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The Father And Son In Karmac Mccarthy's The Road

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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. …show more content…

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

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We can see through the father's actions that he is worried he might not make it for dinner as he rubs the steering wheel and stares at the barricade momentarily. At night when the barricade has no guards around, they try and drive through the snow-ridden road. He tells his son not to do the actions he is doing and puts a sense of matter on what he is saying. " 'You don't. You have your strong points, sure, just not this.

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In the 2006 novel The Road by Cormac McCarthy, a man and his son struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. Told through a lens of constant hardship, the book follows their arduous journey towards a coast in order to survive the winter. Throughout the novel, McCarthy shows that having hope enables people to persevere in dire circumstances because it counteracts the possibility of negative outcomes. First, the woman’s monologue about her death displays the despair necessary to abandon all hope.

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Despite all the horrors that they face, the small family shares a deep connection. This allows for meaning and value in their lives amid all the suffering and pain. The existence of this relationship makes the struggle worthwhile. Many of the days the man and boy spend together they are working toward a common goal, the man teaching the boy about many things and the kid teaching his father to not leave the other good guys behind. For example, he coerces his father into giving food to an old, nearly blind man.

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In everyday life, there are so many people worth to love and worth for giving them much affection. But have you ever thought, who is your dearest? For everyone, the answer may be grandparents, mothers, siblings or friends. For the boy in McCarthy's novel,"The Road", his father's image will forever be the sacred fire that warms his soul forever. "The Road" written by McCarthy not only about the relationship between a father and his son but also about the contradiction in itself every human.

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Throughout the novel the father's love for his son pushes him to protect him no matter the risks. For example in the novel many times the two would go to an abandoned house

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In The Road, a novel by Cormac McCarthy, published in 2006, a man and a boy struggle to survive as they travel south on the road in the post-apocalyptic world. On their journey to the coast, the man and the boy encounter the remains of an ashen world, ravaged by men who are willing to kill to survive. Among the death and destruction of the post-apocalyptic world, McCarthy illustrates how the man gains resilience from the spirituality he finds within his son, which proves how in a world void of official religion, belief in something greater than yourself creates the strength necessary to survive. The man sees his son as a spiritual figure that provides him the strength to survive in the desolate world.

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One of the most important relationships in the novel is the one between the man and the boy. The father is determined to protect

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The family pair struggles to maintain enough food for themselves, but despite that the boy still tries to give up his food in order to help others. Not only did he insist in helping a man as rude as Ely, but wanted to help the lost kid on the road. “We could get him and take him with us…. I’d give that little boy half of my food”( McCarthy 86). This displays the naturally generous and unselfish characteristics of the boy.

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However, the father tells the boy he will “kill anyone who touches him” (77). This attitude of violence first and repercussions later directly contradicts the boy’s refusal to commit any acts of violence. The father’s isolationist ideology helps him to survive, but it also keeps the man from finding non-cannibal allies who could have helped him and his son survive. There are many instances where the man and boy find clues that there are non-hostile people around them, yet they never stop to find a community. The boy sees “another boy about his age” in a nearby house, yet they never stop to investigate (85).

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Along their journey they come across an old man who is very ill and can’t walk well. The father and his son both have very different reactions to coming across the man. The boy wants to help the man by feeding him and possibly letting him join them, while the father wants to just move past without batting an eye. In the end however the boy is able to convince his father into giving the man some food. This is just another piece of evidence to support the fact that the boy has a major impact on his father’s way of

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Naturally, fire is thought of in conjunction with destruction, but in a survival sense it signifies hope and warmth. Carrying the fire basically means that even though all the odds are against the father and son they are still pushing forward. It is something to live for when truly there isn’t. At the end of the story, when the father dies, the boy has to continue on the legacy without him. When he stumbles upon a man who asks if he wants to join their family the boy immediately asks if he’s carrying the fire.

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Love between the father and son is the ultimate reason they continue to survive. Specifically, one important key to understanding the central theme is the use of descriptive language and imagery. This helps the reader

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”(66) The sigh of relief and adrenaline perceived by the father when seeing his son in danger in the hands of another thus clarifies the man’s true love and affection that he discerns for the boy. Pursuing this further, food, water and shelter are resources which are limited on the island and burdensome to find. The father continuous thrives in search for food, water and shelter risked his life multiple times. His duty to provide the boy with the resources and keep the boy healthy and sheltered is a responsibility and the man’s first and only priority. Consistently,

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In The Road, Cormac McCarthy uses figurative language, to demonstrate the difference in the people’s decisions and values when compared to the real world. The survivors of the apocalypse, including the father all had to undergo a series of radical changes in order to adapt and survive in the new world. When the father enters the house, where the people are kept for food, not only does he see naked people both male and female but also a man with his leg cut off. McCarthy writes, “On the mattress lay a man with his legs gone to the hip and stumps of them blackened and burnt” (McCarthy 110).

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