Examples Of Cannibalism In The Road Mccarthy

In a world where humans rely on cannibalism and murder, it is difficult to think there is any good left in the human race. In the novel The Road by Cormac McCarthy, a son and father are abandoned in a post-apocalyptic world. They battle finding shelter, food and warmth nearly every day. Though the people around them steal and kill in order to survive, the father made sure he and his son never added onto the cruelness of the world they lived in. Through the unnamed boy, McCarthy conveys the message that during desperate times, the worst thing one can lose is their sense of morality.
Throughout the novel, the young boy frequently looks for reassurance and guidance from his father. After they saw the naked men and women who are about to get eaten, the boy questions his father if they would ever do that during desperate circumstances. “No. We wouldn’t./Because we’re the good guys./ Yes./ And we’re carrying the fire./ And we’re carrying the fire. Yes.” (McCarthy 129). This illustrates the moral code the father has constructed for the boy- good guys do not

He sees the innocence and strong sense of morality in this young boy. “If he is not the word of God, God never spoke” (McCarthy 5).When they were hiking, the boy and father met this older man named Ely. The boy pleaded to his dad to let him feed him and even gave him a spoon. “You should thank him you know. I wouldn’t have given you anything” (McCarthy 173). The family pair struggles to maintain enough food for themselves, but despite that the boy still tries to give up his food in order to help others. Not only did he insist in helping a man as rude as Ely, but wanted to help the lost kid on the road. “We could get him and take him with us…. I’d give that little boy half of my food”( McCarthy 86). This displays the naturally generous and unselfish characteristics of the boy. The boy is the only pure figure left in the man’s life and often leads him to doing kind