Cormac Mccarthy The Road Analysis

Could you maintain your principles even if nobody else was around to watch you do it? In the book The Road written by Cormac McCarthy takes us through a story of a loving dad who wants nothing but the best for his son. Isolation is devised in the worst of times, yet brings out the best in people, which shows that humans will live selflessly when they have nothing to lose. Isolation creates an environment of mystery and unknown. Ely ranting to Papa, “When we’re all gone at last then there’ll be nobody here but death and his days will be numbered too,” (McCarthy 173). We know Ely is an allusion to the prophet Elijah, so “death’s days being numbered” is metaphorically comparing a person to the idea of death in that neither of them will cease to exist once the world

Ely is creating an setting of mystery in which Papa does not know what truly will happen and therefore does everything he can to provide for his beloved son. Next, the mom creates isolation for the boy and papa. Talking about mom, “She was gone and the coldness of it was her final gift. She would do it with a flake of obsidian. He taught her himself,” (McCarthy 58). The mom detaches herself from the boy and papa creating a selfless act of isolation. “He taught her himself” has a deeper meaning which can be interpreted as “putting others before yourself”. This foreshadows how Papa always looks out for the boy and puts his needs before his own. The natural setting can create a sense of separation from others. Describing the setting, “Out there was the gray beach with the slow sombers rolling dull and leaden and the distant sound of it. Like the desolation of some alien sea breaking on the shores of a world unheard of,” (McCarthy 215). McCarthy uses a simile to show the contrast between “the dull and gray beach” and “alien sea breaking on an unknown world”. The “alien sea”