Cormac Mccarthy The Road Analysis

Home isn’t just where you live, it isn’t just a house. It can be anyone you are, with your family or even a state of mind. In the novel “The Road,” by Cormac McCarthy, the father and son pair travel from place to place, looking for somewhere safe: a home. Even though the characters don't realize the true significance of home, rendering it useless, they do search for it non stop, not understanding that it isn’t a place for them, it is the people that make a home. Unknowingly, they searched for this”home” as though it was a dwelling, rather than the state of mind which it turned out to be. This post apocalyptic novel does not go into detail about the past, just that the two are alive and do not have a home, or so they think. For these characters, home is like a dream, a place where they will be safe, and will have all the food they need. This however, is important, due to the fathers increasing need to find the two if them such a place,

Beginning with survival, and stretching all the way to several different emotions, the reasoning is found throughout the novel in little pieces. The main reason of the importance of home would most definitely be for his family; his only family. At this point, the man would do anything for his son. He would kill to protect him, which he does; despite his son’s wishes. He knows that his time is drawing near. Wanting the best for his son, is his biggest reason for the importance of home, It is vital, to find a place for his son in the harsh world they are left with. Another reason, regarding the importance of home in this fiction novel, is the symbolism behind home. For most people, home is where you live. For the father and son, it is who you have. Where you live is merely a house, not a home, and this is true in this story, as their houses are not their own, but the home is always within