Finding symbols between the lines can bring new meaning to the constant rain, the occasional snow, even the random blind man walking through the ashes. In exploring the broken world of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, a father and son find themselves in instances which convey into acts of baptism. Acts hidden within character’s actions, as explained by Thomas C. Foster in How to Read Literature Like a Professor. The presence of water creates a whole new sense when characters submerge, raising the question, “is it baptism?” This pushes the reader to further analyze meaning behind possible rebirth of the man’s perception on his own life.
In literature, baptism can occur in a non-Christian way. It may not even take place in a church, offered by a …show more content…
The second baptismal parallel clarifies the man’s thoughts, and occurs after they find a sanctuary underground where he “washed his [the boy’s] dirty matted hair and bathed him”(147, McCarthy). The man acts as the priest for both him and his son, as he precedingly “bathed” himself (147, McCarthy). This second immersion not only further purifies the man, it allows for him to change his point of view and look at the world as a “tiny paradise” (150, McCarthy). A paradise where he now undoubtedly realizes that the “strange beauty” (102, McCarthy), he had seen in his son, is his guardian angel gifted to him by God to help him light the way. “There were times when he sat watching the boy sleep..he would begin to sob uncontrollably but it wasn’t about death...it was about beauty..about goodness” (129, McCarthy). His foggy thoughts vanish and now sees the goodness and beauty the world once saw; a beauty carried by his also cleansed son. With this, he begins his escape out of the melancholy mindset he had of the world; he grows into a new matureness-even wisdom-of life …show more content…
The third baptismal dip occurs in the safe haven where they “bathed again..and washed their hair in basins of warm water” (156, McCarthy). This imagery of “washing their hair in basins”, creates a very meaningful image as a church has a basin -“used chiefly to hold water or other substance”- full of holy water in which the baptized rinse their hair. It also paints a picture that symbolizes a clearing of the man’s mind, hinting growth; maturity (Dictionary.com). The man came to a not-so surprising conclusion when he welcomes defeat to his illness. He used to reassure his son of his [the man’s] survival with him through it all, yet towards the end of the novel he finally accepts his fate where they camped and “he knew he could go no further and this was the place where he would die” (277, McCarthy). He accepts he must leave his son, and confesses to him “I cant hold my son dead in my arms. I thought I could but I cant” (279, McCarthy). He finally has the courage to embrace the sad but necessary truth: the boy must continue
In literature, baptism can occur in a non-Christian way. It may not even take place in a church, offered by a …show more content…
The second baptismal parallel clarifies the man’s thoughts, and occurs after they find a sanctuary underground where he “washed his [the boy’s] dirty matted hair and bathed him”(147, McCarthy). The man acts as the priest for both him and his son, as he precedingly “bathed” himself (147, McCarthy). This second immersion not only further purifies the man, it allows for him to change his point of view and look at the world as a “tiny paradise” (150, McCarthy). A paradise where he now undoubtedly realizes that the “strange beauty” (102, McCarthy), he had seen in his son, is his guardian angel gifted to him by God to help him light the way. “There were times when he sat watching the boy sleep..he would begin to sob uncontrollably but it wasn’t about death...it was about beauty..about goodness” (129, McCarthy). His foggy thoughts vanish and now sees the goodness and beauty the world once saw; a beauty carried by his also cleansed son. With this, he begins his escape out of the melancholy mindset he had of the world; he grows into a new matureness-even wisdom-of life …show more content…
The third baptismal dip occurs in the safe haven where they “bathed again..and washed their hair in basins of warm water” (156, McCarthy). This imagery of “washing their hair in basins”, creates a very meaningful image as a church has a basin -“used chiefly to hold water or other substance”- full of holy water in which the baptized rinse their hair. It also paints a picture that symbolizes a clearing of the man’s mind, hinting growth; maturity (Dictionary.com). The man came to a not-so surprising conclusion when he welcomes defeat to his illness. He used to reassure his son of his [the man’s] survival with him through it all, yet towards the end of the novel he finally accepts his fate where they camped and “he knew he could go no further and this was the place where he would die” (277, McCarthy). He accepts he must leave his son, and confesses to him “I cant hold my son dead in my arms. I thought I could but I cant” (279, McCarthy). He finally has the courage to embrace the sad but necessary truth: the boy must continue