Moral Ambiguity In Characters In Cormac Mccarthy's The Road

Many characters throughout some of the most famous and brilliant novels cannot be identified as the “good guy” or the “bad guy.” These characters intentions and actions create this confusion, making them morally ambiguous. An example of this moral ambiguity can be found in The Road by Cormac McCarthy with the use diction. The father is the character at play, in which his decisions are controversial. The father’s character causes doubt in his morals when he justifies why he has kept his son alive with the use of diction. The man in the novel will do anything for his son in order to keep him safe, even if it means risking himself. The father does this because he needs companionship and he believes his son deserves a life. However in the beginning …show more content…
The answers the father returns are replied truthfully or falsely. The father shares some answers that could potentially help the child, but also hides some equally beneficial feedback. In telling the son the truth about parts of life, the man is building character in his son and helping him learn vital knowledge. According the father, the lies that he tells are to protect the child from the information that may seem too mature for his age. In these aspects, the man is merely protecting his loved one. However, the missing information created by the man could potentially harm his son in the long run. This is harming the son in which the lies told could affect the judgement in the boy’s future opportunities for the worse. The assistance of both the point of view of the father and son provides the effect the lies have made or will make. From the father’s point of view, as a parent, he wants to keep his son safe from everything the world has to throw at them. The desire he has causes the father to have a ‘lense’ on in viewing what to tell his son. Some lies could benefit the son in the future in he was told the truth, however other lies truly have no imprint on the boy’s future and just protect his feelings. The variations of the lies create his ambiguity. From the son’s point of view, he just wants to know the truth. At one point of the novel, the boy even tells the father that he does not want to be told any more stories because they were not true. The son recognizes what the truth is in his father’s speech. The lies he can recognize also causes the father to set an example to lie in the future, but also to protect the one’s who he loves. Again, the true intention of the father is never revealed, but from the reader’s point of view he can be viewed as