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Cormac Mccarthy The Road Essay

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The post-apocalyptic novel, The Road, written by Cormac McCarthy follows a father and his son as they venture through a desolate, “barren” landscape resulting from an unknown cataclysmic disaster. The world of “charred” landscape, where cannibals roam and all laws are thrown out, is all the boy has ever known, he was born into and is now raised in it by his father who fights to keep them alive. On their journey South, they encounter various other lone travelers and marauders. The voice of reason in the father keeps them far away, staying distant and isolating themselves from others. However, this callous, uncaring demeanor is appalling to the boy as his strong morals urge him to help others- they are the “good guys” (77) after all. He fights …show more content…

When they finally catch up with the thief, he appears “sober[ed]” (256) by seeing the boy as he frantically backs away from the cart like a scared animal. As the man strips the thief all of his life, the boy sobs begging for his father to not kill the man. It becomes too much to bear and the boy is forced to “turn away and put his hands over his ears” (256) to cope with the pain of watching. He is already guilt-ridden from being unable to offer help to another human being who is “raw. filthy, starving” (257) just like him. His father is numb as he strips the man of his chances of survival while the boy cannot help but to feel sympathy for the thief who left them with nothing. McCarthy projects his theme of youth’s natural goodness through the boy’s ability to feel this compelling need to help the thief. After they leave the “nude and slatlike creature” (258) stranded, the boy continues to beg, “Just help him, Papa. Just help him. He was just hungry, Papa. He’s so scared, Papa” (259) as he is strongly urged to do what is

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4) In the last scene in The Road by Cormac McCarthy, McCarthy ends the book with a sense of hope due to many reasons. Even though the boy’s father dies of, what I think is an illness, the boy stumbles upon a family who sees him weeping over his dead father’s body. The man and the women are married and state that they have two kids. One a boy who the main boy can play with and grow up with.

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The boy’s act of altruism is then passed on as the father invites the same stranger to eat with them. (Comparing the stranger to a vulture proves to be further affective as a vulture is a bird that feeds on the

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Reflection Paper: The Road In Cormac McCarthy’s chilling novel, The Road, an unnamed father and his son struggle to survive the dangers and torment of a post apocalyptic world. As they venture down the road the father’s preliminary objective is to do whatever it takes to stay alive, on the other hand the son continuously extends a kind, tender and helping hand to other survivors with the goal of keeping goodness and generosity alive. McCarthy effectively utilizes symbolism to draw a parallel between the fire and the goodness that is within all people.

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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).

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Award-winning author Cormac McCarthy’s The Road follows a father and son through a post-apocalyptic world. During their journey, the son seeks the understanding of the world they now reside in, and the father seeks the survival of his son. Though it seems all hope is lost, McCarthy hints at otherwise. Throughout the course of the novel, McCarthy expounds and alludes to God and scripture bountifully.

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The man believes it is his duty to keep “God’s own firedrake” (31) of hope and goodness safe from the physical, mental, and emotional horrors of the godforsaken world. However, the man and his wife cannot protect the boy from all pain and do hurt the boy whether it be physically, mentally, or emotionally with good intentions. McCarthy exhibits the underlying theme throughout The Road that it is sometimes better to hurt loved ones in order to help them through diction,

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In his novel, The Road, author Cormac McCarthy illustrates the good and bad within the world. McCarthy supports this illustration through the use of imagery, symbolism, and connotative diction. McCarthy’s purpose is to explore the insight of a world that has been divided into distinct groups of good vs bad in order to elicit changes of behavior and morals in times of darkness. McCarthy uses a somber tone with his dystopian readers. McCarthy uses a strong amount of detailed imagery to easily represent and convey the mood and tones of the novel that he is intending to express to his readers.

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In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, the father's vision of his son serves as a driving force in the story, contributing to his purpose and ultimately proving the boy to be humanity's best hope in a post-apocalyptic world. The father views his son in different ways throughout the novel, perceiving him as a child, a humanistic being, and a spiritual/mythic being. Through these different perceptions, the father finds meaning in his life and is able to find purpose in a world that has lost its way. This essay will explore the father's vision of his son, how it contributes to his purpose, and how the son functions as humanity's best hope.

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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

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The man and his son are the ‘good guys’ easily distinguished from the ‘bad guys’: those on the other side of the line, the evil, the thieves, murderers and cannibals. But however different they may be, the father does stumble on the line that supposedly separates good and evil. Although his father teeters along the line of good and evil, the boy is undoubtedly good. He doesn’t understand the need to hurt others in any circumstance, even when they are a threat to his survival.

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Throughout this post-apocalyptic novel full of destruction. The father had hope as he went through the endless road. The father and his son lived their lives missing their mother having a huge influence on their journey because their feeling of grief. The father knew that he is going to die and that's what happened at the end because of the ideology of violence that created a horrible setting for them to live. Especially because the father was really sick.

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