Contemplation Of Suicide In The Road By Cormac Mccarthy

The Road by Cormac McCarthy In The Road by Cormac McCarthy is a third person narrative follows the story of a father and son that live in a post-apocalyptic world filled with danger and life threatening situations. McCarthy demonstrates the parental role between the man and the boy, where the boy influences the man by showing him that there is good left in the world. He uses the reality of their world, the contemplation of suicide, the times where they could have died and the boy as the last true influence of good to portray the significance of the boy to his father.
The reality of the world that the two characters live in as presented by McCarthy is dangerous. Their world has been destroyed, “The city was mostly burned. No sign of life. Cars …show more content…
He describes the suicide of the man’s wife to show the man’s purpose, “The one thing I can tell you is that you wont survive for yourself. I know because I would never come this far. A person who had no one would be well advised to cobble together some passable ghost. Breathe it into being and coax it along with words of love” (57). His purpose is to live, fight and survive for his son, for without love he would not have the drive to live. Cormac McCarthy presents suicide as a reoccurring theme. He also illustrates the idea through the boy, “Can I ask you something? Yes. Of course you can. What would you do if I died? If you died I would want to die too. So you could be with me? Yes. So I could be with you. Okay” (10-11). The contemplation of suicide that McCarthy establishes is used to show a promise that the man makes to the boy not to let him leave this world alone. The boy also brings up this topic on page fifty-five where he says, “I wish I was with mom. He didn’t answer. He sat beside the small figure wrapped in the quilts and blankets. After a while he said: You mean you wish that you were dead. Yes. You musnt say that. But I do. Dont say it. It’s a bad thing to say. I cant help it. I know. But you have to. How do I do it. I dont know” (55). As a parent the man is reacting to what his child said in a good way, but he also knows that for himself to be able to live he requires the …show more content…
McCarthy mentions god through the description of the boy through the father’s eyes. He does this when he says that, “He knew only that the child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke” (5). The man sees his son as the only good left in the world. This is because he is the only reason that he believes in a God. The boy’s reaction to wanting to help the man struck with lightning, “Cant we help him Papa? No we cant help him. There’s nothing to be done with him. They went on. The boy was crying. He kept looking back. […] I’m sorry, he said. But we have nothing to give him” (50). Helping people to the boy is second nature. However, his father thinks about the practical aspects of the situation, the boy follows his heart. In this way, the boy causes the father to look at the world through a different lens. Rather than his perspective as the protector. Issues like this appear multiple times throughout the book especially on pages eighty-four to eight six, where the boy wants to help the little boy. There is one person that the man and the boy help. A character named Ely. When he saw the boy he describes him as, “You thought he was an angel? I didnt know what he was. I never thought to see a child again I didnt know that would happen. What if I said he was God?” (172). Children are a delicacy bread for consumption. So, when Ely saw the boy he was surprised, since