“The world shrinking down about a raw core of parsible entities. The names of things slowly following those things into oblivion. Colors. The name of birds. Things to eat. Finally the names of things one believed to be true. More fragile than he would have thought. How much was gone already? The sacred idiom shorn of its referents and so of its reality.” (McCarthy, p. 75) In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, the narration above encapsulates a post apocalyptic world, which has been reduced down to its basic elements. It is a bleak world described often in grey tones, increasingly devoid of the color of life, basic sustenance, and the remaining remnants of our past society. Within this world, McCarthy examines an important remnant of our past society,
…show more content…
As mentioned above, the man believes he is entrusted by God to protect his son. His will to live is derived from his role a father and faith in the future for his son. The man’s changing tradition of faith is foreshadowed in a flashback as his wife discusses her intended suicide. “The one thing I can tell you is that you wont survive for yourself. I know because I would never have 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 the words of love.” (McCarthy, p. 49) In summation, in order to survive in the harsh post apocalyptic world, you must in the very least have faith in and love for one another. The man encounters and overcomes a multitude of perils in service of his son. Without his son, the man would lose all faith and the will to live.
Whereas the man and boy question their faith in God, both the man’s and boy’s will to live derive from their love of one another. The man’s faith in humanity is maintained through his love for his son. The boy’s faith stems from the fire derived from his father’s love and, unlike his father, the innate faith in the goodness of humanity. It is important to note that every stranger that the two encounter is met with uncommon kindness from the boy. The faith that the boy has in humanity is a beacon of hope in an otherwise hopeless
As mentioned above, the man believes he is entrusted by God to protect his son. His will to live is derived from his role a father and faith in the future for his son. The man’s changing tradition of faith is foreshadowed in a flashback as his wife discusses her intended suicide. “The one thing I can tell you is that you wont survive for yourself. I know because I would never have 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 the words of love.” (McCarthy, p. 49) In summation, in order to survive in the harsh post apocalyptic world, you must in the very least have faith in and love for one another. The man encounters and overcomes a multitude of perils in service of his son. Without his son, the man would lose all faith and the will to live.
Whereas the man and boy question their faith in God, both the man’s and boy’s will to live derive from their love of one another. The man’s faith in humanity is maintained through his love for his son. The boy’s faith stems from the fire derived from his father’s love and, unlike his father, the innate faith in the goodness of humanity. It is important to note that every stranger that the two encounter is met with uncommon kindness from the boy. The faith that the boy has in humanity is a beacon of hope in an otherwise hopeless