Theme Of Father And Son In Cormac Mccarthy's The Road

Mccarthy creates a bleak post apocalyptic society through the use of imagery. He describes a world where there is no wildlife and all that’s left are the ashes. “The road was gullied eroded and barren. The bones of dead creatures sprawled in the washes. Middens of anonymous trash”(177). While the man and the boy travel the road, they rarely come across other living things. The boy even shows a lack of knowledge about animals, constantly asking his father questions about them. They always have to keep moving due to the constant threat of danger. Their nomadic lifestyle prevents them from becoming attached to anything. This gives the feeling of absolute isolation. Throughout the novel, the man often has dreams of life before. His dreams are described in vivid colors, "walking in a flowering wood where birds flew before them he and the child and the

McCarthy writes, “I want to be with you. You cant. Please. You cant. You have to carry the fire. I dont know how to. Yes you do. Is it real? The fire? Yes it is. Where is it? I dont know where it is. Yes you do. It’s inside you. It was always there. I can see it” (pg. 278-279). Here, the lack of punctuation marks are prominent features of McCarthy’s writing style. One can infer that by doing this, he emphasizes the struggle and hardship of the current world, and how the civilities of the preapocalyptic world are no longer deemed significant in the present society. The dialogue between the man and the boy comprise of no quotation marks, which make it difficult for the reader to understand who is speaking which words. On the other hand, McCarthy structures the interactions between the man and the boy in a manner that it is almost poetic-like. Furthermore, the simplistic nature of the dialogue allows for interpretation of the raw emotion that is present in the text. Fear, lack of confidence, love, and fatigue are common emotions that the man and the boy inflect through their nightmarish journey on the road. “Carrying the fire” is a phrase that is used frequently in the novel. One can assume that the phrase is referring to having optimism in the goodness of humanity. Unfortunately, many of the inhabitants of this gruesome practice repulsive lifestyles including, but not limited to, cannibalism, rape, unprovoked battery, murder, and theft.

In stressful situations people often question themselves whether they are doing the right thing. The father's love for his son is strong, but he contemplates the idea of killing his son or persevering and letting him live through hell on earth to find something in the end. The recurring statement of, “Can you do it? When the time comes? Can you?” (29) applies emphasis on the idea of the father killing his son. Later McCarthy repeats the statement, “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.” (114). The reader is able to depict the thoughts of the man pondering the death of his child. The father’s love is in constant conflict. He is continually battling thoughts about whether to let his son endure the pain they are

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.

Throughout the novel, survival is a constant objective for the boy and his father. McCarthy’s gripping and frightening moments are most obviously interwoven with this theme. Soon after the death of his father the boy looks up and sees that “someone was coming. He started to turn and go back into the woods but he didnt. He just stood in the road and waited, the pistol in his hand” (McCarthy 281). With the approach of this new potential threat, the boy’s safety and survival are brought into question. As the strange man comes near, a tension builds while the boy tries to make a decision that could quite possibly affect the rest of his life. The tension dissipates when it is revealed that the man is not a threat, but a

The love between the protagonists in the times of hardship is the most profound relationship in the book and the strength of it raises the standard of the novel. The relation of the father and the son is very strong and symbolizes protection to the child. They take the initiative to struggle and live in an apocalyptic place which has been completely destroyed. The father is like the soul of his son and the very last hope for the son to survive .The son finds support in his son when he goes through the stages of loneliness and despair. It is a natural way for people to rely on others for support and by survival instincts; it is deeper when there is such a close relationship between a father and a son. McCarthy in terms of characterization makes the buy very innocent as he does not know how to differentiate between the “good guys” and “bad guys”. He wants to help everyone and on the other hand the father is very strong and is wise. He lives each and every day as a normal day so that he can keep his son strong as well. The father is very intelligent as he responds to his son questions thoughtfully to keep his son’s hope up. The father is very optimistic even when they are facing a hard time moving forward. To quote, “The 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

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.

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

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.

An important flaw the son has is that he does not remember the world as a peaceful place the son only remembers the world destroyed. This type of naivetes gives the boy a minimal outlook on the past and see the difference of the present. The father knows the difference which gives the father the realization before The Road begins. The son in portions of The Road is starving, this desolate place called the world does not give any chance of hope or second ones. The importance of this geographical state in the book makes the father and son rely on one another because they know the very importance of staying alive, and the only way they can do that is to fight for one another. The Road opens with a setting of desolation, “When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he’d reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him”, which creates a concern within the readers that are realizing the magnitude of this horrible place. (McCarthy 3) The son in the first page of the book is mentioned

“The boy” and “The man/ papa” set forth on a journey to find a home, a simple most mundane thing which, in their case is an impervious destination. Each day went by and “the boy” and “The man/papa” constantly moved mile after mile trying to fulfill their desires for a dwelling. This same craving is found in McCarthy’s life as he traveled from one place to another due to his father's work. Because McCarthy never settled in an area for a

The language of “the Road” By McCarthy is scant yet poetic and morally inspiring. The text is composed not of chapters but of discrete, punctuated paragraphs that mirror the movements of the father and son on their journey. McCarthy's writing style reflects sparseness in that he chooses to write in fragments and he keeps the father's and son's dialogue very choppy. Authors style of narrating this story is very scrappy and sparse, which describes the infertile and miserable land through which the man and boy are traveling. In the book we noticed, McCarthy makes less use of quotation and apostrophes. There are no brakes through dialogues. Because this is a post-apocalyptic story, the exception of these punctuation basics might help as a way of author to show that in this new world, fragments of the old world such as materialistic objects and humanity exists in scarce amount. McCarthy’s narrative voice is powerful and completely shapes the stories he tells. The story begins with the man and boy making their journey along the road. The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world, date and place are unnamed. One can assume it is somewhere in America, most of the South, because the man tells the boy that they're walking the "state roads"(43). Neither the man nor the boy is given a

The boy asks the man, “Can I ask you something? Yes. Of course you can. What would you do if I died? If you died I would want to die too. So you could be with me? Yes. So I could be with you. Okay” (10-11). McCarthy points out that the man’s love for his son is what makes the man want to survive in the post-apocalyptic world. In the novel, before attempting suicide, the man’s wife criticizes him for using the boy as a reason to survive. The wife tells the man “The only thing I can tell you is that you wont survive for youself” (57). The quote explains that in the world, where landscapes devastated by fire, the weather conditions are getting harsh, the town and houses are abandoned, little food, no supplies, and no shelter left, no want to live there, but the man wants to continue living the life, so he can always be with his son.

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.

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.