Irony In The Road By Cormac Mccarthy

In the novel The Road, Cormac McCarthy presents a theme in which the characters are presented with a scenario and their future is predicted based on their decision. Situational irony is used to enhance the meaning of the theme, the brink of death. It can enhance the meaning of the theme to make the readers assume that the characters are going to face death however do not. McCarthy’s use of irony exhibits a sense of hopelessness and seriousness. The characters, the father, and the son, must make a journey to a better, live-able place after “America is burnt down.” In their journey, they are faced with many obstacles which could have resulted in death. But due to factors that enabled them to escape from it, they lived longer than expected. Additionally,

With the illness revealed, it allows the readers to have a clear concept of what will happen to the father in the future. Not only would the father soon die since there is not any medical assistance but there is an understanding that there is no hope for the survival of the father. In contrast to his son, the father is seen at the brink of death in which McCarthy shows evidence in which the father is struggling through the “Coughing, Coughing. He bent over, holding his knees. Taste of blood. The slow surf crawled and seethed in the dark and he thought about his life but there was no life to think about and after a while he walked back.” (McCarthy, 237) Through the father, McCarthy depicts a different type of intensity. The father’s intensity creates a feeling of sadness whereas the son’s intensity creates a felling of wordiness. Through the son, he shows how the son engages in an intense situation and was able to escape by someone or something. On the other hand, McCarthy presents father’s condition in an intense way to allow the readers to know that the father’s escaping of death would be different. McCarthy depicts the state of the father in an intense way to allow the readers to understand how the outcome of the father will be different than the son. Although, there are signs of hope when the characters are at the state of nearing death, the father does not escape the fact of already dying. He continued the journey at the risk of dying anywhere and making the son survive on his own. The only thing that makes the father have the need to keep going is his son. Throughout their journey, the father tries to teach and shape the son to his best abilities so that he can survive without him. Although the son is the character that has faced situations of the brink of death due to other people, the father is unable to be saved since the cause of his brink of death is