The Road By Cormac Mccarthy

The Road, a post apocalyptic novel,written by Cormac McCarthy, tells the story of a father and son traveling along the cold, barren and ash ridden interstate highways of America. Pushing all their worldly possessions in a shopping cart, they struggle to survive. Faced with despair, suicide and cannibalism, the father and son show a deep loving and caring that keeps them going through unimaginable horrors. Through the setting of a post apocalyptic society, McCarthy demonstrates the psychological effects of isolation and the need to survive and how these effects affect the relationships of the last few people on Earth.

In Cormac McCarthy’s the road, the author conveys that although there can be despair and bloodshed in the world, love overcomes al l with a little faith. The man views the boy as a symbol for hope and provides the man with game a purpose in life, to protect the boy above all. Violence is the antagonist in the novel because the people are driven into thievery, murder, and cannibalism because of the post-apocalyptic landscape. Food is scarce and people are starving, and consequently, people turn to thievery as a way to fend for themselves. At this point in time, stealing is not a crime anymore. There is no government, there are no regulations, and all is fair. When the man says that he will protect the boy at any cost, it is not an understatement. When a member of a blood cult posed a threat to the boy, the man did not so much as fidget to reach the safety of his weapon. Without overthinking, the man shot the degenerated dead before his son. The aftermath resulted in the man soothing the boy by claiming that his job is to take care of him and that he was “appointed to do that by god.” And even states he would, “kill anyone who touches the boy” (77). He tells the boy that even if they had killed someone it would not be a

In The Road by Cormac McCarthy, the man and the boy are on a constant journey towards survival. Limited visibility is prevalent within different aspects of this novel. One is within the man, as he has a limited view on humanity itself. Throughout the novel, the man is

Sheri Fink once said “The moral values, ethical codes and laws that guide our choices in normal times are, if anything, even more important to help us navigate the confusing and disorienting time of a disaster.” Living in a post apocalyptic time can be unbearable if one is stripped of the most basic necessities. Such an event can greatly affect the behaviour of a person, as well as the ability to distinguish right from wrong. But like the boy and his father in the novel The Road by Cormac McCarthy they stuck to their morals to overcome the hardships they face. The novels recurring themes such as companionship, survival, and good versus evil, prove that a persons moral standards could change in a time of need.

The Road, written by Cormac McCarthy, is a masterpiece that captures the journey of a young boy and his father trucking across America. Through the hardships that they fall upon, the young boy and father make their way to the place they had been yearning for, the ‘South’. The relationship between the father and son is their ultimate quest to find purpose and meaning to their lives through the trust that they share. Each rely on one another is different ways, which further shows how their relationship fluctuates throughout the book. Through their encounters, pleading for help for other, and coming to realization of the truth, The Road captures the relationship of the boy and his father throughout their journey.

Isolation is one of the most severe forms of punishment that anyone could be faced with. Cormac McCarthy shows the reaction isolation had on the characters in The Road. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, follows an unnamed father and son as they travel towards the coast in search of safety after the world has been destroyed by a catastrophe. As they travel the road, the father has to protect his son from the threat of strangers, starvation, exposure and harsh weather. In The Road, Cormac McCarthy shows how humans react to isolation by when the man leaves others to suffer, taking drastic measures and when the man kills other men.

Violence is defined as a behavior involving physical or mental force intending to hurt, damage, or kill someone. In the words of Zak Ibrahim, peace is defined as the proliferation or the increase in the existence of Justice. But where does love fit in to these conversations? Violence cannot necessarily transform into love, but the presence of it is surely important. Violence involving our most loved ones, helps us find love and compassion in the toughest of situations, and leads us toward paths of peace. In this essay, examples will be drawn from Zak Ibrahim 's keynote presentation, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Beautiful Boy; a film directed by Shawn Ku, and Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut.

For ages, people have been debating the idea of human morality and whether or not at its core humanity is good or bad. This philosophy is explored in Cormac McCarthy’s novel, The Road. The road is the story of a man and boy living in a post-apocalyptic world. Some cataclysmic event has crippled Earth’s natural ecosystem, leaving the skies engulfed in ash and the ground devoid of much life. The duo aim to journey south as a way to escape being frozen to death in the oncoming winter. During their journey, the boy and man come across different people and places that give them a better understand of what humanity has become and where they stand on that spectrum. Throughout The Road, McCarthy revisits the idea of being the “good guy” when there is no longer a need to, “carrying the fire” as it’s detailed in the book. The dichotomy between the boy’s moral conscience and the man’s selfish ideals helps develop McCarthy’s idea of humanity losing its selflessness in the face of danger.

