A romantic relationship between two people can be complicated, and sometimes even a genuine, loving relationship can become burdensome for one if their partner abandons them in times of adversity. In the novel, The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, A man loses the support of his wife and assumes responsibility for his son while in a post-apocalyptic world. The man has a significant relationship with his wife as he is devastated by her death and he gets paranoid when he dreams of her.
The un-named woman in the road is the man's wife and the boy's mother. She abandons the man and boy during the early days of the apocalypse. The woman only appears through the man’s memories and dreams, through which, it is revealed that the woman had grown weary of
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Throughout the journey, the man reacts to the destruction of civilization with a dogged perseverance and intends to survive but he is haunted by memories of his wife. The woman's bleak death contrasts with the man’s repeated memories of their happy marriage and life together before the apocalypse. The man does not despise the woman for leaving them, instead, he respects her decision, and he dearly misses her. Many dreams and memories that the man has are about the woman, and he is certain that death is near when he starts having peaceful dreams about her. When the man dreams of the woman, he loses sleep and starts losing his sense of survival. He believes that if he has dreams that were pleasant, that would be dangerous because such dreams would soften him from making the tough choices he needs to in order to survive and keep his son alive.
The relationship with his wife is of importance to the man.
Although she abandons him during a time of dire circumstance, he holds no resentments toward her, instead, he deeply misses her.
However, their relationship is more inhibitive than helpful to the man as the memory of his wife renders him incapable of dealing with his harsh