Virtue Ethics In Cormac Mccarthy's The Road

What do ethics look like when the world we know disappears? In Cormac McCarthy’s book The Road, a man and a child have survived the apocalypse and the collapse of modern society. While the man and his son choose a nomadic scavenger existence, many of the people they meet on their journey have resorted to cannibalism or despair. Nevertheless, the boy and the man continue to “[carry] the fire” and reshape their ethical standards to fit their new environment (283). However, as they travel further down the road, the boy’s and man’s ethical codes start to drift further and further apart. Throughout the book, they differ most in regard to their thoughts on generosity, justice, and honesty. The pursuit of a moral framework in the absence of society

Followers of virtue ethics believe the intention of an action matters. Virtue ethicists pose the question: what kind of person should I be? They try to be just, generous, temperate, honest, and courageous. The man, on the other hand, tends towards ethical egoism, which means he prizes his and the boy’s safety over anyone else’s benefit. Since the boy is never fully responsible for his and his father’s survival he prioritizes his ideas of goodness over day to day practicality. The man’s practicality means he often makes quick decisions without taking long pauses to debate his own morality the way the boy is able

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). The father even says he believes there are people living in the area who could be good yet he continues on alone. Because he follows the tenets of ethical egoism, his mindset sets every action into an us vs them ideology. The man’s attitude of violence and distrust allows the man to journey on a slippery slope where he slowly teeters towards cold blooded murder because of how desperate and isolated he