The Road, Cormac Mccarthy Essay Example for Free

The Road, Cormac Mccarthy Essay The Road by Cormac McCarthy Rotted corpses. Landscapes devastated by fire. Abandoned towns and houses. In the post-apocalyptical novel, The Road, Cormac McCarthy explores the perseverance of a man and his son to survive in an obliterated world. He demonstrates that in spite of devastating conditions and dismal surroundings, goodness prevails over evil and an inherent goodness is present in humanity and the â€Å"good guy† no matter how dire the circumstances. Most importantly, the goodness portrayed, comes out of love. The man and the boy in this story are never named because the represent general humanity. If people , humans are provided with a reason to do the right thing, love, children, family, they will do whatever it takes. A parent will do completely unreasonable things to help, save their children out of love. He really doesn’t care what he has to do to keep his son alive – he would (and in fact did) murder a man for posing a threat to his son’s life. In page 76 of the book, the father tells the boy: â€Å"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? † The lives of the man and the boy truly are worst-case scenarios. How many times have we wondered at one point or another in our lives if we’d be willing to take a bullet to the head or kill someone for our families’ or loved ones’ sake? These characters have been placed in that exact situation. They live in a post-apocalyptic world where human beings have been stripped to their core and have been driven to extremes by their innate need to survive, and they are no exception. The father is carrying out all those â€Å"what ifs† – he is doing what he must to keep his son safe. Truly, the only thing that keeps them going is their love for one another. â€Å"A symbol of the goodness in human perseverance and hope is the fire that the father assures his son they carry. As a good guy, the man and the boy carry the fire internally, meaning that they strive to live under all circumstances. † â€Å"The man does not consider acting violently in defense of his sons survival evil. Yet, what makes this choice more praiseworthy than the choices of the people who kill and even cannibalize others in order to survive? † Truck event: The difference between the father’s actions and the actions of the other people mentioned is that the father committed murder to preserve his son’s life, something he holds dear. This is a just cause. However, the violent acts committed by the aforementioned people were generally for self gain. Violence begets violence e. g. canibbals continue their blood thirsty ventures vs the dads violence restores peace and ends the violence. Son is a symbol of goodness, father sees him as christ figure†¦. the boy cannot agree with his father that the right thing to do is to refuse to help others who are in dire need, especially when they have not shown any evidence of being dangerous. Son sees dad as selfish (e. g. alues his sons life) while son himself is selfless†¦ the father does not trust any other individual they see or meet. Only his son extends his humbling trust in others, offering to help Ely and the thief without first determining whether their intentions are malicious. the boy does not understand the need to hurt others in any circumstances, even when they may pose a danger to his own survival or have already hurt him. For example, the boy pleads for his father to spare the thief and, even more, to help him. End Event Father Dies: Thesis: