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What Is The Cost Of Survival In Cormac Mccarthy's The Road?

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In Cormac McCarthy’s book The Road, the world has been faced with a tragic event. One could believe it is an atomic bomb that has been released to possibly end mankind. Regardless, what results in the post-apocalyptic world is suffering and plenty of it. A gray cold existence for those who survived this terrible fate. A boy and his father are the sole survivors of their family. Their home and the surrounding country is nothing but a barren wasteland. It has come down to one thing survival of the fittest. But at what cost? The father throughout the book teaches the boy survival. Morals and values are still in existence. However, the father is alway protecting the boy because other survivors do not hold the same morals and values. They will do whatever it takes to survive; cannibalism, torture, thievery. They are known as the bad guys. When the boy and his father are faced with a group approaching, they run and hide. Uncovered by one of the group, the father kills the man to protect the boy with one of their two remaining bullets. They run for survival. The boy becomes silent almost zombie like for the next day. The boy understands and now recognizes the bad guys. The father cannot stand the silence of the boy and has this conversation: You have …show more content…

So it's very amazing to see that the boy can show such positive outlook and good faith on this new world. When the boy and man enter a small town and the boy sees a boy about his age, he is so excited. He has never had a friend or another boy to play with. He runs toward the boy who runs away. His goodness and desire to have a friend trumps his safety. The boys yells, “Come back, I won’t hurt you.” The father is so upset that the boy has run away. He is jeopardizing his safety. The boy doesn’t care. The boy sees the hope that there are other children out there. There are others who may be innocent and good. The light may be in others. All the boy could say

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