Particularly in the Road, where all moral and cultural institutions known to humankind have been extinguished, religion and the belief in supernatural beings are at the forefront of the father’s thinking. In a world where humanity and kindness are mostly extinct, it is evident that the father adheres to the thought there might be a God-like figure. Religious and spiritual terms are often used throughout the novel, although the man often doubts the existence of a God and repeatedly curses him:
He started down the rough wooden steps. […] Coldness and damp. An ungodly stench. The boy clutched at his coat. He could see part of a stone wall. Clay floor. An old mattress darkly stained. […] Huddled against the wall were naked people, male and female, …show more content…
Help us, they whispered.
Please help us.
Christ, he said. Oh Christ. [emphasis mine] (TR 110)
McCarthy uses three different religious terms throughout this passage. The man, when seeing the slaves/prisoners, utters “Christ” and “Jesus” and describes the stench as “ungodly.” Describing the scene as “ungodly” leaves behind the impression that even though the man at times seems to be an unbeliever, he still acknowledges that there might be a higher power, a God-like figure, and this is not what he had wanted.
The father tries, throughout the course of the novel, to create a world for his son which seems meaningful and less frightening. According to Rambo, he, therefore, uses the elements of mission and identity which are mainly conveyed through often repeated verbalizations e.g. “We’re carrying the fire” and “Are we the good guys?” (TR 128f.) (cf. Rambo 2008: 104). For instance, after having broken into the cellar where cannibals are holding victims’ hostage in order to eat their flesh, the boy asks his father whether they would ever eat another human being.
[Boy] We wouldnt ever eat anybody, would we?
[Man]No of course not.
Even if we are starving?
[…]
No. We …show more content…
However, the term ‘good’ is often used in order to justify actions which would be questionable in another context. Rambo suggests that the moral structure we are used to cannot be applied to this post-apocalyptic world. Furthermore, she concludes that the boy asking his father if they are still the “good guys” at numerous essential points in the novel may be interpreted as the boy’s growing awareness that good and bad cannot always be differentiated (cf. Rambo 2008:104). After having encountered so many “bad guys”, it is certainly surprising that the man and boy have not turned into similar bestial figures like most other people have. However, by allotting them the special task of “carrying the fire” McCarthy attributes defined godly features to father and son. The father, just before he dies, tells the son that the fire is inside him because the boy questions the mere existence of it (TR 279). Søfting argues that
[…] it could well be that the father is right and that this is how we are meant to see these two remarkable characters; as people chosen by God to carry the light on through the darkness, to preserve humanity within themselves as examples, and that this is the reason why they seem somehow predestined to avoid moral degeneration (Søfting 2013:
He started down the rough wooden steps. […] Coldness and damp. An ungodly stench. The boy clutched at his coat. He could see part of a stone wall. Clay floor. An old mattress darkly stained. […] Huddled against the wall were naked people, male and female, …show more content…
Help us, they whispered.
Please help us.
Christ, he said. Oh Christ. [emphasis mine] (TR 110)
McCarthy uses three different religious terms throughout this passage. The man, when seeing the slaves/prisoners, utters “Christ” and “Jesus” and describes the stench as “ungodly.” Describing the scene as “ungodly” leaves behind the impression that even though the man at times seems to be an unbeliever, he still acknowledges that there might be a higher power, a God-like figure, and this is not what he had wanted.
The father tries, throughout the course of the novel, to create a world for his son which seems meaningful and less frightening. According to Rambo, he, therefore, uses the elements of mission and identity which are mainly conveyed through often repeated verbalizations e.g. “We’re carrying the fire” and “Are we the good guys?” (TR 128f.) (cf. Rambo 2008: 104). For instance, after having broken into the cellar where cannibals are holding victims’ hostage in order to eat their flesh, the boy asks his father whether they would ever eat another human being.
[Boy] We wouldnt ever eat anybody, would we?
[Man]No of course not.
Even if we are starving?
[…]
No. We …show more content…
However, the term ‘good’ is often used in order to justify actions which would be questionable in another context. Rambo suggests that the moral structure we are used to cannot be applied to this post-apocalyptic world. Furthermore, she concludes that the boy asking his father if they are still the “good guys” at numerous essential points in the novel may be interpreted as the boy’s growing awareness that good and bad cannot always be differentiated (cf. Rambo 2008:104). After having encountered so many “bad guys”, it is certainly surprising that the man and boy have not turned into similar bestial figures like most other people have. However, by allotting them the special task of “carrying the fire” McCarthy attributes defined godly features to father and son. The father, just before he dies, tells the son that the fire is inside him because the boy questions the mere existence of it (TR 279). Søfting argues that
[…] it could well be that the father is right and that this is how we are meant to see these two remarkable characters; as people chosen by God to carry the light on through the darkness, to preserve humanity within themselves as examples, and that this is the reason why they seem somehow predestined to avoid moral degeneration (Søfting 2013: