THE ROAD – How does the man demonstrate his love for his son in the novel and how is it portrayed in the narrative? “When you have lost hope, you have lost everything. And when you think all is lost, when all is dire and bleak, there is always hope.” Henri. Cormac McCarthy explores themes of hope and devotion, survival, and morality in a post-apocalyptic world in order to exhibit the love between a man and his son in the novel, The Road. McCarthy portrays the man's love through his willingness to devote, care for, protect and teach the boy with a bigger idea, demonstrating the lengths that humans will go to in order to save what they love, and survive. There are instances where the man shows his paternal love for the boy through keeping the …show more content…
The man provides the boy with a sense of joy and freedom through supporting the boys feelings such as once they arrive at the coast, even when the man thinks against it, he still allows the boy to go “running naked and leaping and screaming into the slow roll of the surf” (Page 232) the words ‘running naked’ being used as a representation of the freedom that the boy is provided with by the man. Stating that the boy is ‘leaping and screaming’ also shows his childish happiness, a rarity when juxtaposed to the post-apocalyptic world he is being brought up in. The man's willingness for the boy to be physically well, as well as mentally cared for, is shown through the man showing his love through teaching the boy how to survive. The man mentions that “he’d trained him to lie in the woods like a fawn” (page 124) which is a direct comparison between the boy and a young and valuable deer, trained to hide so silent and still in the woods that they cannot be seen by predators. McCarthy portrays the man's willingness to protect the boy throughout the narrative and demonstrates this through the man's actions surrounding the boy's mental and physical