Kayla Miller
Dr. Swan
English 2333
13 December 2017
Cormac McCarthy Final The Road is a literary masterpiece. At its most basic level, it is a story about a man and his son trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. However, the real story is so much more than that. The Road tells of love and heartache, humanity at its most primal level, and how fragile the ideas of society truly are. The Road is important because it's one of very few novels that gives a raw, honest look at what the world would look like after an "apocalyptic" event. Many books consider things such as zombies or aliens as apocalyptic, but The Road hints very heavily at a real natural disaster. Born Charles Joseph McCarthy, Jr., Cormac McCarthy was born to Charles Joseph …show more content…
One example would be the boy himself. He shows compassion for an old man that they come across on the road. The boy convinces his father to give away some of their food to the old man (McCarthy 164-165). The boy in some ways symbolizes what's left of the hope for humanity. Love is also a big theme in The Road. Love is what keeps the man going for as long as he goes on. His love for his son is the reason that he keeps trying to live and even states that the "boy was all that stood between him and death"(McCarthy 29). The man believes that dying would actually be better than living in a world like the one he lives in, but he loves his son too much to let him die. Spirituality is also seen in The Road. In the beginning of the novel, the man states that if the boy "is not the word of God God never spoke" (McCarthy 5). The man is stating that if his innocent son is not made in the image of God, then God does not exist. This also reiterates the idea that the boy symbolizes the hope and innocence of …show more content…
His books can be very dark, but they never stray from reality. If someone were to read The Road, they would learn a lot about a realistic view of a post-apocalyptic world. If some type of natural disaster were to occur like in The Road, everything seen in the novel would eventually happen. Society would fall apart. Culture, morals, and values would crumble into selfishness and self-preservation. Although McCarthy's themes are very dark and somewhat twisted, I believe the way he portrays humanity is more of an accurate description than most other writers. His way of showing what humanity really is under the surface is much more appealing than any happily ever
Dr. Swan
English 2333
13 December 2017
Cormac McCarthy Final The Road is a literary masterpiece. At its most basic level, it is a story about a man and his son trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. However, the real story is so much more than that. The Road tells of love and heartache, humanity at its most primal level, and how fragile the ideas of society truly are. The Road is important because it's one of very few novels that gives a raw, honest look at what the world would look like after an "apocalyptic" event. Many books consider things such as zombies or aliens as apocalyptic, but The Road hints very heavily at a real natural disaster. Born Charles Joseph McCarthy, Jr., Cormac McCarthy was born to Charles Joseph …show more content…
One example would be the boy himself. He shows compassion for an old man that they come across on the road. The boy convinces his father to give away some of their food to the old man (McCarthy 164-165). The boy in some ways symbolizes what's left of the hope for humanity. Love is also a big theme in The Road. Love is what keeps the man going for as long as he goes on. His love for his son is the reason that he keeps trying to live and even states that the "boy was all that stood between him and death"(McCarthy 29). The man believes that dying would actually be better than living in a world like the one he lives in, but he loves his son too much to let him die. Spirituality is also seen in The Road. In the beginning of the novel, the man states that if the boy "is not the word of God God never spoke" (McCarthy 5). The man is stating that if his innocent son is not made in the image of God, then God does not exist. This also reiterates the idea that the boy symbolizes the hope and innocence of …show more content…
His books can be very dark, but they never stray from reality. If someone were to read The Road, they would learn a lot about a realistic view of a post-apocalyptic world. If some type of natural disaster were to occur like in The Road, everything seen in the novel would eventually happen. Society would fall apart. Culture, morals, and values would crumble into selfishness and self-preservation. Although McCarthy's themes are very dark and somewhat twisted, I believe the way he portrays humanity is more of an accurate description than most other writers. His way of showing what humanity really is under the surface is much more appealing than any happily ever