In The Road, Cormac McCarthy allows readers to explore the relationship between the man and the boy. The Road is a novel of survival and the strong bond between the man and the boy plays a large factor in it. While trying to sustain themselves physically, it is their emotional and mental strength and bond that keeps them alive for as long as their journey continues. Both father and son have a reciprocal relationship, where the both are key to each other’s survival. In The Road, the father and the son’s relationship of trust and love and the harsh conditions they faced lead to resilience and survival.
The paternal love that the man has for his son plays a major role in their survival. The man continues to strive time and time again because he wants his son to live and wants to protect him at all costs. His own survival goes on for as long as it does because of his love for his son and the measures he takes to keep him alive. Even the mother, the man’s wife, before her suicide mentioned, “…the boy was all that stood between him and death.” (pg. 8) Readers can see this by the man’s actions and the way he speaks to his son as well, “My job is to take care of you. I was appointed by God. I will kill anyone
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Their survival came from the trust they had of each other, especially the boy towards the man. While there may have been some scenes where the boy had, issues agreeing/trusting his father, he eventually did because he knew that giving him the benefit of the doubt and trusting him would be more beneficial. Trust specifically in this case was an important factor in their survival and didn’t come out of a place of strengthening their relationship. Despite that, it was a huge part of allowing them to survive. The setting of the story is during a dangerous time and trust is tested in all situations. “His shoes were bound up with wire and coated with roadtar and he sat there in silence, bent over in his