Papa And The Sea In Cormac Mccarthy's The Road

Imagine the world as we don’t know it. In Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road, a boy and his papa try to maintain humanity while finding their way through broken America after a devastating catastrophe. McCarthy argues that people isolate themselves out of fear in order to seek protection from the greater dangers in the world around them. Papa and the boy physically both isolate and de-isolate themselves from the dark world geographically. McCarthy compares the Sea to an unknown world to show that the once shining Sea that used to bring happiness now brings mood of only melancholy and grim. "Like the desolation of some alien sea breaking on the shores of a world unheard of” (297). Papa and the boy traveled South in ambition of finding their last chance of hope, de-isolating themselves from whatever potential dangers lie ahead. It is clear that even though the boy and Papa are de-isolating themselves the world they are entering is already isolated because of how McCarthy describes the horrendous sights of the beach shore. “The bones of dead creatures sprawled in the washes” (244). This image shows the world at rock bottom with no …show more content…
McCarthy chose the word “godspoke” when he states “On this road there are no godspoke men. They are gone and I am left and they have taken with them the world” (51). By using a less common word he communicates to the reader that in his eyes there are no good men left on this journey besides himself. Even though McCarthy claims he is the only good guy left in the world, he later contradicts himself that there are other good people out there they just need to be found. A more serious tone is put on the scene “There are other good guys...Who are they hiding from?...Each other” (184), in order to convey Papa’s change at heart from believing that he is alone to that by not isolating everyone there is a chance he could find the other good people