Throughout The Road the story boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, “each the other’s world entire,” are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an firm meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.
The father’s feels that his only job is to protect his son is to protect his son. The son’s role, as his father has taught him over their years of fear and wandering is “to carry the fire.” Good guys, the father frequently reminds the son, “carry the fire.” The father tries to protect his son from such terrors, saying “just remember that the things you put into your head are there forever.” But the son has already seen. The father and son are the only company that each other has on this long journey ahead of them. I believe that if it weren't for this little boy, the father would not find the strength to go on or live through this post-apocalyptic journey. Also, though the son seems to be very young, he is wise enough to know that his father is sacrificing little things in order to protect him, such as giving the boy all of the hot cocoa. This philosophy the father lives by to protect his son’s innocence and goodness is considerable and proves his unconditional love for his child. If I were placed in such an extreme circumstance I am not sure if there is anything I would have done differently. The father conjures up visions of limitless support, of advocacy, protection, absolute and beautiful love. He does everything for his son in ways a perfect parent should. Although it is debatable that the father should have been tougher with his child and exposed him to more of the world; I completely disagree. At such a young age, the son is completely aware of the type of world he is apart of and why his father sacrifices such sustainable things for him. He is an innocent child but everything his father has taught him makes him highly mature and wise for his age. The father’s philosophy is admirable and simply genius.
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