Water, one of the highest of holy rebirth references in existence. In The Road by Cormac McCarthy the two characters, the boy and the man, take a long journey, including a struggle of death versus life shown through the use of symbols to represent both sides of the struggle. One of the heaviest symbols in the novel is McCarthy's use of biblical references in many forms to portray feelings of hope and rebirth/resurrection, while also showing filth and irony in that of the water in the new yet extinct world.
McCarthy presents the symbol of water in a very Biblical rich manor. “One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy …show more content…
In the scene where the man and the boy move along the road and come across a man struck by lightening the boy pleads to the man to help the poor lightening struck man, but the man is very adamant in that they cannot stop and help the man, probably just as every other person that passed him on the road. The boy represents a christ-like figure in this scene such as a parallel story in the Gospel of Matthew, “Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.” Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared. (New Living Translation, Matthew 8:2-3)”. The two scenes correlate in that the boy wants to help this man that no one would help because it would only bring them down, just as Jesus did with the leper that not a single person wanted to touch, because the man has the most vile of all diseases at this time in which the leper’s skin, literally falling off comes to Jesus, and Jesus heals the man by touching the untouched. This shows how boy has an endless amount of hope and tenderness in a world very bleak and dim, but through it all, the boy holds onto this false sense of hope in his somber world. Hopefulness, a trait that all should strive for in the real world, because in a very opaque world, everyone needs to find some higher being, person, or a passion in life that brings them great joy and comfort in the world as the boy was to the
McCarthy presents the symbol of water in a very Biblical rich manor. “One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy …show more content…
In the scene where the man and the boy move along the road and come across a man struck by lightening the boy pleads to the man to help the poor lightening struck man, but the man is very adamant in that they cannot stop and help the man, probably just as every other person that passed him on the road. The boy represents a christ-like figure in this scene such as a parallel story in the Gospel of Matthew, “Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.” Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared. (New Living Translation, Matthew 8:2-3)”. The two scenes correlate in that the boy wants to help this man that no one would help because it would only bring them down, just as Jesus did with the leper that not a single person wanted to touch, because the man has the most vile of all diseases at this time in which the leper’s skin, literally falling off comes to Jesus, and Jesus heals the man by touching the untouched. This shows how boy has an endless amount of hope and tenderness in a world very bleak and dim, but through it all, the boy holds onto this false sense of hope in his somber world. Hopefulness, a trait that all should strive for in the real world, because in a very opaque world, everyone needs to find some higher being, person, or a passion in life that brings them great joy and comfort in the world as the boy was to the