The Road and Morality
Morality has no factual basis, but instead come from an internal set of guidelines one makes up for themselves to conduct their daily decisions. Even though most people choose to set these guiding principles based of the societal norm, there are still a select few who follow their own internal voice to set their standard of morality. The Road by Cormac McCarthy follows the story of a father and son fighting together for survival amidst a post-apocalyptic world where one’s morality is always in question. In Contrast, Ray Bradbury’s story of The Veldt depicts the story of a futuristic family where the children become dependent on their virtual nursery. Together these seemingly different stories, through the conflict of …show more content…
Conflict allows individuals to see to what lengths they would go to protect those they love and forces people to see what they truly value even if that means resorting to murder. In fact, the father in The Road alters his morality of not murdering people in order to save his son. At first, sticking to his old morals, he does not want to kill the man who is threatening his son’s life instead he would “rather take him up the road a mile or so then turn him loose” (McCarthy 23). This remains his stance until his morals must shift in order to save the person he loves the most, his own son, by committing murder. This shows how even in a deadly situation the son’s interest takes precedence when determining what is moral, regardless of the repercussions. In The Veldt, the nursery has become what the children rely on the most in order to feel love and would do anything to protect it. When this love is put into question by their parents the conflict makes it necessary for the children to shift their morals to murder. The children consider this form of protection as moral as seen in their care free attitude of the two “seated in the center of the open glade enjoying a picnic lunch” (Bradbury 10). Their love has determined what they value and are willing to change their morals to protect. In both stories, morality has shifted in order in protect those they love even if that means going to great lengths to rationalise
Morality has no factual basis, but instead come from an internal set of guidelines one makes up for themselves to conduct their daily decisions. Even though most people choose to set these guiding principles based of the societal norm, there are still a select few who follow their own internal voice to set their standard of morality. The Road by Cormac McCarthy follows the story of a father and son fighting together for survival amidst a post-apocalyptic world where one’s morality is always in question. In Contrast, Ray Bradbury’s story of The Veldt depicts the story of a futuristic family where the children become dependent on their virtual nursery. Together these seemingly different stories, through the conflict of …show more content…
Conflict allows individuals to see to what lengths they would go to protect those they love and forces people to see what they truly value even if that means resorting to murder. In fact, the father in The Road alters his morality of not murdering people in order to save his son. At first, sticking to his old morals, he does not want to kill the man who is threatening his son’s life instead he would “rather take him up the road a mile or so then turn him loose” (McCarthy 23). This remains his stance until his morals must shift in order to save the person he loves the most, his own son, by committing murder. This shows how even in a deadly situation the son’s interest takes precedence when determining what is moral, regardless of the repercussions. In The Veldt, the nursery has become what the children rely on the most in order to feel love and would do anything to protect it. When this love is put into question by their parents the conflict makes it necessary for the children to shift their morals to murder. The children consider this form of protection as moral as seen in their care free attitude of the two “seated in the center of the open glade enjoying a picnic lunch” (Bradbury 10). Their love has determined what they value and are willing to change their morals to protect. In both stories, morality has shifted in order in protect those they love even if that means going to great lengths to rationalise