Cormac Mccarthy The Road Analysis

Imagine a world where there are no patches of blue sky and the ground appears to be torn to pieces. A world with no sign of civilization,and no other human insight. Where feeling so hungry that you start to consider the idea of human flesh filling your insides and pushing you to do so. A world littered with murder, crime, and so much loss, which have now become necessary for survival. Try to picture the black clouds towering over you and being forced to plow your way through 10 feet of snow paired with a strong gust of wind. A world where all faith should be lost, but even through all the bad things the youth continue to hold onto the little faith they have left. Being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel when your surroundings are

Throughout the book, the man views the boy as a symbol for hope, as a result this gives the man a purpose in life to protect the boy above all. Violence is the biggest challenge in the novel because the people turn to theft, murder, and cannibalism due to the wasteland they’re living in. Another struggle is that food is very difficult to find so everyone is starving, and as a result, people turn to thievery as a way to fend for themselves and staying alive. At this point in time, stealing is no longer a crime anymore. There is no longer anymore government, meaning there aren’t any rules or regulations, so anything goes. When the man says that he will protect the boy at any cost, it really is not an understatement. When a character who is a member of a bloodcult was seen as a threat to the boy, the man did not so much as hesitate to reach for the safety of his weapon. The man shot the degenerate dead right in front of his own son. The aftermath resulted in the man having to sooth the boy by claiming that his job is to take care of him and that he was “appointed to do that by God”(McCarthy, p.77) and even states that he would, “kill anyone who touches the boy” (McCarthy, p.77). He tells the boy that even if they killed someone it would not be a very bad thing because God had given the man

The scene is traumatic to the boy because he had seen the woman’s stomach swollen from carrying an infant earlier on, and then shortly afterward came across the remains of the child placed on the ashes of a fire. This is the description that the man had given for what the boy had seen “a charred human infant headless and gutted and blackening on the spit. He [the man] bent and picked the boy up and started for the road with him, holding him close. I’m sorry, he whispered. I’m sorry” (McCarthy, p.198). The man feels regret instantly for taking his guard down and allowing for the boy to see such a horrible thing. The man then apologizes to the boy by saying that he should have kept him hidden from the evil’s of the world. Violence is inevitable and cruel and, it isn’t too long before the boy comes to this