Age Disparity In Cormac Mccarthy's The Road

Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of 2006, The Road. Tells the post-apocalyptic story of a father and son traversing the ruins of the southeastern United States, after a disaster of unknown origins. The plot, follows the characters heading towards the southern coast, once their previous environment became too cold for them to survive. Only being accompanied by each other, love keeps them alive. An unbreakable bond, that is continually functional throughout the entire book, despite the hopelessness of the setting. Although less explicit, then say — physical sacrifice—the root of their relationship is most prominent on an interpersonal level. Associated with the generational difference between the two; their age disparity acts as …show more content…
From the opening lines of the book, we see a planet stripped of civilization, vegetation, beauty, and goodness; a world bereft of its humanity; a world which “not be made right again” (McCarthy 287) Yet, the reader is also introduced to one of the most heartwarming father/son relationship in literature. Additionally, the boy meeting the friendly survivor at the end, “validates the man's words in physical and conceptual form,” (76) contrary to the fatalism the father feel for the future. At lies the heart of the novels paradox, irrationality or at the very least complexity of the fathers impending attitude: hope. Not the kind of hope that is based in physical reality, more so, his goal for finding meaning at the end of the tunnel. Luckily for him, the was realised in the conclusion. Since the boy finds a new family to take care of him. Further complicating, his already multifaceted interpretation of the unknown. Reassured by the happy ending; contradicted from the fatalistic text, …show more content…
He views civilisation as constantly evolving. Based upon a humanistic approach to spirituality. From his eyes, deistic religion no longer exists. “there is no god and we are the prophets” (170). Devoutness is now within mortal bounds. Long gone, are the outlandish tales of heroism and salvation. Now, in its place, is the son’s intrinsic belief in the goodness of man. Unique to traditional religions, in how, rather than avoiding sin, he his told to “curse god and die.” Since heaven is irrelevant, suicide, in this case, trumps murder. Equally opposed to the belief in the afterlife, death, is not an option for the boy. Similar to his father’s path towards meaning, the son wants to reaffirm faith in his immoral world. Although he could’ve ended his life earlier, his eagerness to feel a part of society swayed him from this option. Alternatively directing his focus towards his future and