Theme Of Hope In The Road

The power of hope is being able to see the light in the midst of darkness. The unconditional love that the father and son show is, along with their hope are two of the driving forces in the novel The Road, along with the sense of anonymity within the novel, initiates a sense of empathy with the audience apropos of the father and son relationship. Without the other, both protagonists would not exist in the world they’re written into.

The unnamed father is alive purely to protect his son as they travel to warmer climates. He teaches his son everything he can to help him to survive in the new world, knowing he will not always be there to protect and shield him from the horrors occurring around them. The son, in turn, is living for the father,
The father acknowledges this and accepts this as the truth and reality of his
McCarthy also omits the ages, though we can estimate, the races of the father and son nor their religion. The exclusion of these facts force the audience to do a lot of guesswork, but more importantly it leaves the audience with a sense of anonymity, such that any one could be put in that situation. Its leaves readers asking if they were in that situation, and if they could be as noble and selfless as the father is. The characters are replaceable with any one. The sense of empathy that this motif provokes is particularly impactful to the demographic of people with close parent and children relationships. It instigates the question and fear that all people, with close relationships like the father and sons, of losing their parent or child. The human and natural fear of losing someone that is so close to us is carnal and uncontrollable and forges the doubt inside a person that they might not be able to hope with your whole being and love so unconditionally in the way that the father can for his sons sanity and