shortly after giving birth. Her death, along with the apocalypse, stripped the man of everything he had prior to his son’s birth. These changes brought into question the man’s purpose in life. Soon, the man realizes his only purpose in life is parenting his son and helping him survive.

The father passionately and consistently demonstrates his love to his son that was hope for him and is his only reason to keep going. He was ready to take whatever action needed, even if violent, to ensure his son's life and make any sacrifices for his interest from giving him the cola to enjoy or giving him more blankets to keep him warm. The father works so hard to encourage his son that they are good persons who hold the fire of goodness, and that they would certainly not do things like eat other humans. It is clear that McCarthy’s purpose in creating the character of the boy is tied to a hopeful viewpoint on human nature and the human condition because hope is the only driving factor we can have to make good future. In the novel, the positive

In order for a child to live in a complete and happy family, the paternal love plays a major role in a child’s life, especially the love of a father which is as much important as a mother’s love. Moreover, a father’s love is one of the greatest influences on the child’s personality development throughout his/her life. A father’s love brings a sense of protection of security in a child. In the novel The Road, Cormac McCarthy present the great example of paternal love. The novel deals with a post-apocalyptic story about an unnamed man and his unnamed child as they move toward the south to find a better place to live after the catastrophic event. The son is the only reason for the father

The use of tone, diction and point of view convey the feeling of jealousy, uncertainty and the anxiety of the possibility of afterlife. By the speaker using first person point of view, he reveals the emotions produced within himself. He is unwilling to let his father die, although his father “is ready” (14). The speaker says, “I do not think he is right” towards his response to his father going to a better place.