In his novel The Road Cormac McCarthy uses a post-apocalyptic setting to help broaden the debate over moral good and evil. Not only do the main characters in his novel display either good or evil in their actions, but so do the people they encounter on their journey. These encounters are shaped by the moral decisions each individual makes. In this novel’s setting it is hard to define good and evil, but the choices made can still be applied to a non-apocalyptic world. McCarthy uses the experiences of the main characters to demonstrate that no matter what the scenario good will overcome evil.

Civilization is the basis of life, driving human interaction in everyday life. The texts, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and The Road by Cormac McCarthy, depict civilized and uncivilized situations, which reflect on and elaborate characterization. This can be seen explicitly with the creature (Frankenstein) and the boy (The Road). Both novels address the civilized and uncivilized in different approaches, however similarly emphasize the significance of the character’s traits and development. The ways that each character approaches civilized and uncivilized situations and behaviours, relate to the character’s experiences and emotions directly in the case of the creature, contrary to the inverse relationship in the case of the boy. The

“The Road” depicts a solemn and deteriorating environment that can no longer provide the fundamentals to a society due to the nuclear disaster. The sudden depletion of the resources within their environment made it difficult for the father and the son to find sustenance. They were constantly traveling towards the South looking for safe places to situate themselves because the father knew that they would not be able to survive the nuclear winter. The genre of the novel is post-apocalyptic science fiction because it revolves around a dismantling society. Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” depicts how environmental destruction finally gave sense for people to value the world and what it had to offer.

The Road presents a universal theme of Good vs. Evil. In this story, the man and the boy are considered the good guys. They are considered the good because they have kept their morals. One of the reasoning’s as to why they believe they are the “good guys” is that they are “carrying the fire.” They believe that all those carrying the fire are incapable of doing any wrong.

In a desolate world ravaged by fire, a boy and his father trudge across the countryside. They encounter people in their most desperate times where their motives are unpredictable and noone can be trusted. The boy and his father try to maintain their morality while facing starvation and having to deal with unpredictable people they encounter on the road. Cormac McCarthy in his novel The Road, uses the theme of hope to demonstrate the human trait that purpose is essential to survival.

As society members, we should applaud the efforts of individuals who attempt to succeed in times of hardships. However, we need to categorize them by the way in which they achieve these successes and not solely on the results. In Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road, A father and son are on a quest for survival after a catastrophic event wiped out most of the population and turned the land to ash. While struggling to survive in such a desecrate landscape, the father walks a fine line amongst the morals of a good guy vs a bad guy and often finds himself in precarious situations that test the moral codes of his good guy persona. By using the father’s willingness to use violence as a first resort, McCarthy argues that morals often change when faced with high leverage situations and as a result, the so called “good guys,” can no longer be identified as reliable sources when determining right from wrong.

In Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road, a man and his son live in a somber post-apocalyptic world. Although it’s not clear what brought the world to this point, the novel paints a clear picture of the aftermath. The boy and his father spend their days traveling through the dark and cold landscape while trying to make their way south, which they hope will bring warmer weather and easier times. Throughout their dreadful journey, the pair deal with many terrible and heart wrenching situations that seem unbearable; but each time, the man and the boy push through by keeping their faith in hopes of having a better life. But holding on to hope in what seems to be a hopeless world proves to be difficult as they face issues such as cannibalism, a lack of food, and blistering cold weather. In the New York Times Review “The Road Through Hell, Paved With Desperation”, writer Janet Maslin uses language similar to McCarthy’s to emphasis the tone of the novel, and she also brings attention to the faith that the man holds despite going through events that should make him question it. But the sole reason the man holds onto his faith is because of his son, which drives him to keep from doubting not only his faith, but himself. By highlighting faith and doubt throughout the novel, The Road shows that even though some people may have everything taken away from them, it’s better to keep a strong faith than to give up all hope whatsoever;