The Boy And The Man In Cormac Mccarthy's The Road
"You forget what you want to remember and remember what you want to forget" (McCarthy). The Road by Cormac McCarthy is an exhilarating novel based in a post-apocalyptic world. Within this piece of literature, there are many figures representing a variety of different elements of the world and human society. Of these characters, there are primarily only two protagonists: the boy and the man. The two protagonists are central figures that in terms of evolution, are near polar opposites; as the man remains neutral throughout the novel, the boy is constantly changing and thus evolving. The boy is a round, dynamic protagonist who endures the toughest of lives in a post-apocalyptic nightmare, managing to take shelter in the temporary security blanket that is his father before becoming the blanket himself. The character as a whole is progressively developing throughout the entirety of the novel. At first, the …show more content…
Given that the setting of the novel is a post-apocalyptic world dominated by savage gangs such as the road agents, the true character of the boy is easily revealed, as is that of anyone who is under critical distress. The primal conditions having to be endured by the boy not only assist in molding him as a person, but also present him in a raw manner, allowing for the reader to dissect his soul. In his soul, the reader may find a beautiful site: love, kindness, strength, and overall goodness. In contrast to the horrid world around them, the man is a source of security and strength for the boy. The man is presented in the story as the boy's father and protector. Throughout the entirety of the novel, the boy is dependent of the man for survival. Inversely, the man is even more reliant on the boy for peace and sanity. Each of the two protagonists are overly reliant on each other, but there is no doubting that the man is his son's absolute security
The Father And Son In Cormac Mccarthy's The Road
494 Words | 2 PagesThroughout the novel the father's love for his son pushes him to protect him no matter the risks. For example in the novel many times the two would go to an abandoned house
Comparing Lord Of The Flies And The Night By Elie Wiesel
452 Words | 2 PagesThe book follows a group of boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and left to fend for themselves. As time passes, the boys become more savage and violent, eventually turning on each other in a battle for power. This theme is further explored through the character of Jack, who becomes increasingly authoritarian and manipulative, ultimately leading to the death of several of his peers. The novel suggests that without the constraints of society, humans are prone to violence and destruction.
The Young Messiah In Cormac Mccarthy's The Road
1446 Words | 6 PagesA gift from God: The young Messiah in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road The Road shares the rough journey of a man and his messianic-figure son struggling to survive the morality of a post-apocalyptic world. The earth is destroyed and a majority of the once living are now deceased, however, the boy and his father continue to travel through their burned world. On their route south towards the coast, they find injured “good” guys and “bad” guys including thieves, shelter, clothes, and little food and water.
Cormac Mccarthy The Road Savagery
374 Words | 2 PagesThe thick line between humanity and savagery that is portrayed by the formation of civilization is nothing but an illusion. As seen in the book, The Road, the line that separates humanity and savagery is in reality paper thin. Through the use of a post apocalyptic setting, Cormac McCarthy manipulates the sense of humanity through the bare primitive survival instincts the individuals living in the ruins of the world must adapt in order to survive. The fall of civilization presented the survivors the choice of staying within the realms of humanity or to fall the victim to savagery.
Sacrifice In The Road
1390 Words | 6 PagesFor both of them, they are “each other’s world, entire” (6). Nothing or no one else matters because they can only trust and love each other. As the man 's wife points out before her suicide, "the boy was all that stood between him and death" (25). In other words, the man 's thirst for survival is fueled by the love for his son. While the man may expect his own death, he lives in order to seek life for the boy.
Theme Of Empathy In The Road
452 Words | 2 PagesThe novel shows the journey of a father and son and how the pair survives through the cunning unprotected world. In The Road, the man conquers the terror of the need to be resilient for his son while continuing to feel empathy towards him. To begin with, In the novel the father
Hope In Cormac Mccarthy's The Road
803 Words | 4 PagesIn Cormac McCarthy’s post apocalyptic novel The Road, he uses many physical objects to portray a deeper message. McCarthy creates the main character, the boy, to symbolize hope in a hopeless world. Throughout The Road the boy creates a warm presence to the cold and dark reality of what the world has become. Essentially he shines as the light of the world through all of his actions, not only with the father but with other characters that they come across in their journey along the road. The boy epitomizes the hope in which the father needs in order to continue to go throughout the doom-laden world.
