The Theme Of Hope In Cormac Mccarthy's The Road

In a world where all hope is lost and to live to see another day becomes a more challenging decision to make is a world where a father and son must come together and search for the good still left behind in humanity. Through comparison to Greek Gods and the code of good guys, Cormac McCarthy presents the theme of hope in The Road. Hope is what feeds the father and son to see another day. Without hope there is no point in living. With hope, the father and son are able to do the unimaginable and overcome the obstacles that mankind has created for them. Overall McCarthy presents the theory that although there is no hope in the book, it is a book full of hope (“Carrying the Fire” 3). Hope is presented in various ways throughout the novel, many …show more content…
Prometheus gave men fire to survive in a primitive world. In the novel, the father serves as Prometheus to his son because he gives his son both the literal and metaphorical versions of fire. Prometheus also gave mankind knowledge. The father gives his son the knowledge in survival, teaching him certain survival skills which help reinforce that they are the good guys. Both Prometheus and the father die because of their choices that they made. Critic Weilenberg states that the character Ely relates to Elijah in the bible. Both Ely and Elijah predicted a catastrophe. Ely predicted the end of the world and Elijah predicted a drought. They both also wonder about being the last person alive. The father feels as if he is appointed by God. He refuses the easy choice of death because the boy is hope, so he takes care of his son no matter what the circumstance is. He makes sure that his son will carry the fire. By feeling appointed by God, the father states that “there is no god and we are his prophets” (143). The son is the word of God to the father, “glowing in that waste like a tabernacle”, keeps the father true to human dignity as well as morality because the good guys so not eat people (Reilly …show more content…
According to the code, the good guys do not steal, do not eat people, do not lie, they keep their promises, they help others, and they never give up. According to Steven Reilly, the boy is like a living conscience, crying out against the act of vengeance. This shows the boy still holds hope in the good will of people and keeps to the code of the good guys by never giving up in hope of finding the good still left in humanity (3). In the end the only answer is to be because they must live. If they chose not to live then that’s a sin, which goes against the code of the good guys in never giving