Cormac Mccarthy The Road Analysis

The novel, The Road by Cormac McCarthy follows a father and his son in a post-apocalyptic world. They are forced to endure many tough situations, which make them test themselves and continually push their limits. Over time, the boy starts to become detached from the horrors he witnesses, which shows that morals are shed when one sees too many cruel acts.
In the beginning of the book, the boy is desperately trying to hold onto his morals, no matter what he sees. Along the road Papa and the boy witness a man who has been struck by lightning. The boy asks, “Cant we help him? Papa?” (50) which shows his morality is still there and he still wants to show compassion by helping others. Although, despite the empathy the boy feels for those struggling, he is quick to accept that he must leave them alone, because there is not anything that he or Papa could do for them. Papa reminds him of this when he states, “No. We cant help him. There’s nothing to be done for him.” His morality is easily pushed aside by his father in the face of these seemingly endless struggles. …show more content…
They come across a house with a basement full of people, which they presume are there to later be eaten, but Papa and the boy abandon them after offering no help. Later, the boy rationalizes leaving them by thinking “we couldnt help them because then they’d eat us too” (127), which shows that self preservation became their number one priority, instead of their morals. McCarthy repeats “They’re going… They’re going” and “we couldnt help them… we couldnt help them” to make it seem like the characters were attempting to reassure themselves of their decision to leave those prisoners. Although not all of their morality is gone, Papa and the boy are starting to become indifferent to the horrors they are faced to endure