How does never differ to be from what never was? In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, A man and his son struggle to survive in a post apocalyptic world that continually tests their morality. However, the contrasting perspectives between these characters illustrates how life experiences can affect a person’s level of compassion.
The man’s divided life experiences, pre and post apocalypse, allows him to more fully grasp the degradation of society, which makes him much less compassionate towards strangers. As the man visits his childhood home, experiences from the past cloud his mind with a dangerous fantasy that only worsens his perspective of the present situation. McCarthy writes, “He pushed open the closet door half expecting to find his childhood things. Raw cold daylight fell through from the roof. Gray as his heart” (McCarthy 27). Struggling to put the past …show more content…
This split in perspective illustrates how experiences of the past can affect a person’s empathy because the boy is the only character without firsthand knowledge of life before the disaster. Unlike his father, the boy values compassion over self-preservation. McCarthy illustrates this idea when the man questions why the boy wanted to give food to Ely. McCarthy writes, “‘When we’re out of food you’ll have more time to think about it.’… After a while he said: ‘I know. But I wont remember it the way you do’” (McCarthy 174). The contrasting perspectives explains the forces driving the man and the boy. On one hand, the man is more concerned with raw necessities, showing how he prioritizes survival and protecting his son. However, the boy sees things much differently; he is able to show compassion because he values morality more than his own needs. Despite the grim world the boy lives in, his ability to be a source of compassion is a result of being born without prior knowledge of society before the
The man’s divided life experiences, pre and post apocalypse, allows him to more fully grasp the degradation of society, which makes him much less compassionate towards strangers. As the man visits his childhood home, experiences from the past cloud his mind with a dangerous fantasy that only worsens his perspective of the present situation. McCarthy writes, “He pushed open the closet door half expecting to find his childhood things. Raw cold daylight fell through from the roof. Gray as his heart” (McCarthy 27). Struggling to put the past …show more content…
This split in perspective illustrates how experiences of the past can affect a person’s empathy because the boy is the only character without firsthand knowledge of life before the disaster. Unlike his father, the boy values compassion over self-preservation. McCarthy illustrates this idea when the man questions why the boy wanted to give food to Ely. McCarthy writes, “‘When we’re out of food you’ll have more time to think about it.’… After a while he said: ‘I know. But I wont remember it the way you do’” (McCarthy 174). The contrasting perspectives explains the forces driving the man and the boy. On one hand, the man is more concerned with raw necessities, showing how he prioritizes survival and protecting his son. However, the boy sees things much differently; he is able to show compassion because he values morality more than his own needs. Despite the grim world the boy lives in, his ability to be a source of compassion is a result of being born without prior knowledge of society before the