Cormac Mccarthy Code Of Ethics In The Road
1813 Words | 8 PagesThe thrilling novel “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy is a story about a post apocalyptic world following the lives of a man and a boy as they head south to escape the cold winter that is headed their way. Along with the cold of winter approaching they also have to deal with the new dangers of the land while traveling such as cannibals, robbers, and many more dangers. This is a tale of a unnamed man and a boy who must not only learn how to survive but find a inner “fire”, establish a code of ethic, and continue in finding reasons to live in this “new world”. With McCarthy’s unique approach to the characters of the book having no names or the cause of destruction of the world unknown it helps the reader feel the confusion and whats really important
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793 Words | 4 PagesLastly, the two words the son and the man add to the complexity of the relationship. This shows that the man can’t picture himself being a father, especially after knowing he can’t meet the child’s expectation, but will always picture his son being a child in his eyes. In conclusion the author uses literary devices to add depth and emotion to the complex relationship between the two characters. He does this by changing the point of view throughout the poem from son to father. He uses a purposeful structure from present to future coming back to present to demonstrate with the complexity of the father's
Boyz R Us Analysis
759 Words | 4 PagesThe settings of a family which has a negative effect on family and boys. Mainly what the characters are inclined to do against each other, the dysfunctional family life and the one parent family. The story has increased my knowledge about gangs and the impact on boys, that positivity of one person is better than the adversity of a gang. The author Scott Monk message to boys is being in a gang, especially a criminal gang is a futile, it is informative in regards that boys can do positive things in their life, that the need to turn their back on gangs and violence.
Hope In The Road By Cormac Mccarthy
604 Words | 3 PagesHe is the fuel to his fathers fire. When his son is sick and dying, the man says to himself, “You have to be quick. So you can be with him. Hold him close. Last day of the earth.”
Cormac Mccarthy Changes In The Road
624 Words | 3 PagesThe father’s wife had recently died, leaving him with the boy to take care of with the only mindset of keeping him alive, doing anything for their survival. This affected the father in a big way, leaving him with little hope and hardly any reason to stay alive, but the boy was “his warrant” (McCarthy 5) , his only reason for life. The boy starts out very scared and weak, always wanting to hide behind his father, knowing that one day he will die. The boy matures with every event that happens, and he maintains to have hope throughout most of them. “The man fell back instantly and lay with blood bubbling from the hole in his forehead.
Examples Of Cannibalism In The Road Mccarthy
568 Words | 3 PagesThe boy is the only pure figure left in the man’s life and often leads him to doing kind
Character Analysis: The Road By Cormac Mccarthy
669 Words | 3 Pages“That the boy was all that stood between him and death,” the woman points out (McCarthy 34). The man loves the boy enough to stay and fight with him because there is even the slightest chance that the world will be better again. Several times throughout the novel, the reader witnesses the man wanting to give up and take the easy way out, but he stops himself. “I’ll kill you where you stand,” declares the man to a thief they encounter on the road (McCarthy 264). The thief has stolen all of their belongings, which of course triggers the man’s anger, but the man threatens him more mercilessly after the thief simply looks at the boy.
The Heros Journey In The Hobbit And Cormac Mccarthy's The Road
1106 Words | 5 PagesSince The Road is more about the Boy’s journey than his father’s, the supreme ordeal at the end of the novel is the death of the Man. The death of the Man, who acted as the Boy’s mentor during the many challenges faced by the duo, represents the largest and most devastating challenge faced by the Boy. Not only is this due to the fact that the Boy feels unprepared to continue on without his father, but it is also because the “reward” and “road back” are not immediately apparent to the Boy. Compared to even the most challenging obstacles the Boy faced in the past, the death of his father leaves him both physically and mentally pained and exhausted. However, relief from his situation arrives promptly in the form of the stranger who claims to be a “good guy,” though the Boy’s future remains forever uncertain.
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