McCarthy's+The+Road

Malone Walker Ideal World English Seminar Mrs. McWilliams 5 December 2008 Human Nature in Cormac McCarthy’s __The Road__ A father and son live in a post-apocalyptic world in __The Road__. They have survived a disaster of some sort that has left the country in shambles. The disaster has changed not only the landscape but also the people. The only thing these survivors can know for sure is that which they can see with their own eyes. They live alone and trust no one. It has been years since the disaster and they live in a different world. In Cormac McCarthy’s __The Road__, the father, the road, and the people represent the true nature of the human psyche when faced with disaster. The father is a prime example of man’s reaction to disaster. Every action of the father is an attempt to in some way or another help his son. Everyday his main focus is the survival of his child. When they need food, the father do almost anything to find it (except cannibalism). The father even goes with little or no food and drink on several occasions when there isn’t enough for both of them. The change in the father is evident in his treatment of the people they meet along their journey. He grudgingly gives one stranger food but only because his son wouldn’t talk to him otherwise. Throughout the entire novel, the father’s greatest fear is that he will one day have to kill his son. The world in which they live is so deranged and so terrible that the father has even instructed his son on how to kill himself if he is ever close to captivity. The father lives in constant emotional pain not for himself but for his son because he will never be able to experience the world he so greatly wants to belong too. That world is of the past, and the father’s heart breaks everyday for his son and his sad life. The father, in order to ensure that his son has the desire to live, tells his son that he is carrying “the fire.” He is forced to lie, but it appears to be the only way to make sure that his son will continue to live. The father has experienced a great loss with the suicide of his wife and does everything in his power to make his son want to live. In this horrifying world, he must do what he can however he can to ensure the safety of his son in ways that he probably would have never imagined before the disaster. The road is the main setting of the novel. It is some sort of highway that the two follow during their journey. All of the surroundings of the road are dead and desolate. There is no vegetation or life, except for some people and moss. The father and son travel by the road using it as a guide towards their destination, the coast. They travel an ashen covered land with little sun because of the deep clouds. To the father and son, the road represents danger, so they travel it by day to carry their supplies but make sure they are far from it at night. The run down, empty road shows the change in the world because the open road is no longer safe; it’s the least safe place in their world. The other people of this new world are terrifying at best. Many of them are cannibals in constant search of food and water. They, like the father, have been changed. Furthermore, they show no regard for others. On one occasion when the father and son needed food, they search a house where they find a locked basement. In the basement they find naked people huddled in a corner; some with missing limbs. These people, for some, are food being stored like cattle until they are needed next. Another time, once the father and son reach now the coastline, their cart is stolen. The father tracks down the theif and takes all of his belongings back. The thief is willing to leave others with nothing in order to save himself. One of the most tragic experiences for the boy is the discovery of a roasted baby. The fact that people would be so desperate as to destroy something so innocent and so pure is a horrifying notion. Throughout the journey the father and son encounter many others who all seem extremely defensive and void of morals. Cormac McCarthy wrote this novel as an expose of true human nature. When faced with hardship, mankind is prepared to do anything in order to survive. The father, the road, and the other people have all changed since the disaster. People are preoccupied with their own survival and not interested in the least in helping others. The future for this boy looks bleak after his father dies but for all we know the father’s dreams might come true, and some day his son might live in a world like the past and experience the good in people.