The Father And Son In Karmac Mccarthy's The Road

In The Road, the most important way to carry the fire is to help others because generosity and kindness are scarce in the evil, post-apocalyptic world. While most of the people left in the world are considered bad guys, the father and son are some of the last good guys on earth. They show compassion and empathy for each other and the other characters in the book, unlike the bad guys, who capture innocent people and eat them. The boy carries the fire because he wants to help anyone he possibly can. He feels sad when he sees dead people and gets upset whenever his father harms or does not want to help someone. The father carries the fire because he will do anything to protect his son. The man and the boy have their own unique ways of carrying the fire, but they both involve helping others.

In the eyes of the father, his son’s life is much more valuable than his own. The father will stop at nothing to protect his son. When they encounter a roadagent who grabs the boy, the man resorts to killing him in order to defend his son. The man shoots the roadagent, who “fell back instantly and lay with blood bubbling from the hole in his forehead” (McCarthy 34). Although killing the roadagent may seem inhumane, killing a bad guy in order to save a good guy is worth it. Throughout the book, the father and son not only help each other, but they also aid other strangers they encounter on their journey. When they encounter Ely, a lonely old man, the father was reluctant to help him at first. However, the boy convinces his father to help him, saying “He’s scared, Papa…Maybe we should give him something to eat” (84). Here the boy’s generosity towards a random stranger shows that some people in the world still carry the