The Intricate Relationship Between the Man and the Boy In a post-apocalyptic America, a young boy and his father traverse the horrific wasteland in hopes of finding a refuge from the horrors that surround them. The duo constantly is faced with the atrocities that mankind now commit as commonplace. Cannibalism, slavery and murder are now a norm for the amoral survivors that populate the wastes. Without society to regulate and apprehend the fiends, these heinous acts against humanity flourish in the lawless shell that once was a thriving country. The father and son travel in spite of these horrors across the barren wasteland; they draw the willpower necessary to survive and keep travelling from the bond that they share with each other. Their bond is intricately woven and shows many different aspects of itself throughout the novel. In Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road, the father and son find strength to survive in the wasteland from their intricate and evolving relationship. Throughout the novel, the man and the son encounter many hazards throughout their journey along the long road. These encounters put them in harm’s way; thus they must use evasion to avoid detection by the threats …show more content…
The father displays this attitude whenever the duo encounters perils along their travel as he does everything in his power to keep his son away from the dangers that surround them. He shows a “mother bear mentality” towards his son in which he would be willing to die protecting his son from anything. While travelling along the road, the boy and the father have a conversation where the father states that if the boy died then he would die as well so they could still be together (McCarthy